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Cyberbullying Policy

Employers are advised to have well-publicised policies on the use of social networking sites and what inappropriate use will trigger disciplinary action. This might include excessive use during working hours or might relate to the kind of information posted on such sites. Many policies make it a disciplinary offence to post derogatory remarks about the employer or his or her business. As well as the problems of managing the use of social media, a further management challenge arising from the spread of ICT and social networking media is cyberbullying, which could be defined as “any use of information and communications technology to support deliberate and hostile attempts to hurt, upset or embarrass another person”.

A 2007 survey suggested that one in ten workers in the UK believed that workplace cyberbullying was a problem and that one in five had been bullied by e-mail and one in 16 said that they had been bullied by text message. Given the rapid extension of the use of technology since then, these figures may well be conservative.

In many instances, cyberbullying will be covered by the employer’s policy on bullying and harassment even though it is not specifically identified as a form of bullying, and employers should respond to complaints by following the procedures laid down in their policy. Updating it to ensure that cyberbullying is covered would leave no loophole for offenders.

Cyberbullying becomes an issue for the employer when it originates in the workplace and affects the physical or mental wellbeing of an employee. The employer has a duty of care towards all its employees under health and safety legislation, and a failure to exercise that care could result in claims for work-related stress and/or breach of contract.

The policy set out below could either be incorporated into an existing policy on bullying and harassment or used as a stand-alone policy.

Policy Statement

[Name of organisation] has a zero tolerance policy towards all forms of bullying and harassment and this includes bullying using technology such as mobile phones and computers whether it takes place within the workplace or outside. Any employee found to be in breach of the policy will be subject to the disciplinary policy and disciplinary action could include dismissal.

Definition of Cyberbullying

Cyberbullying includes:

• offensive e-mails — sending offensive e-mails to a colleague (even if this is meant as a joke) — and continuing to send similar messages having already been asked to stop
• e-mail threats — this might also include ostensibly relatively inoffensive messages in terms of actual content where it is the implied meaning behind the message that constitutes a form of bullying. An example of this might be where a superior is using e-mail to bombard an employee with more work than he or she can handle, while other members of the team are not being treated in the same way
• posting blogs and leaving comments on social networking sites — it may be that a person does not experience any direct form of cyberbullying, being unaware that the bully is posting offensive messages about him or her on sites in the public domain
• propagating defamatory gossip about employees on social networking sites and blogs
• threats or offensive comments sent to a person’s mobile phone via SMS text messages
• harassment by e-mail — sending persistent e-mails to a person when previous e-mail approaches have been rejected
• sharing a person’s private data online — posting somebody’s personal details, ie those which they would not normally want to share with complete strangers, such as home addresses and phone numbers — in such a way that they becomes available to the general public
• picture/video-clip bullying via mobile phone cameras
• chat room bullying
• bullying via websites

Although similar in many respects to other forms of bullying, cyberbullying also has some very specific features.

• It invades both home and personal space
• The size of the audience can be vast
• Electronically-circulated messages can be difficult to control
• The bully can feel relatively anonymous
• It can have a large number of “bystanders” or “accessories”
• Much (if not all) of the bullying may take place out of working hours.

The Aims of the Policy

Through this policy we aim to:

• raise awareness amongst employees about cyberbullying
• provide a safe work environment in which preventative measures are in place to deter cyberbullying
• ensure systems are in place to deal with cyberbullying should it occur.

Procedure

Prevention

In order that these aims can be fulfilled, a number of preventative measures will be taken.

Procedure

Awareness-raising — Employees

All new employees will be made aware of this policy and its fellow policy on bullying and harassment and in particular:

• what constitutes cyberbullying (the list will not be exhaustive)
• that this cyberbullying is unacceptable behaviour and may lead to disciplinary action
• how to report any incidents of cyberbullying to which they have been subjected.

Awareness-raising — Managers

Managers should be in the best position to notice if a member of staff is distressed at work and should investigate the cause. Managers will also be given training in the policy and how it should be applied.

Dealing with Cyberbullying Incidents

There is often some visual evidence after cyberbullying has taken place. Employees should be encouraged to pass this on to their managers. In some cases, it will be necessary to contact mobile phone companies, Internet service providers or social networking sites.

The following advice should be given to those experiencing cyberbullying.

• Do not retaliate or reply.
• Block or remove offenders from buddy lists.
• Review the information you are giving out.
• Make sure you tell your manager and raise a formal complaint so that this can be properly investigated.
• Try to keep calm and do not let the bully see a reaction.

If the person responsible for the bullying is identified, sanctions will be applied under organisation’s disciplinary policy. In addition, the following sanctions might be implemented, depending upon the nature and severity of the bullying.

• restricting the use of equipment, such as mobile phones, during working hours
• withdrawing access to the Internet for a set period of time
• limiting use of the Internet for a set period of time
• contacting the police, where the cyberbullying is sufficiently severe
• informing external agencies such as social networking or e-mail member sites.

Support will be provided for the victim. This may include meeting the bully to discus what has happened and agree a way forward.

Equal Opportunities

As with other forms of bullying, cyberbullying is prone to being driven by prejudice. The organisation is alert to the possibilities of sexist, racist and homophobic cyberbullying. Although all victims of bullying can be reluctant to discuss their experiences, victims of homophobic bullying may be particularly so.

Monitoring Success

The HR department will review the policy on an annual basis. It will address the following questions.

• How many incidents of cyberbullying have been recorded in the past 12 months?
• Is there evidence of actions resulting from reported incidents of cyberbullying?
• Have the actions been effective, ie has the behaviour desisted?
• When talking to staff, is there an awareness of what cyberbullying is and what to do if they encounter it?

Staff surveys will also include questions about the effectiveness of this policy.

Linked Policies

Other policies which should be referred to include [insert your own list; the following is an example]:

• discipline
• bullying and harassment
• equal opportunities
• use of the Internet and social networking.

Further Information

Most of the published information about cyberbullying relates to school children and there are several Internet sites providing help and support for them, but little for adults.

In 2009, Acas commissioned a study from the Institute for Employment Studies which looked at the use of social media and contains some useful insights into actions taken by a small number of employers. It also addresses the issue of cyberbullying. The research paper “Workplace Social Networking: The Implications for Employment Relations”, ref 11/11 is available from the Acas website.

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Responsible Person: {{org_field_registered_manager_first_name}} {{org_field_registered_manager_last_name}}

Reviewed on: {{last_update_date}}

Next review date: this policy is reviewed annually (every 12 months). When needed, this policy is also updated in response to changes in legislation, regulation, best practices, or organisational changes.

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