OHR information relating to Bullying, Harassment and Grievance reported instances

Summary

The request sought statistics on bullying, harassment, and grievance cases from 2011, but the Cabinet Office could only provide data from 2013 onwards due to record-keeping limitations and confidentiality regarding mediation outcomes.

Key Facts

• Records for bullying and harassment do not extend back to 2011, so data for 2011-2013 is unavailable.
• Centralized records for bullying/harassment cases began in 2013.
• Mediation is a confidential process, so no records are kept regarding success or failure rates.
• Grievance procedure records do not provide a breakdown of reasons for complaints, such as bullying.
• The 'Mediators for Health' service was opened to all government staff in 2015 after being exclusive to one department since 2011.

Data Disclosed

• 2011
• 2013
• 2015
• 22 September 2017
• 10 October 2011
• 11 October 2011
• 1 January 2011
• 10 October 2011
• IM104212I

Exemptions Cited

• Information not held or cannot be found after reasonable steps
• Confidentiality of mediation process prevents disclosure of outcomes
• Records do not exist for the requested period (2011-2013)

Data Tables (5)

Full Response Text

1

REFERENCE NUMBER: IM104212I

REQUEST UNDER THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2015 (“the Act”) Thank you for your online application dated 22 September 2017 for the following information (clarification shown in bold): “Since the beginning of 2011, how many reported instances of Bullying have there been to the Office of Human Resources by Public Servants in total? (The total is to include the Bullying and Harassment procedure and the Grievance Procedure and any similar procedures in place for Civil Servants/Whitley Council Workers and other Public Servants between 1 January 2011-2017. The answer should provide numbers of complaints under each policy.) The number of instances of reported bullying for each individual Government Department/Board/ Office? How many of these instances have been formally dealt with? How many informally dealt with? How many of these instances have resulted in an employee loosing their job? How many of these instances have resulted in attendance at mediation? How many of those cases were successful/unsuccessful?” Response to your request
We can confirm that the records held by the Office of Human Resources in respect of Bullying, Harassment and Grievance do not extend back to 2011. We are therefore unable to supply such information under the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information for the period 1 January 2011 to 10 October 2011. While our aim is to provide information whenever possible under the Act, for information created on or after 11 October 2011, in this instance the public authority does not hold or cannot, after taking reasonable steps to do so, find all of the information that you have requested. We do attach in Appendix 1 a summary of reported cases of bullying/harassment since records were kept centrally, namely since 2013. The numbers are based on when cases were opened. It is possible that these figures do not include all cases that have arisen as some may have been dealt with formally/informally at Department level. The correct procedure for reporting bullying would be the Fairness at Work policy, formerly known as the Bullying and Harassment policy, in January 2015. The current Fairness at Work Policy operates on the basis of complaints being investigated informally in the first instance, and where possible for these to be dealt with through means other than formal action, e.g. mediation.

Government Office DOUGLAS Isle of Man IM1 3PN Tel: (+44) 01624 686244 Fax: (+44) 01624 685710 Website www.gov.im/co
2

Mediation is, by its nature, a confidential process between (usually) two individuals, and is used to try to resolve workplace conflict, not just complaints of bullying. No records are kept of that process. It is therefore not possible to provide details how many have been successful or unsuccessful in bullying cases.
The grievance procedures are not intended to report instances of bullying, harassment or victimisation and our records do not give a breakdown of the reasons for the grievance being lodged. However, I attach for your information at Appendix 2 a summary of reported cases of grievance since records were kept centrally. It is possible that the figures do not include all cases, as some grievances may have been dealt with at Department level.
Mediation

