October 14, 2026 Bullying, Harassment & Inappropriate Behaviour, Human Resources

How to address bullying and inappropriate behaviour in the workplace – before it happens

How to deal with bullying and inappropriate behaviour

Imagine discovering that a colleague has been looking at photographs of you in swimming gear, showing them to other workers, zooming in on parts of your body and making inappropriate comments.

Now imagine that, after your employer tries to dismiss them, flaws in the process mean they are reinstated, and you may have to continue working alongside them.

This was the situation at the centre of a recent Fair Work Commission decision. We asked employment lawyer Warwick Ryan about how NFP leaders and HR teams can navigate allegations of bullying and inappropriate behaviour in the workplace, how to prevent problems from escalating.

August 16, 2023 Bullying, Harassment & Inappropriate Behaviour, Culture and Values, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, Legal Issues

Every Australian employer has new duties under the Sex Discrimination Act – here’s what you need to know

Australian employers have new duties under the Sex Discrimination Act

You may well have missed it, but in December 2022 changes to the federal Sex Discrimination Act came into affect. The legal changes have been made to better protect workers from sexual harassment and other forms of sex discrimination, harassment, and unfair treatment in the workplace, and they impose some significant new responsibilities on every Australian employer, including every NFP organisation.

These are the seven new standards that the Commission expects all organisations to satisfy the positive duty under the Sex Discrimination Act, plus some advice on what to do next to make sure your organisation is compliant.

August 5, 2021 Bullying, Harassment & Inappropriate Behaviour, Culture and Values, Health & Wellbeing, Legal Issues

How to respond to serious incidents in the workplace – best practice guidelines from the federal parliamentary review

Multiple sexual assault and sexual harassment complaints from workers and staffers at Parliament House in Canberra this year have been a cautionary tale for many organisations on how not to handle a serious workplace incident.

Here are 14 best-practice recommendations drawn from the Foster report that can help to improve your organisation’s response should a serious work place incident occur in your workplace.

October 21, 2020 Bullying, Harassment & Inappropriate Behaviour, Culture and Values, Human Resources, Legal Issues

Should your NFP have an employee code of conduct?

Every organisation has expectations of how their staff should behave at work. But without writing down those expectations, it’s easy for misunderstandings or differing expectations to form among your staff and volunteers.

To help avoid this, more NFPs are turning to a written employee code of conduct to provide clear expectations about what how staff should or shouldn’t behave at work.

December 17, 2018 Bullying, Harassment & Inappropriate Behaviour, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, Organisational Strategy

4 ways to stop racism in the workplace

More than six years ago the Australian Human Rights Commission launched the “Racism. It Stops with Me” campaign under then Race Discrimination Commissioner Dr Tim Soutphommasane. Since then more than 400 organisations have pledged their commitment to anti-racism.

June 21, 2018 Bullying, Harassment & Inappropriate Behaviour, Legal Issues

Inquiry into workplace sexual harrassment launched by the Human Rights Commission

Spurred into action by the global #MeToo movement, the Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has announced a national inquiry into sexual harassment in Australian workplaces.

Sex Discrimination Commissioner Kate Jenkins says the global conversation about sexual harassment and the #MeToo movement has exposed the true prevalence of the problem and the harm it causes to individuals, workplaces and society.

May 11, 2016 Bullying, Harassment & Inappropriate Behaviour, Health & Wellbeing, Managing People Well

Like a ‘cancer’ of the workplace, bullying is a symptom of dysfunction

Bullying is often called the “cancer” of the workplace. But unlike cancer, bullying is not a disease. Rather, it’s a symptom of poor organisational functioning.

So what can be done about it?

August 21, 2013 Bullying, Harassment & Inappropriate Behaviour, Managing People Well, Organisational Strategy

New workplace bullying laws: Impacts for the not-for-profit sector

– Sponsored Content – From 1 January 2014, changes to the Fair Work Act will provide workers who reasonably believe that they are being bullied at work with a quick way to stop the bullying by making application to the Fair Work Commission for orders to prevent the bullying. The changes are part of the […]