We are committed to integrity in all our work, seeking constructive conversations and dialogue built upon trust, no matter how challenging the circumstances or divergent the views held by individuals. We believe that everyone has the right to be treated with dignity, and respect, not least in the workplace and are committed to providing a supportive and inclusive working environment that fosters a culture where all DBF staff can thrive and feel valued.
We have a duty to provide our staff with a working environment free from abuse and harassment. We will seek to oppose harassment or abusive behaviour against our teams from any individual our staff may engage with during their duties.
Internally, we ask staff to treat each other in line with our staff team values and Dignity at Work policy and such matters are handled under our conduct procedures. However, this policy is designed to cover our external interactions and applies to all individuals or groups of individuals with whom DBF staff interact as part of their job role, but who are not employed by the DBF.
Unacceptable behaviour from third parties towards our staff will not be tolerated and we will support any of our staff who are confronted with such behaviour. We will deal with unacceptable third-party behaviour, professionally, consistently, and fairly. We aim to be transparent about what we consider to be unacceptable and outline the steps we may take to deal with such behaviour.
How we define unacceptable behaviour
For the purposes of this policy, unacceptable behaviour is defined as: 'Behaviour or language (written, verbal or online) that we consider may cause staff to feel intimidated, afraid, offended, degraded, threatened, abused, humiliated, or upset. How someone behaves online is considered to be equivalent to face-to-face behaviour.'
Examples of this include (this list is illustrative, not exhaustive):
- Communication (face to face, telephone, online or social media) that we consider to be unreasonably demanding, or unreasonably persistent in its frequency, type, and nature.
- Inflammatory/derogatory statements, remarks of a racial or discriminatory nature and unsubstantiated allegations.
- Repeated contact regarding the same issue – this may be with one member of staff or several, particularly where said issue was previously resolved as far as practicably possible.
- Unreasonable demands or undue persistence which starts to impact substantially on the work of our team. For example, repeatedly demanding responses within unreasonable timescales, insisting on speaking to a particular member of staff when that is impossible, or repeatedly contacting us in respect of decisions we have taken and with which you disagree.
- Violent behaviour – physical contact made in an aggressive or threatening manner.
- Threatening behaviour – words or actions that cause a person to be concerned for their safety, the safety of colleagues, or the safety of their property. This includes visual gestures; aggressive stance; sexually explicit or threatening language or body language; abusive phone calls and on-line bullying.
- Abusive behaviour – offensive gestures; aggressive stance; abusive, provocative or obscene language and inappropriate use of social media.
Our response to unacceptable behaviour
If behaviour towards a member of our staff is unacceptable, and depending on the exact nature, circumstance, and location of the behaviour/incident(s), we will take the following steps:
- If staff are comfortable to do so, they will ask the person to modify their behaviour and explain why.
- If the behaviour continues staff are advised to remove themselves from the situation/s and report it to their line manager who will record the incident/s.
- The line manager will investigate the situation and decide what action to take. This may include contacting the third party to explain why their behaviour is unacceptable, restricting or ceasing future engagement with the third party or making a formal complaint to the third party’s employer.
Any criminal or anti-social behaviour may need to be escalated to the police and we may then take further action following investigation by the police.
If a third party disagrees with the response taken, they are entitled to make a complaint through the DBF Complaints Procedure which can be instigated by contacting the HR Director.