Quick Answer
To create a bullying and harassment free workplace, take five steps: make it safe for people to speak up, set clear zero-tolerance policies, train every employee, make sure everyone understands the complaint procedure, and give managers and supervisors their own training. In Australia, preventing bullying and harassment is also a legal duty under work health and safety laws, not just good practice. This is general information, not legal advice.
In this guide
Workplace bullying is one of the most time-consuming and complex issues to resolve in any workplace.
There is often mixed opinion on what is bullying and what is not bullying, and it can occur from the top down or the bottom up.
Those who have been involved in HR for some time and have had to deal with workplaces that issues of bullying have polluted know very well just how challenging bullying cultures can be to turn around, or in fact, how difficult it can be to deal with that rogue employee who has slipped through the recruitment process and within no time has started to inflict their painful agenda on others.
This all talks to the old adage that prevention is better than cure and leaves us wondering if there is, in fact, a way to create a workplace that is free from matters such as workplace bullying, sexual harassment and discrimination…
As incidents of workplace bullying continue to rise in the Australian workplace, it has resulted in the need for employers to review the training and policies they have in place for such matters and a more deliberate approach to taking all reasonable steps when it comes to meeting their legal obligations for things like workplace bullying, sexual harassment and equal employment opportunity.
We have a long way to go. Fortunately, as the voice of HR becomes stronger in most businesses here in Australia, such matters are now becoming recognised as having a direct link to the overall success of an organisation.
Such changes are needed so that all employees, contractors and volunteers are aware and educated that workplace bullying is a serious issue and will not be tolerated.
Yale psychology professor Paul Bloom in his book Just Babies: The Origins of Good and Evil, concludes the nature of babies to be neither good nor bad (since babies do not have a developed concept of morality) but as narcissists.
Adults who have not outgrown their childhood narcissism will probably qualify as an eventual adult bully. Bullying in adult life will be heavily detrimental to both the work and the social life of the bully.
There is nothing worse than a man-child, in Jordan B. Peterson’s words. These adult bullies, or man-child, if you will, will not only cause trouble for themselves but most certainly for the people around them.
In this article, we will talk about the five steps to create a bullying and harassment free workplace. It will also provide ideas for how you can stop such workplace bullies from doing harm.
But first, let us start with what workplace bullying is.
What is Workplace Bullying?
Workplace bullying is repeated unreasonable behaviour towards another person or group which creates a risk to health and safety.
In Australia, Federal and State/Territory laws protect the rights of individuals and require safe workplaces and fair and equitable treatment. These laws apply to all workplaces in Australia, regardless of their size.
Workplace bullying can take many forms. It can be aggressive and in your face, or it can be subtle and can happen behind closed doors in hushed tones.
One in five Australian workers surveyed said they experienced verbal abuse or bullying in their current job in the last 12 months, said Dr Lindsay McMillan, lead researcher of HR think-tank Reventure following the 2017 Snapshot of The Australian Workplace, which had 1000 working Australian individuals as subjects.
Moreover, Joe Flanagan, Senior Consultant at Velvety Jobs, said to the HRD, It is high time we stamped out bullying in the workplace, which costs the economy $6 billion to $36 billion a year, according to the Productivity Commission.
Workplace harassment doesn’t only cause organisations monetarily, here are the other major factors that are harmful to your business due to workplace harassment:
- lost labour productivity
- increased absenteeism
- low group morale
- lost time spent documenting, pursuing or defending claims.
- increased employee turnover rate
- fall in stakeholder value, and
- brand damage
This all suggests that workplace bullying is a significant problem, which it is.
However, it is not an invincible problem, provided that we continue to invest in the right training, have the right policies in place, and invest in our supervisors and managers to be able to manage situations as they arise.
Why Preventing Bullying and Harassment Is Now a Legal Duty
Prevention is no longer only good practice. The model work health and safety laws now include regulations on psychosocial hazards, supported by a model Code of Practice on managing psychosocial hazards at work. Safe Work Australia says employers have a positive duty to do everything they reasonably can to prevent exposure to psychosocial hazards, and it names bullying, harassment, discrimination, aggression and violence among them. The model rules apply once a state or territory adopts them, so check the requirements with your local work health and safety regulator. Our guide on why psychosocial safety surveys are now a WHS legal obligation explains how employers can measure these risks.
