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Culture and Addressing Misconduct at Work

By: Miki Ackermann, Culture & Talent Works

Is your workplace set up to reflect your core values and foster a healthy working environment?

At Culture & Talent Works we talk about workplace culture a lot… because experience and research has shown us that having a healthy working environment is good for business – it boosts employee retention, satisfaction, and engagement, which impact positively on customer interactions and satisfaction, and this can turn up profitability and growth.

 

Ask yourself: what have you done to make sure your staff, students, volunteers, outside agents, and others who work with you understand your core values? What about the behaviours that underpin those core values? Do they understand your cultural and behavioural expectations? And what have you done lately to maintain and celebrate your workplace culture?

 

Part of building a healthy workplace culture is addressing misconduct and inappropriate behaviour, in a timely manner, and having the right policies and practices in place to establish clear workplace expectations.  For example, do you have a workplace policy and program to prevent and handle harassment, bullying, violence, and discrimination?

 

The Ontario Employment Standards Act and most North American jurisdictions expect business owners and employers to establish clear policies and guidelines around assessing the risks of and preventing workplace violence, harassment, bullying, and discrimination. Beyond drafting policies, employers are required to set up clear procedures to assess risks, investigate and deal with allegations of misbehaviour in the workplace, and, importantly, train their staff about their workplace harassment and violence policy and program on a yearly basis.


Does your workplace have these requirements (policies, program, and training) in place?

 

HOT TIP:  If you are in Canada, such as in Ontario, there are free resources online that can help you draft your workplace violence and harassment policy and program, including free online e-learning awareness programs.

 

PS: Consider adding bystander training to your workplace violence program. A helping effect happens when one person speaks out; it prompts others to join in. In other words, the workplace will function better when everybody takes responsibility for making it healthy and bystander training empowers everyone to know what to do when they witness things going sideways.

 

If this seems overwhelming, reach out to us; we’ll help you make it happen.

For more information and tips, check out our blogs at www.cultureandtalentworks.com.


 

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