Workplace behaviour investigation - Warehouse environment
Industry: Home improvements - retail
Background: A long serving warehouse operator (claimant) made a formal claim of bullying against his direct supervisor and manager. The claimant was also a devout Christian, working in a part time assistant pastor capacity at his local church and declining to work overtime on a Sunday as required under his employment contract.
One of the respondents did not believe he would receive an ‘independent nor fair ‘ investigation from the client’s HR manager and insisted on an independent investigation process.
The claimant alleged he was yelled at and sworn at and intimidated on separate occasions by his supervisor and manager and that these events were witnessed. The claimant also alleged that his manager made several disparaging comments about his faith and had said, for example,“God does not come before your job.”
Actions/project: Sharon from AblesonHowes and Assoc was engaged to conduct an independent investigation, interviewing the claimant, respondents and witnesses.
Findings: The claimant agreed that the behaviour of yelling and swearing at him was a ‘one off’ and had not occurred prior to nor following the event which was the subject of the complaint. He did not feel victimised as a result of making the complaint. Technically, the behaviour, as ‘isolated incidents’ was not bullying.
However, the investigation found it was reasonable to conclude that the incidents did occur and that the behaviour was not appropriate for a supervisor or a manager and was a potential breach of the company’s code of conduct. It was not deemed reasonable management action.
The root cause of the incidents identified customs and practises that had been established and worked for some time but not documented, a lack of consultation or formal process about work changes; no formal training of a supervisor regarding performance management nor leadership skills; lack of communication regarding the behavioural expectations of a manager and supervisor. Furthermore, the investigation revealed that management did not have a good understanding of ‘workplace rights ‘ or adverse action and the Company’s new code of conduct policy had not been rolled out and communicated.
The investigation report also raised questions about the warehouse culture and the claims by the supervisor and manager that ‘everyone swears in the warehouse’.
Outcome: Senior management ensured the Code of Conduct was effectively rolled out and a signed declaration of acceptance for each employee. A performance related discussion regarding role modelling expected behaviours was proposed. Training for all ‘people manager roles’ on workplace rights, laws and expectations was proposed, as was front line leadership training to provide skills to deal with difficult situations and the importance of role modelling. A recommendation was also made regarding the need to improve documentation around workplace changes.