Sexual harassment carries a second duty. Since December 2022, the Sex Discrimination Act has required employers to take reasonable and proportionate measures to eliminate workplace sexual harassment and related conduct, as far as possible. Both duties point the same way: act before a complaint arrives, which is exactly what the five steps to a bullying and harassment free workplace below are designed to do.
Step 1. Create A Space Where People Are Comfortable To Speak Up
It is of fundamental importance for a business to create a safe and all-inclusive space for its employees. A place where they are able to speak up if any misbehaviour happens to them in an unencumbered way.
In practice, a space where people are comfortable to speak up has a few things in common:
- More than one way to raise a concern. People can go to their manager, HR, a senior leader or a confidential channel, so nobody has to report through the person involved.
- Small issues get a response. A comment that is dealt with early rarely becomes a pattern.
- No punishment for speaking up. Make it clear that raising a genuine concern will not count against anyone, and act on any victimisation.
- Colleagues know what to do. People who see bullying are often the first to notice it. Our guide to being an active workplace bullying bystander covers what they can do.
Step 2. Establish Zero-Tolerance Anti-bullying and Harassment Policies
Roll out policies that are in line with the law and the core values of your company.
For example, Sentrient, which would be considered Australia’s #1 workplace compliance system for small and medium businesses and larger organisations, provide a workplace policy builder that allows HR teams to create, enrol and manage the completion of the organisation’s own workplace policies, along with version control and automatic reminder notifications.
These policies can also be stored in one place for ease of access. Some of the key policies include:
- Code of Conduct
- Equal Employment Opportunity
- IT, Internet, Email and Social Media Policies
- Privacy
- Sexual Harassment
- Work Health and Safety
- Workplace Bullying
Having policies in place will help to create a culture of zero tolerance.
However, without the presence of appropriate workplace compliance training, you are not taking all reasonable steps to address the situation and fall into the trap of having the best-written policies stored away someplace safe without it really addressing the big issue of helping people understand how to identify, report and resolve matters such as workplace bullying, sexual harassment and discrimination
Step 3. Provide Training and Awareness Programs for Employees
Despite what the media leads us to believe, matters such as bullying, harassment, and discrimination are not always physical and right in your face.
Sexual harassment can often be subtle unasked compliments, or inappropriate physical contact, right in the middle of a normal working office environment.
These are often hard to identify and often not reported. Hence allowing such behaviours by considering them to be acceptable around here is common.
Of course, what starts as a small issue can often become a much bigger issue really quickly.
Workplace compliance training through proper methods and channels can not only spread awareness and prevent non-compliant behaviour in your workplace but also help employees identify what constitutes harassment and how to report such incidents.
One example of a highly effective and practical training solution is Sentrient’s online workplace compliance courses that are easy to understand and take approximately 15-20 minutes to complete each topic in the training suite.
People often comment that the training is a very tasteful, appropriate and effective way to educate staff at induction and on an ongoing basis, for most organisations, this is every 12 months, however, in some cases, it may be every 24 months.
Whilst there is no hard and fast rule on refresher training, it is highly recommended that we undertake a continuous regime of training updates in many and varied forms and that we do not leave such training bites any longer than 24 months at a time.
In other words, providing a small component of training when somebody first starts with you and thinking that it ticks the box forever just does not cut it and never did.
There is still a gap to close. In the Australian Human Rights Commission’s Time for Respect survey, only two in five workers said they had attended training that addressed sexual harassment.
Step 4. Make Sure Everyone Understands the Complaint Procedure
According to the Australian Human Rights Commission, only 17% of the people who feel they have been sexually harassed actually report sexual harassment that happens in the workplace.
The idea of training staff on what is and is not sexual harassment and how to identify, report and resolve it means that if there is an incident in the workplace, you are more likely to have such conduct reported.
The benefit of having it reported is that you can then take steps to resolve it well before it becomes a bigger issue in the majority of situations.