Mediation is currently offered via the IOM Government’s internal mediation service (Mediators for Health). The service was set up by one Department, exclusively for its staff, in October 2011. In 2015, following the launch of the Fairness at Work Policy and Guidance and the recruitment and training of additional mediators, the service was opened up to all IOM Government staff.
It would not be possible to say with any degree of accuracy how many cases of bullying complaints have resulted in mediation. The two main reasons for this are outlined below:
 Mediation is a confidential process and no material relating to the mediation (referral, points of discussion or mediation agreement) may be disclosed to a third party without the express consent of both parties involved in the mediation. It is also worth noting that sometimes the issue cited on the referral document is not what subsequently emerges during the mediation discussion.  The referral documentation does not record whether any IOM Government policies (for example Fairness at Work Policy and Guidance) are invoked prior to a mediation referral being made. It would therefore not be possible to say how many referrals have been made in response to a complaint of bullying, as recognised by a policy such as Fairness at Work. There are figures available for how many mediations have been undertaken each year since the launch of the Mediators for Health service and these are attached at Appendix 3. The figures are broken down into:  Number of enquiries or referrals received;  Number of mediations undertaken;  Number of mediations that achieved resolution and agreement. It should also be noted that, until 2015, Staff Welfare provided a mediation service for IOM Government staff separate from Mediators for Health. We do not hold any statistics relating to these mediations. Your right to request a review If you are unhappy with this response to your Freedom of Information request, you may ask us to carry out an internal review of the response, by completing a complaint form and submitting it electronically or by delivery/post to the FOI Co-ordinator, Cabinet Office, Government Office, 3

Douglas, Isle of Man, IM1 3PN. An electronic version of our complaint form can be found by going to our website https://www.gov.im/foireview. If you would like a paper version of our complaint form to be sent to you by post, please contact us and we will be happy to arrange for this.
Your review request should explain why you are dissatisfied with this response, and should be made as soon as practicable. We will respond as soon as the review has been concluded. If you are not satisfied with the result of the review, you then have the right to apply for a review of decisions by the Information Commissioner, for a decision on; 1) Whether we have responded to your request for information in accordance with Part 2 of the Freedom of Information Act 2015; or
2) Whether we are justified in refusing to give you the information requested. In response to an application for review, the Information Commissioner may, at any time, attempt to resolve a matter by negotiation, conciliation, mediation or another form of alternative dispute resolution and will have regard to any outcome of this in making any subsequent decision.
More detailed information on your rights to review is on the Information Commissioner’s website at: https://www.inforights.im/ Should you have any queries concerning this letter, please do not hesitate to contact me. Further information about Freedom of Information requests can be found at: www.gov.im/foi.

4

Appendix 1 Fairness at Work (formerly Bullying, Harassment & Victimisation)
Department 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 Grand Total DEC

11 3 4 18 CO

1 1 1 3 DED

1 2 4 1 8 DOI

2 6 3 11 MNH

1 1 2 DHSC 1 1 15 15 2 34 DHA

1

1 Treasury 1

1 DEFA

2 2

4 Gen Reg

1

1 Grand Total 2 4 35 30 12 83

Fairness at Work – recorded outcomes

Recorded outcome 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 Grand Total Facilitated meeting 4 3 2 9 Informal / Early action 1 2 2 5 Mediation 3 3 Moved to Disciplinary 4 1 5 Other 1 1 3 3 2 10 Unfounded 1 1 6 8 Written Warning 1 1 (blank) 1 12 21 8 42 Grand Total 2 4 35 30 12 83

5

Appendix 2 Grievance Department 2014 2015 2016 2017 Grand Total DEC 4 2 10 6 22 DED 1 2 3 DOI 1 1 5 1 8 DHSC 6 6 6 4 22 DHA 4 1 1 6 DEFA 1 1 Grand Total 16 11 24 11 62

Grievance – recorded outcomes

Recorded outcomes 2014 2015 2016 2017 Grand Total Not Supported 2 3 1 2 8 Other 10 2 12 3 27 Supported 1 1 2 (blank) 4 6 10 5 25 Grand Total 16 11 24 11 62

Appendix 3 6

Mediation Stats Mediators for Health Year of Referral or Enquiry Number of Referrals or Enquiries Mediations Agreements 2011* 1 1 0 2012 13 5 4 2013 13 7 7 2014 22 7 7 2015 19 11 10 2016 26 13 11 2017 (January - October) 12 2 1 * Mediation training completed in October 2011