Frustrated
14-11-2012, 11:53 PM
Hi,
I find myself in the unenviable position of working in an organisation where a staff member has alleged 'bullying and harassment' as part of a workcover claim. The problem I have is that while no individuals have been identified as the 'perpetrators' of the bullying/harassing behaviour it has reached a point where we have an external investigator coming to 'investigate' the claim. As one of a number of staff who supervise this individual's work I have been advised I will need to speak with the investigator. Prior to the 'allegation' the staff member's performance was identified as being below standard and despite the organisation's best efforts to provide the technical and management support to bring the staff member up to the standard of performance required, the staff member has essentially spent their time (the last three months) taking periods of leave (sick, carers, annual, TOIL etc) and on the rare occasion when in the office performing the minimal amount of work required.
The staff member has received nothing but support from the organisation in various forms: at least 60 hours of professional development training in attendance at various pan-Australia conferences, individual weekly mentoring sessions with a senior technical expert, fortnightly team meetings in collaborative and consultative environments etc. This is over a period of ten months, six months of which the individual was working 0.6 FTE.
It has reached a point where, for those involved in having to provide any kind of supervision of this individual's work, there is a great deal of apprehension and nervousness as there is now a fear that anything that could be said as part of feedback could be interpreted and presented by the individual as 'targeted bullying'.
The whole situation, which has been on-going for the last six months, has been incredibly demoralising and traumatic for those staff who have had to be involved. Outside of this individual the rest of the staff, as far as I'm aware, work well together in a collegial environment and have a common interest in pursuing the objectives of the organisation. This in itself I would see as being testament to the quality of staff employed at the organisation as they face a daily environment of challenges that could easily become overwhelming yet despite the pressure staff interact and engage with each other in a professional and caring way.
As I have at no time been provided with the details of the 'allegation' except being advised that no specific individuals were identified as being perpetrators of the bullying/harassing behaviour, I'm feeling as if I'm about to stand trial for a perceived offence which can't be articulated. Given the level of support that we've provided to this individual I'm also no longer sure how we can continue, as a team, to work with them after having to be subjected to external investigation. An internal investigation has already been conducted, again without any allegation against any particular individual being made. The finding of the internal investigation was that there was no evidence of any behaviour that could be perceived as bullying or harassment.
I'd be most grateful to receive advice about how this situation should/could be managed and suggestions about how to keep a team functioning with a team member whose views of their work environment differ significantly from everyone else. Having endured the internal investigation, which came out of the blue, and thinking it was water under the bridge and the team was reuniting, to have this next investigation to deal with has made me feel so depressed by the whole experience that I just want to burst into tears and because this has been on-going for the last six months I feel tempted to resign. I no longer have faith that my leadership skills are strong enough for me to be able to 'turn the other cheek' (despite no allegations being made about me) and to act as if it is business as usual and to treat this individual as I would any other member of the team.
Thanks.
I find myself in the unenviable position of working in an organisation where a staff member has alleged 'bullying and harassment' as part of a workcover claim. The problem I have is that while no individuals have been identified as the 'perpetrators' of the bullying/harassing behaviour it has reached a point where we have an external investigator coming to 'investigate' the claim. As one of a number of staff who supervise this individual's work I have been advised I will need to speak with the investigator. Prior to the 'allegation' the staff member's performance was identified as being below standard and despite the organisation's best efforts to provide the technical and management support to bring the staff member up to the standard of performance required, the staff member has essentially spent their time (the last three months) taking periods of leave (sick, carers, annual, TOIL etc) and on the rare occasion when in the office performing the minimal amount of work required.
The staff member has received nothing but support from the organisation in various forms: at least 60 hours of professional development training in attendance at various pan-Australia conferences, individual weekly mentoring sessions with a senior technical expert, fortnightly team meetings in collaborative and consultative environments etc. This is over a period of ten months, six months of which the individual was working 0.6 FTE.
It has reached a point where, for those involved in having to provide any kind of supervision of this individual's work, there is a great deal of apprehension and nervousness as there is now a fear that anything that could be said as part of feedback could be interpreted and presented by the individual as 'targeted bullying'.
The whole situation, which has been on-going for the last six months, has been incredibly demoralising and traumatic for those staff who have had to be involved. Outside of this individual the rest of the staff, as far as I'm aware, work well together in a collegial environment and have a common interest in pursuing the objectives of the organisation. This in itself I would see as being testament to the quality of staff employed at the organisation as they face a daily environment of challenges that could easily become overwhelming yet despite the pressure staff interact and engage with each other in a professional and caring way.
As I have at no time been provided with the details of the 'allegation' except being advised that no specific individuals were identified as being perpetrators of the bullying/harassing behaviour, I'm feeling as if I'm about to stand trial for a perceived offence which can't be articulated. Given the level of support that we've provided to this individual I'm also no longer sure how we can continue, as a team, to work with them after having to be subjected to external investigation. An internal investigation has already been conducted, again without any allegation against any particular individual being made. The finding of the internal investigation was that there was no evidence of any behaviour that could be perceived as bullying or harassment.
I'd be most grateful to receive advice about how this situation should/could be managed and suggestions about how to keep a team functioning with a team member whose views of their work environment differ significantly from everyone else. Having endured the internal investigation, which came out of the blue, and thinking it was water under the bridge and the team was reuniting, to have this next investigation to deal with has made me feel so depressed by the whole experience that I just want to burst into tears and because this has been on-going for the last six months I feel tempted to resign. I no longer have faith that my leadership skills are strong enough for me to be able to 'turn the other cheek' (despite no allegations being made about me) and to act as if it is business as usual and to treat this individual as I would any other member of the team.
Thanks.