States launch anti-bullying hotline

Tuesday 06 November 2018

Jersey's government is launching a new hotline to crack down on harassment at work in the wake of a damning report which exposed rampant bullying within the States.

The hotline is part of a wider anti-bullying campaign by the States Employment Board (SEB) – the employer of all public sector staff – which will be launched in January next year.

The new policies were detailed by SEB Chairman Senator Tracey Vallois at a quarterly Scrutiny hearing with the Chief Minister, and they respond directly to the findings of the recent HR Lounge consultancy report which exposed a “high level” of secret bullying within the States.

Amongst these were plans to establish an external anti-bullying hotline. Senator Vallois told the Scrutiny panel: “We will also be establishing what we call the ‘Expo Link’… this will be a third-party speak up line for staff so if they feel they can’t go directly to their line manager, they can contact this particular third party and express the issues they’re facing.”

Pictured: The quarterly Chief Minister's Scrutiny hearing where Senator Tracey Vallois explained SEB's approach to resolving the findings of the HR Lounge report.

The previously confidential £22,000 review into cases of alleged bullying was made public following an Express Freedom of Information (FOI) request.

In response, the SEB are putting together policies to tackle the “significant” bullying and harassment problem and culture of silence propped up by the fear of many that speaking out against bullies would be “career wrecking”.

In answer to a question from Constable Richard Vibert about upcoming whistleblowing and harassment policies, Senator Vallois told the Scrutiny panel that after the findings of the HR Lounge report, confronting bullying and harassment is a “huge priority” of hers.

The SEB Chairman then went on to outline that they will be introducing a range of anti-bullying strategies and training.

“[The] first step to success is briefing line managers and ensuring that we have support tools for them, particularly with bullying and harassment that the emphasis is on calling out inappropriate behaviour.”

Pictured: The findings of the HR Lounge report have kickstarted new anti-bullying policies which will be launched in the new year.

Senator Vallois also spoke about ensuring line managers “know how to respond” to whistleblowing as well as “working with internal [communications] to promote that everyone has a role” in tackling workplace bullying “to start the shifting stance in terms of the culture”. The Chairman even spoke of creating a brand or strapline to spearhead the anti-bullying campaign, mentioning an example from Australia – “don’t be a silent witness”.

Elsewhere in the hearing, Chief Minister John Le Fondré condemned the behaviour unveiled in the report as "absolutely unacceptable" and that the States have "fully accepted all its recommendations". Director of HR Employment Relations & Organisational Development Chris Stephenson also committed to bringing the consultants back next year to conduct a new report on whether the situation has improved since their last review.

The rest of the Scrutiny hearing discussed the public sector pay dispute where Senator Vallois explained the SEB were meeting yesterday afternoon to discuss “five or six options” as alternatives to the so-called ‘final’ offer that was overwhelmingly rejected by States workers.

The Chief Minister was also grilled on the fact encouraging diversity and representation in Jersey was not mentioned in the Common Strategic Policy and Chief Executive Charlie Parker fielded questions about the reorganisation of States’ departments and senior States appointments.