18 Apr 2018
Wendy Sneddon discusses ways of preventing intimidating behaviour between colleagues in the workplace, highlighting to key decision-makers the fact this type of conduct does not necessarily only happen in the school playground.
Wendy Sneddon
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Veterinary practice support organisations are becoming increasingly concerned about the number of vets and veterinary nurses leaving the profession, and the subsequent shortage we are experiencing. Have you ever wondered why some people leave your practice?
A VetNurse.co.uk and VetSurgeon.org survey (Everitt, 2017) revealed some worrying statistics for the veterinary profession. In the past year, 677 participants reported being on the receiving end of one of 15 types of behaviour. These ranged from being belittled and talking about behind their back, to repeated and unfair criticism. Participants were also specifically asked only to respond if the behaviour was repeated, rather than an isolated incident.
Veterinary practices tend to operate as tight-knit teams of dedicated professionals, which, at their best, are inspirational and make them a great place to work in. Unfortunately, however, this doesn’t make them immune to developing a bullying culture, or ignoring isolated instances of bullying behaviour.
Business owners and line managers would obviously prefer to provide a harmonious and productive work environment. Indeed, the financial cost of getting this wrong can be significant. Costs can vary – from higher instances of staff absence, as well as high staff turnover and related recruitment and training costs, to tribunal fines.
Tribunals recognise harassment can take its toll on employees and can award compensation relating to injury to feelings of £10,000 or more. This cost doesn’t take into account the damage to a practice’s reputation in being taken to an employment tribunal.
It is worth noting tribunals will look for evidence of how an employer responded to the harassment in the form of existing policies and procedures, and how these were implemented. A detailed analysis of how tribunals view harassment in the workplace can be found via Citizens Advice.
As a starting point, to make sure you are protecting your staff from bullying and harassment, you should revisit your discipline and grievance policies, as well as ensure your equal opportunities policy includes a description of bullying behaviour that is subject to disciplinary action. You may also wish to have a stand-alone bullying policy.
It’s also important to make sure all your staff have read these policies, and know where to access them in the future. A practice can have robust policies that are fit for purpose, but do you really want your members of staff to have to rely on these?
Bullying and harassment thrive in the dark. Where instances of unpleasant behaviour go unchallenged or unnoticed, the staff member on the receiving end can see the behaviour escalate to an extent where his or her mental health is affected. At the very least, everyone is entitled to a safe working environment.
A variety of techniques exist to keep bullying out of your veterinary practice – most of which follow that old adage, “prevention is better than cure”. I would recommend organising training for managers to make sure they are aware of discrimination legislation. They should be well-versed in practice policies and comfortable in how these should be used.
It isn’t always easy to recognise and challenge bullying behaviour; however, these are skills that can be fostered through training and coaching. I have coached key members of veterinary practices in how to mediate when disputes arise between members of staff. If you are close enough to your staff to pick up on frustrations and conflict as they arise, some early intervention can resolve issues before they escalate.
Sometimes a practice can foster an attitude of “sink or swim”. This may lead to a hostile or bullying work environment and, more often than not, this work style comes from the top. A practice owner or manager may be completely unaware he or she is, in fact, fostering a toxic work environment.
High staff turnover, high absence levels, disengaged team members – these are all signs of something not right in your practice. As difficult as this might be, you have to think about whether your style of working is making it difficult for members of your team to work effectively – or, indeed, safely.
It is difficult to analyse your work behaviour in isolation, but a number of tools can help in this reflection. I have found using a team feedback questionnaire can be effective, whereby the manager rates himself or herself against a number of statements. Team members are then given the opportunity to rate the manager against slightly differently worded statements.
For example, the manager’s statement could read “I am confident when dealing with others”, while the team statement could read “he/she appears confident in their dealings with me.”
The (anonymised) answers can be illuminating. I would recommend the results of the questionnaire are shared with the manager as part of a coaching session. This isn’t a negative process; instead it offers the opportunity to learn about how your management style impacts on your team. You can build on this self-knowledge to become a more effective manager, which, in turn, can lead to a more productive and happy team.
We all know the level of dedication it takes to become an effective member of the team, whether you’re a vet, VN, receptionist or practice manager. It isn’t good enough that we’re losing people from the profession due to bullying and harassment.
Every veterinary practice can make sure its staff thrive by acknowledging bullying does exist and employing a range of strategies to keep bullying out of the workplace:
If you are affected by anything mentioned in this article, Vetlife offers help to anyone in the veterinary community.
Meanwhile, if you believe issues may exist in your team, you need some support in ensuring your work environment remains positive, or you would like help in developing policies that work for your practice, I am happy to help. Feel free to email me at [email protected]
