Cyber Harassment At Work

Cyber harassment at work rarely happens at work. It happens at eleven at night, in a group chat, on someone’s own phone, and employers often conclude it is therefore not their business.

That conclusion is unsafe. Where conduct is connected to employment, arising between colleagues and affecting the working relationship, it can engage the employer’s duties whichever device or platform carried it.

The connection is what matters, not the location or the hardware. A team chat set up for work purposes is a work channel even on personal phones. Contact between colleagues that only exists because they work together is connected to employment.

The practical implication is that your policy needs to say this plainly, because staff and managers both default to assuming that personal devices are out of scope.

The Australian Human Rights Commission covers employer duties. This is general information rather than legal advice, and obligations vary by state and territory.

See Sentrient’s internet and social media course and respect at work training.