Third-Party Harassment Policy

A) INTRODUCTION

1. All members of staff are entitled to be treated with dignity and respect in their place of work. This means freedom from behaviour by third-parties such as customers/clients or suppliers that can be interpreted as bullying or harassment or that causes offense, and access to redress if such behaviour does arise.
2. This policy will be reviewed regularly to ensure it remains up to date and to monitor its effectiveness.

 

B) THIRD-PARTY HARASSMENT

1. Third-party harassment occurs when one of our workforce is subjected to harassment by someone who is not part of our workforce but who is encountered in connection with work. This includes our customers, suppliers and members of the public. Third-party harassment of our workforce will not be tolerated.
2. Conduct becomes harassment if it persists and it has been made clear that it is regarded as offensive by the recipient or a witness to the conduct, although a single offensive act can amount to harassment if it is sufficiently serious.

 

C) SCOPE

1. We deplore all forms of personal harassment and seek to ensure that the working environment is sympathetic to all those who work for us. This includes employees, workers, agency workers, volunteers and contractors in all areas of our Company, including any overseas sites.
2. For more information on bullying and harassment, please read our separate Bullying and Harassment Policy. For information on sexual harassment, including third-party sexual harassment, please read our separate Sexual Harassment Policy.

 

D) CIRCUMSTANCES WHICH ARE COVERED

1. This policy covers behaviour by third parties towards a member of our workforce which occurs in the following situations:
   1. a work situation
   2. a situation occurring outside of the normal workplace or normal working hours which is related to work, for example, a working lunch or social event with colleagues
   3. outside of a work situation but against a colleague or other person connected to the Company, including on social media.

 

E) ACTION TO PREVENT THIRD-PARTY HARASSMENT

1. We take a zero-tolerance approach to third-party harassment of our workforce. Any complaints of third-party harassment will be taken seriously and thoroughly investigated.
2. In order to prevent third-party harassment from occurring and encourage staff to report any concerns, we recommend clients consider the following examples of how our staff can be kept safe when working for your organisation:
   a) attach signage to the walls of the areas within the workplace where customers are present to warn that harassment of staff is not acceptable and to warn of the consequences, i.e. cessation of services.
   b) Make sure no staff member works alone.
   c) Pay attention to more vulnerable staff like young workers or those who don’t speak English as their first language, who might be less likely to report incidents of harassment.
   d) Allow for anonymous reporting of incidents of harassment.
   e) Make sure our staff have a trusted person they can speak to on site, if they have an issue, and make sure that they know who they are.
   f) Ensure that any issues with customers are recorded.
3. Should a customer harass a member of our workforce, they will be warned that continued provision of our service to them will cease if they are to act in a similar way again. Should their behaviour recur, they will be informed that our service to them will cease. Any criminal acts will be reported to the police, and we will share information relating to the incident with our other branches to ensure that we maintain a consistent approach to the cessation of our services.