Organisational Values, Code of Conduct, Bullying and Harassment policy, Occupational Health and Safety policy, Antidiscrimination policy, Sexual Harassment policy.
Most organisations have a myriad of policies and procedures that relate to the employment relationship with their employees that set down the expectations and requirements of their employees and how people leaders can navigate these policies and procedures.
A number of these policies and procedures are required to be developed due to a range of state and federal legislation that sets out the requirements to have these policies and procedures in place and creates a minefield for employers, their employees and the people managers in the organisation that are required to ensure compliance with these policies and procedures and not to mention their statutory obligations under various acts of Parliament.
When a people manager encounters a situation where the behaviour of one or more of their staff has not been at the required standard in the workplace, the people manager then needs to wade through the quagmire of rules, policies and procedures to ensure that they themselves comply with the policies and procedures in managing the behaviour of their staff.
In our experience at Worklogic, people managers are in the main willing to manage and understand their obligations to ensure that their staff behave in a manner that is consistent with these requirements but often find it difficult to wade through all of the various documents and requirements to understand what action they need to take to manage the inappropriate workplace behaviour….that’s why we need human resources and workplace relations departments!
Recently, Worklogic has been working with a number of our clients to navigate this mine field by assisting them to develop a Consequence Management Framework for their organisation.
A Consequence Management Framework takes a risk based approach to guide people leaders through the processes required when they witness or have reported to them inappropriate behaviour in the workplace. Depending on the behaviour demonstrated, the Consequence Management Framework guides the people leader through the triage process in regard to the behaviour and provides a clear guide for them in what action they need to take based on the organisations polices and procedures. The Consequence Management Framework also sets out the process they need to follow, what support is available to them in managing the behaviour and what their reporting requirements are in regard to effectively managing the behaviour.
The Consequence Management Framework model that Worklogic utilises with our clients sets out the following for their specific organisational needs. These include:
- Purpose
- Principles
- Scope and Coverage
- Ownership and Governance
- Conduct Standards
- Individual Responsibilities
- Consequence Management Process
- Applying Consequences
- Consequence Management Table
The Consequence Management Framework also includes a Consequence Management Table that outlines for people leaders the various behavioural characteristics that once the people leader has triaged the behaviour, guides the people leader through the process required of the organisation to appropriately carry out their responsibilities as a people leader in the organisation. The Framework then guides the people leader as to what action they need to take in regard to the behaviour, how to deal with the behaviour effectively and in line with the organisations polices and procedures, who to report the behaviour to and most importantly guides the people leader in what consequences should be applied should the inappropriate behaviour be found to be substantiated.
The implementation of a Consequence Management Framework in your organisation will ensure that inappropriate behaviour in the workplace of all categories is managed effectively, consistently and proactively by the people leaders in your organisation. A Consequence Management Framework will also significantly reduce the risk for your organisation by failing to comply with relevant legislative requirements and your policies and procedures. You will also significantly reduce the reliance on human resources to support people leaders in managing inappropriate behaviour in your workplace by providing a simple and easy to understand framework that allows people managers to effectively understand their responsibilities to manage inappropriate behaviour.
After spending 30 years as a senior human resources leader prior to working for Worklogic, I wish that my organisations had a Consequence Management Framework in place as it simply addresses the support and information that people leaders need to be able to effectively address in an effective manner inappropriate behaviour demonstrated by their staff.
Worklogic would love to share our Consequence Management Framework with your organisation and how the framework helps solve the age old issue of managing inappropriate behaviour in your workforce and supports your people leaders to deliver on their responsibilities and comply with your policies and procedures. Get in touch to speak to one of our qualified consultants about behavioural issues in your organisation.
