Harassment and bullying at work

The spectrum of workplace incivility and unfair treatment

Bullying and harassment occur at the more severe end of the workplace incivility spectrum. Read our evidence review on workplace incivility and bullying for more detail on workplace incivility.

In the UK, under the Equality Act 2010, harassment is defined as: ‘unwanted conduct related to a relevant protected characteristic, which has the purpose or effect of violating an individual’s dignity or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for that individual’. Bullying is not specifically defined in UK law but Acas says bullying may be characterised as offensive, intimidating, malicious or insulting behaviour, an abuse or misuse of power that undermines, humiliates, or causes physical or emotional harm to someone.  

People have the right to be treated with dignity and respect at work and organisations should take any form of incivility and harassment or bullying seriously. People professionals should lead on developing a positive and inclusive culture that doesn't tolerate any form of unfair treatment or incivility.

What are harassment and bullying behaviours?

Harassment and bullying may be against one or more people and may involve single or repeated incidents across a wide spectrum of behaviour, ranging from extreme forms of intimidation, such as physical violence, to more subtle forms such as ignoring someone. Examples include:

• Unwanted physical contact.
• Unwelcome remarks about a person’s age, dress, appearance, race or marital status, jokes at personal expense, offensive language, gossip, slander, sectarian songs and letters.
• Isolation or non-cooperation and exclusion from social activities.
• Coercion for sexual favours - sexual harassment.
• Pressure to participate in political/religious groups.
• Personal intrusion from pestering, spying and stalking.
• Persistent unwarranted criticism.
• Personal insults.

A quarter (25%) of employees experienced conflict or abuse in the past 12 months according to the CIPD 2024 Good Work Index. Among those who experienced conflict, the most common types of conflict were:

• being humiliated or undermined (48% of those experiencing conflict)
• being shouted at or in a very heated argument (35%)
• verbal abuse or insult (34%)
• discriminatory behaviour because of a protected characteristic, such as gender, race, disability, sexual orientation, religion or belief or age (20%). 

Harassment

In Great Britain and in summary, harassment because of someone's age, disability, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation and other protected characteristic is unlawful under the Equality Act 2010. Harassment which is entirely unrelated to a protected characteristic isn't covered by the Act.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission has published guidance on harassment and the Equality Act, including a Code of practice on employment. Whilst not legally binding documents, the codes give important guidance on good practice and failure to follow them may be taken into account by tribunals or courts.

The law protects individuals from harassment while applying for a job, in employment and in some circumstances after the working relationship has ended, for example, in connection with the provision of a verbal or written reference. There's also protection for people against harassment on the basis of their membership or non-membership of a trade union and, in Northern Ireland, against harassment on the basis of political belief. (In England and Wales, harassment because of political views isn't always automatically protected although employees who are dismissed because of their political opinions don't need two years’ service to bring an unfair dismissal claim.)

Although the government has removed express protection for this third-party harassment from the Equality Act, liability can still arise from other legal duties, for example breach of contract, direct discrimination, the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 and so on. These other legal duties and good practice mean that employers should continue to take steps to protect employees from harassment from anyone they come into contact with.

Sexual harassment 

From October 2024 the Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Bill will strengthen existing protection for workers against sexual harassment. The new law will place a new duty on employers to take ‘reasonable steps’ to prevent sexual harassment. See this CIPD article for more information on how your organisation can prepare for this legislative change. 

Read our guidance on how employers should respond to sexual harassment complaints and build gender-inclusive workplaces. CIPD members can use our more detailed resource pack.

Bullying

The UK legal position on bullying is more complex as there's no single piece of legislation which deals with workplace bullying. Bullying may be covered by:

• The Equality Act 2010, if it is linked to a protected characteristic.
• The Employment Rights Act 1996, especially the ‘detriment’ provisions.
• Claims for breach of an express or implied term of the employment contract - for example, breach of the implied term to take care of employees.
• Criminal or civil provisions under the Protection from Harassment Act 1998.

Bullying might also be covered by a myriad of other legal principles and laws, for example:

• The common law obligation for an employer to take care of workers’ safety.
• Personal injury protection and duties to take care of workers arising out of Tort law.
• Health and Safety at work etc Act 1974.
• Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994.
• Whistleblower protections.
• Human Rights Act 1998.

Bullying and harassment are still a stubborn and serious issue in many workplaces.

Employers should put in place a well-communicated policy and guidance that clearly states the organisation’s commitment to promoting dignity and respect at work. Employers’ responsibilities extend to work-related activities, such as work parties or outings. 

Employers should be especially aware of ‘cyber bullying’. Our research found that cyber-bullying is more common than inappropriate behaviour at a work social event, with one in ten employees reporting that it happened.

All individuals have a responsibility to behave in ways which support an inclusive and tolerant working environment. Everyone should play their part in making the organisation’s policy a reality and employers should challenge inappropriate behaviour and take action. 

Developing a climate of respect

Promoting a positive climate at work for everyone based on personal respect and dignity will help to prevent inappropriate behaviour starting. Senior leaders should have a clear vision and demonstrate strong values that communicate what a climate of dignity and respect looks like. 

