Managers 'need to reassure staff of confidentiality'

Mon, 10 Jan 2011

Managers 'need to reassure staff of confidentiality'

Managers should take steps to reassure staff that any employee help services they have in place are treated confidentially.

This is according to freelance human resources practitioner Coreen Nugent, who told Personnel Today that many workers may "reconsider" using facilities such as helplines following the allegations of bullying made against prime minister Gordon Brown.

"Employees are going to think twice about using helplines now. Especially if they work in a sector that is topical and in the news now," she was quoted as saying.

Founder of the National Bullying Helpline Christine Pratt recently breached confidentiality agreements by claiming that some government staff members contacted the service to discuss how they were being treated at work.

And Ms Nugent urged companies to make sure staff are aware of their commitment to ensure all comments made in the workplace environment are done so in confidence and that "employees have an understanding of what constitutes acceptable behaviour at work".

Chair of the International Stress Management association Ann McCracken told the news source that Ms Pratt's decision to reveal the alleged calls will probably have "quite serious effects" on the use of helplines and employee assistance programmes.

She called on enterprises to try and implement a mediation culture that can be used to deal with any issues regarding workplace bullying or harassment.

Earlier in the week, new research from Shine Feedback showed that many UK employees do not feel their bosses are interested in their welfare, citing rewarding good work and dealing with poor performance as being two areas where managers can improve.

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