A conversation about harassment and bullying.

Harassment and bullying, is a big impact, emotive topic that is not often openly discussed. Indeed, in 2023, staff feedback within the School of Medicine, Cardiff University, highlighted that some people were not confident about understanding the processes around reporting or dealing with harassment and bullying in the workplace.

Cardiff University has a zero tolerance approach to behaviours of harassment, bullying and victimisation and provides support and clear guidance for anyone who experiences or witnesses unacceptable behaviours. These are clearly laid out in the dignity at work and study policy.

With the aim of raising awareness of this Cardiff University policy to address the staff feedback, Prof Paul Brennan and myself,  as co-chairs of the Equality, Diversity and Inclusivity (EDI) committee within the Centre for Medical Education (C4ME), sat down to discuss this topic. We recorded our conversation and have packaged this into two audio files, which are available as a “A conversation about harassment and bullying” padlet.  In the first part of our conversation, 14min in length, we covered the definitions of harassment and bullying, and how to recognise the signs and impact it is having on you, while the second part of our conversation, just over 18mins in length, we covered what the dignity at work policy says and the difference between informal and formal arrangements.

Other key documents that can be found on the intranet include information about the employee assistance programme, and free wellbeing workshops, training, and support, as well as Cardiff University’s Our Community commitment. and links to Support available from recognized trade unions.