The Commission’s 2022 survey found the picture had barely changed, with only 18% of workplace sexual harassment formally reported. A complaint procedure only works if people know it exists and trust it. A clear procedure answers these questions for every employee:
| Question | What your procedure should say |
|---|---|
| Who can I report to? | A manager, HR or a senior leader, and another option if the person involved is your manager |
| How can I report? | In person, in writing or through an online or confidential channel |
| What happens next? | Who looks at the complaint, the likely timeframe and when you will hear back |
| Will it stay confidential? | Who will know about it, and how information is protected |
| Am I protected? | A clear statement that nobody will be punished for raising a genuine concern |
| Where can I get support? | Support options such as an employee assistance program, and outside bodies such as the Fair Work Commission, the Australian Human Rights Commission or your state work health and safety regulator |
Once a complaint arrives, it needs a fair and consistent response. Our guide on how to investigate a complaint of workplace bullying walks through the process step by step, and an incident management system can give staff a confidential way to report and keep each complaint and its outcome in one place.
Step 5. Create Specialised Training for Managers and Supervisors
Whilst we all have a responsibility to contribute to a safe, fair and inclusive workplace, management has to take the lead.
A lot of organisations don’t acknowledge that bullying is happening in the workplace.
Often the bullying is being carried out by managers or is not visible to management until it is too late.
Even if managers recognise bullying behaviour, they may be hesitant to address the bullying, especially if the bully is productive or profitable for the organisation.
Bullying and harassment prevention training and continual communication by the organisation on its expectations around behaviour are critical.
Managers also need to be trained separately to respond appropriately to bullying complaints.
Training such as workplace bullying training for managers and supervisors covers how to spot early signs, respond to a complaint and avoid making the situation worse.
How to Create a Bullying and Harassment Free Workplace: The 5 Steps at a Glance
Use this checklist to check your progress towards a bullying and harassment free workplace.
| Step | What to put in place | How you know it is working |
|---|---|---|
| 1. A space to speak up | Several ways to raise concerns, including a confidential option, and a clear no-victimisation message | Concerns are raised early, including small ones |
| 2. Zero-tolerance policies | Bullying, harassment and discrimination policies that staff have read and acknowledged | You can show who has acknowledged each policy and when |
| 3. Training for employees | Training at induction and refreshers at least every 12 to 24 months | Completion records are up to date and staff can name examples of unacceptable behaviour |
| 4. The complaint procedure | A written procedure covering who, how, what happens next, confidentiality and support | Staff know how to report, and complaints are handled within the stated timeframe |
| 5. Training for managers | Separate training on preventing and responding to bullying and harassment | Managers respond to concerns quickly and consistently, whoever is involved |
Get a free demo of Sentrient’s online workplace compliance system.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. How do you create a bullying and harassment free workplace?
Make it safe for people to speak up, set clear zero-tolerance policies, train every employee at induction and regularly after that, make sure everyone understands the complaint procedure, and give managers and supervisors their own training on preventing and responding to bullying and harassment.
2. Do employers have a legal duty to prevent bullying and harassment in the workplace?
Yes. Under work health and safety laws, employers must do what they reasonably can to manage psychosocial hazards, which include bullying and harassment. For sexual harassment, the Sex Discrimination Act also requires employers to take reasonable and proportionate measures to eliminate it as far as possible.
3. How do employees report bullying in the workplace?
Most workplaces let employees report bullying to their manager, HR or a senior leader, and many offer a confidential channel. If the bullying involves their manager, they can use another route. Employees can also seek help from outside bodies such as the Fair Work Commission or their state work health and safety regulator.
4. How often should bullying and harassment training be done?
Train people when they start and refresh it regularly. Many organisations refresh every 12 months, and it is good practice not to leave it longer than 24 months. Short, regular training tends to stick better than one long session.
5. What should managers do when they receive a bullying complaint?
Listen, take it seriously and follow the complaint procedure. Keep it as confidential as possible, make sure the person is supported and not victimised, and arrange a fair, impartial investigation where needed. Record each step.
This article is general information only and is not legal advice. Obligations vary by state and territory and by employment arrangement, so seek advice from an employment law professional for your situation.
Sources
HRD Australia, Workplace bullying surges in 12 months: report (2017)
Australian Human Rights Commission, Time for Respect survey results (media release)
Australian Human Rights Commission, Everyone’s Business: 2018 National Survey on Sexual Harassment
Last reviewed: October 2026
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