Face Value

So where does bullying fit in to the whole diversity debacle? Bullying is often a symptom of diversity and can prove very expensive for businesses. Last year Deutsche Bank had to shell out £800,000 to workplace bullying victim Helen Green. In 2003 Steven Horkulak was awarded nearly £1m in damages by the courts after months of abuse by his boss, president of brokerage firm Cantor Fitzgerald International.

And then there’s Alan Sugar, who by his persona on The Apprentice, continually walks a legal tightrope. His boorish, gut-feel approach to both management and recruitment, though a recipe for infectious TV, are far from what recruitment lawyers would advise. Although at an interview you are only protected against discrimination after a year at an office, you can still claim constructive dismissal, and where bullying is really bad, protection from harassment. And what of the message The Apprentice sends out to young managers? The programme may be an unrealistic view of the corporate jungle, but might some viewers not take it at face value and assume the struggle for ‘success’ is a survival of the rudest?

At least Sir Alan steers clear of lookism, which seems to be a growing feature of the workplace. Yes indeed, fuelled by popular culture — gossip mags, tabloids and pretty much any reality TV show you can think of — workplaces are becoming lookist. Blonde hair, ginger hair, regional accents and baldness are big sources of stick, for example.

Teasing your colleagues can be quite harmless of course, and in the majority of cases reciprocated. Besides, who wants to work in an environment where teasing is outlawed? Equally though, the office has to be a place of dignity, and knowing what is appropriate is about knowing how the other person will react, or in other words where there is an unspoken consent. If it’s not consensual, it could be labelled as sexual harassment or racism or simply bullying. Bang; before you can say P45 you’re up for tribunal… just for having a laugh.

In the end, to put procedure and political correctness to one side for a moment, companies need to be looking at nipping issues like this in the bud before they get to a formal stage, by employing common sense and engaging people in conversation. More often than not, you will find a lack of understanding to be the root cause. Equally important, though, is the need for people to use empathy, to put themselves in the shoes of others before making those ‘innocent comments’. Then maybe, just maybe, common sense can prevail.