By Emilia Palka

Just as you may have got your head around bullying in the workplace, the entire issue has become exceptionally more complicated.

With the COVID-19 pandemic forcing thousands of workers to reassess their working arrangements, the employment sphere has appreciably shifted over the last three-and-a-half years. According to data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, more than 40 per cent of employed people regularly worked from home in the last quarter of 2021.

However, while restrictions have eased, working from home has become part of the new normal for many employers and employees owing to its many successes.

Consequently, bullying in the workplace has effortlessly invaded a previously less accessible arena – the internet – and with minimalised physical interaction across digital distances, remote workplaces are now a breeding ground for misunderstandings and disagreements.

Employer’s Workplace Health and Safety (WHS) obligations, which includes providing so far as is reasonably practicable a safe and healthy work environment for all staff, extend to any place that an employee is at work, including working from home. This means that employers have a duty of care to stamp out bullying not only in the physical workplace but also to ensure that an employee is safe at work wherever they may be working, which ultimately includes addressing bullying via digital channels.

Australia’s eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant reported in July 2022 that one in two Australians have experienced technology-facilitated abuse at some point in their lifetime, according to research conducted by Australia’s National Research Organisation for Women’s Safety (ANROWS).

Inman Grant said the research showed technology “is currently giving perpetrators round-the-clock access to their targets.”

The eSafety Commissioner also reported an all-time spike in cyberbullying reports in October 2021. Meanwhile, according to the ANROWS report, 6.8 per cent of abusers/relationships with abuser were work colleagues or ex-colleagues – which may sound small, but as a proportion of the total population of people estimated to have been bullied, is still tens of thousands of victims.

So, what could potentially constitute bullying or harassment of remote workers?

Examples could include:

• Abusive language in communications, whether recorded in writing, or on video or audio
• Posting comments about an employee/colleague on social media / gaining access to their accounts
• Demonstrably micromanaging an employee
• Demonstrating bias

Luckily, where there’s a workplace bullying problem, there’s a workplace bullying solution.

HR Assured helps tens of thousands of businesses across two countries and has a go-to suite of both quantitative and qualitative well-being measures – essentially, antidotes for bullying.

Perhaps more importantly, HR Assured can guide you through the correct response when instigating, receiving, or investigating bullying accusations. HR Assured can also talk you through what might leave a business vulnerable to receiving a Stop Bullying Order from the Fair Work Commission.

Whether it turns out bullying accusations are warranted or unprovable, we’ll help you do the right thing for the business and for all the people involved. Contact us so we can help.