Employers also need to think about the stressors on their people, particularly those who feel overloaded in their role, or unclear how to fulfil their tasks or that they cannot meet job demands. 

Policies, communication and training

A well-designed policy is essential to tackle bullying or harassment. Policies and guidance should be agreed with trade union or employee representatives and communicated to everyone. They should, for example:

• Give examples of what constitutes harassment, bullying and intimidating behaviour, including cyber-bullying, work-related events and harassment by third parties.
• Explain the damaging effects and why it will not be tolerated.
• State that it will be treated as a disciplinary offence where a case is proven.
• Describe how to get help and make a complaint, formally and informally.
• Promise that allegations will be treated speedily, seriously and confidentially, and that the employer prevents victimisation.
• Clarify the accountability of all managers, and the role of union or employee representatives.
• Require supervisors/managers to implement policy and ensure it is understood.
• Emphasise that every employee carries responsibility for their behaviour.

All employees should:

• Be made aware - through induction, training, guidance and other processes - about their rights and personal responsibilities under the policy and understand the organisation’s commitment to deal with harassment.
• Know who to contact if they want to discuss their experiences to decide what steps to take.
• Know how to make a complaint and the timescales for any formal procedures.

The policy should be monitored and regularly reviewed for effectiveness, including:

• Records of complaints - why and how they occurred, who was involved and where.
• Individual complaints to ensure resolution and no victimisation.

It’s also essential that line managers understand their role in addressing all forms of inappropriate behaviour, and that they have access to help and support with appropriate confidentiality and sensitivity. There’s more in our Dealing with conflict at work guide.

All complaints should be dealt with promptly. 

Our work on managing conflict shows that a growing number of employers and employees are open to using an independent third party to help resolve workplace conflict. Mediation is a voluntary impartial process and can be used in alleged bullying and harassment cases where both parties are willing to participate and the complaint isn't at the serious end of the spectrum.

Listen to our podcast: Handling harassment: are you getting it right?

If informal approaches don’t work or aren’t appropriate, formal procedures should be triggered. 

Organisations should have a clear formal policy to deal with all types of grievances and disciplinary issues, including bullying and harassment.

Investigation

Formal allegations of harassment, bullying or any intimidating behaviour should be treated as a disciplinary offence. Investigation should include:

• A prompt, thorough and impartial response.
• Taking evidence from witnesses.
• Listening to both the alleged harasser and the complainant’s version of events.
• A time-scale for resolving the problem.
• Confidentiality in the majority of cases.

All sensitive information should be treated confidentially and meet the requirements of data protection law.

Confidentiality or Non-disclosure agreements (NDAs)

NDAs should never be used to cover up inappropriate behaviour and wrongdoing, such as harassment. People professionals have an important role to play in ensuring the ethical use of NDAs and that they are never used as a means to silence alleged victims of unfair treatment such as bullying and harassment. Acas guidance makes very clear that confidentiality clauses should not be used as a matter of routine and that there are many circumstances where it may be inappropriate and/or unlawful to use confidentiality clauses. Confidentiality clauses in settlement agreements will always be unenforceable where they attempt to hide something that cannot legally be kept confidential. 

Contacts

Acas - Discrimination, bullying and harassment

GOV.UK - Workplace bullying and harassment

Equalities and Human Rights Commission – What is harassment?

Sexual Harassment at Work - legal advice telephone helpline provided by charity Rights of Women

TUC – Reporting work-related violence

Books and reports

Equalities and Human Rights Commission. (2020) Sexual harassment and harassment at work: technical guidance. London: EHRC.

Evesson, J., Oxenbridge, S. and Taylor, D. (2015) Seeking better solutions: tackling bullying and ill-treatment in Britain’s workplaces. Acas Policy Discussion Paper. London: Acas.

Fisher, V. and Kinsey, S. (2018) Lifting the lid on sexual harassment and power in the workplace. CIPD Applied Research Conference Paper. Reviewed in Bitesize research.

Hoel, H., Lewis, D. and Einarsdottir, A. (2014) The ups and downs of LGBs’ workplace experiences: discrimination, bullying and harassment of lesbian, gay and bisexual employees in Britain. Manchester: Manchester Business School.

Quigg, A-M. (2015) The handbook of dealing with workplace bullying. Farnham: Gower.

Young, J. and Gifford, J. (2022) Bullying and incivility at work: an evidence review. Practice summary and recommendations. London: Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.

Journal articles

Atwal, M. (2019) What does the Stalking Protection Act mean for employers? People Management (online). 2 September.

Fox, R. (2017) Fair investigation of sexual harassment claims. People Management (online). 28 November.

Koshnitsky, N. (2019) Combating sexual harassment at work. People Management (online). 18 February.

Palmer, S. (2020) When is 'just banter' not just banter? People Management (online). 23 January.

Rubino, C. at al. (2018) And justice for all: How organizational justice climate deters sexual harassment. Personnel Psychology. Vol 71, No 4. pp519-544. Reviewed in Bitesize research.

Soakell, C. (2021) Tackling bullying and harassment in a remote working environment. People Management (online). 15 January.

CIPD members can use our online journals to find articles from over 300 journal titles relevant to HR.

Members and People Management subscribers can see articles on the People Management website.