Let’s talk about business leaders resisting the 'slippery slide' into ‘hypersensitivity’.....

In the 1990's there were little more than 20 employment rights under which an employee could make a tribunal claim; now in 2021 there are more than 60. This year an employment tribunal ruled that veganism should be treated with the same sensitivity as a religious belief.

More staff are alert to the potential for discrimination, what’s appropriate and what’s not in the work place, and are more willing to share their experiences through social media. When it comes to working in crisis conditions — under constant high pressure and with threats to physical safety — senior management and business leaders need to be even more aware of?the dangers of hypersensitivity among their teams. It's become a situation?where one thoughtless comment, a well-intentioned joke, could be used as grounds for legal action. A culture where all levels of employees can become frozen by the need to be faultlessly ‘correct’ in everything said.?Meaning a situation where the free flow of relationships and communications feel monitored, becoming stilted and limited to bare essentials.

Business leaders and HR need to urgently resist the?slide into ‘hypersensitivity’ if they’re not to end up being caught in a tangle of personal issues.

Employment Tribunals have begun to recognise the problem formally. A recent case, for example, saw an employee at a legal firm making a number of complaints of harassment. The legal firm had offered her a role at their head office in Switzerland which she had turned down for ‘personal reasons’. Her Directors asked her why she had turned the position down: “You are not married, you don’t have children and you do not have a boyfriend”. Subsequently when she looked for a promotion she was turned down because it was argued she was “not performing at the same level as the group’s senior legal counsel”. The employee complained that she had been subject to sex discrimination, sexual harassment or harassment related to sexual orientation by perception, along with age discrimination and age-related harassment.

The complaints were dismissed. The cost of time, money and ￡legal counsel to defend such claims will make your eyes water and had this happened to a small company,?could be the difference between ‘surviving’ and ‘going completely to the wall’ thereby?affecting all employees including the complainant.???Whilst the comments were termed as being unfortunate and awkward”, it was argued, they should not be seen as constituting discrimination. The verdict is generally accepted as being another example of how employers can defend themselves against claims of discrimination — but is not yet considered to be a legal precedent. Meanwhile, does this mean an employee can get away with occasional slips, with ‘careless talk’?

Employers need to demonstrate they are meeting their side of the deal, that they are trying to create ‘a balance’ between being open in dealing with difficult situations, while at the same time having empathy for employees: HR service delivery/provision has to be ready to prove it is being pro-active and provides best practice.

That means moving beyond education on discrimination and cultural awareness. Understanding that there are sensitivities don’t just mean an ability to talk about them and deal with individual people and cases in professional ways. There is a need to equip line managers in particular — but also employees at all levels and in general — with the skills to deal with difficult conversations.

Making sure people have the resilience, self-awareness and confidence to take part in sensitive and awkward conversations without becoming bullish, defensive or skirting around the core issues is crucial. It’s what we call ‘Conversational Integrity’, the package of skills that leads to confidence and ability,?including ‘situational awareness’, the essential practice of ‘curiosity’, ‘reflective listening’, ‘empathy’, and ‘self awareness’ - so not just listening outwardly but inwardly, how your own ‘inner state’ is impacting on the flow of the conversation are essential.

HR policies should include very clear clarification for all employees on what would constitute a ‘malicious’ or ‘vexatious’ complaint and the ramifications of making such mal/vex allegations. This is an area that is seldom mentioned to employees or contained in polices so employees do not fear any comeback on the reputation damage caused to an employee or a business – let alone the cost of investigating such matters.

Line Managers themselves need to be aware of what constitutes a ‘grievance’ and know how to record them. This is a difficult area. Because what is ‘bullying’ anyway? There is no actual legal definition, and there will always be a thin line between assertive management needed to deal with poor performance and an inappropriate and ugly use of power. What constitutes unacceptable behaviour can be very clear: physical intimidation, threats, sexual harassment. But these are relatively rare. The most common causes of bullying in the minds of employees, highlighted by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, are subjective and open to interpretation. These include ‘subtle undermining behaviour” (which could just be seen as over-sensitivity); ‘excessive and unjustified criticism’ (which might also be an inability to accept or admit poor performance); and ‘inappropriate use of fair procedures’.

Employees who work in a ‘toxic’ environment of poor management - where there are unreasonable demands, a lack of autonomy and recognition and low levels of ‘psychological safety’ - are three times more likely to suffer from depression. The research, published in the?British Medical Journal?[doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2020-044133 ],?also suggests there are higher risks of death from heart disease and stroke.

But are toxic cultures really all down to bad management? Managers have to make the tough decisions and their shadow of a elder is an important in establish an engaged workforce and working culture/environment. Introducing change can be and is necessary but it is line managers who are in the front line when it comes to pushing through sometimes difficult realities and much needed changes and this is where the majority of the training and development with handling such sensitive people topics is needed. There can be very reasonable explanations for why Senior/managers make extra demands. None of these things mean a working culture is ‘toxic’. Grievances and conflict aren’t unhealthy in themselves - they’re often the natural result of bringing diverse groups of people together into teams, and are also a signal that people care about their contribution and their role at work – so we should listen as senior leaders and HR practitioners, as these ideas and formal grievances may actually save time, money and resource.

Niggling concerns and clashes between managers and line reports only become a real problem when there’s no conversation. Or at least no open conversation, just resentment and passion eventually spilling over into frustration, argument and relationship breakdown. Then comes the formal inquiry and disciplinary processes and yet more stress for all those involved - as well as those affected by the ripples of bad feeling around what’s been happening. The angst has to go somewhere. It’s not surprising that psychological blockages in dealing with misunderstandings, miscommunications and clashes in personality, lead to serious physical ill-health and significantly ‘burns a company’s’ cash flow with the amount of time formal processes take if its regular issue.

But, of course, there has to be management and not just a 'dump of problems'.?The best employers look to the bigger picture of their workplace culture and what the benefits are of openness, transparency, encouraging diversity of opinion and the experience of people who feel it’s ‘safe’ to speak out, to both be challenging and admit mistakes.

A ‘clear air’ and ‘getting things on the table to review’ culture leads to more trust, honesty, innovation, support for diversity - and a better working environment for everyone.?

So lets get on board and lets resist slipping any further into an already deep ‘hypersensitivity’ chasm or else people will be afraid to even talk in the workplace for fear of complaint by the few and you will certainly end up having a toxic work culture.?

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