New Year's Resolutions

Almost 20 years’ ago, I gifted my boss a “Baldie Buffer” in the Secret Santa.

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The following year, I gave him a bottle of Mr Sheen polish for his mighty bonce.

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A lot has changed in the past 20 years. In fact, nowadays, that type of conduct could result in a claim of harassment being made against me and my employer. (HR practitioners will no doubt recall the British Bung Manufacturing case in 2022, where a tribunal found that calling an employee “bald” amounted to sex-related harassment)

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I was interested to note that, last year, a police force in England issued some “Inclusive Language Guidance” which gave police officers some tips as to how they should be talking about and describing people in a way that is inclusive and respectful.

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Some of the tips were obvious – like, avoid using the words “cleaning lady” (“cleaner” was preferable) and “spokesman” (“spokesperson” was preferable).

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But some tips were less obvious – like, try to avoid referring to “Christian name” and “individuals suffering from anxiety” (“first name” and “people suffering from a mental health condition” were preferred).

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In the fast-paced world of emails, DMs and Whatsapps, we are often consulted by individuals who believe that they have been subject to harassment – that is, unwanted conduct related to a protected characteristic which has the purpose or effect of violating a person’s dignity or of creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for that person.

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And a lot of these allegations are based on clumsily-worded phrases or, like my earlier Christmas example, misguided gifts.

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Employers should remember that a one-off incident can amount to harassment. And that, unlike other types of discrimination, there is no requirement to identify a comparator (i.e. someone who does not share the same protected characteristic and is treated differently).

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But, having pondered the Inclusive Language Guidance which was published late last year, I have set myself some New Year’s Resolutions.

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These include:

-?????? I will change my morning greeting from “Hi guys” (sexist) to “Morning folks”.

-?????? I will stop telling stories about the latest “crazy” antics of my dog (disability-related) and instead talk about my hound’s “outrageous” behaviour.

-?????? I will not refer to Mrs Allison as my long “suffering” wife (ableist) – let’s face it, she is “extremely patient”.

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And, for the avoidance of doubt, I have not taken part in an office Secret Santa in over ten years.

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And the colleague for whom I gifted these presents all these years ago, wrote in my 20-year anniversary card, “Congratulations – you’ve been an excellent colleague with lots of fun, mischief and support”.

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(Fortunately, any claim for that ill-advised Secret Santa gift is clearly time-barred….)

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