Dignity At Work Day
The Charity Dignity At Work Now, Raises Awareness about Workplace Bullying during Bullying Awareness Week.
This years’ Workplace Bullying Awareness Week saw local Charity and trailblazers on Workplace Bullying in Gibraltar – Dignity At Work Now- come onto Main Street for its Flag Day. The Charity was supported by all of Gibraltar’s Unions, with representatives of each coming to assist at the stand throughout the day. Amber Law whose work also involves Holistically resolving cases of Workplace Bullying, donated £100.00 to the much appreciated Charity.
I interviewed DAWN’s founder, Francis Buttigieg and asked him to please explain what ‘bullying’ is? What D.A.W.N. does for the community? And how serious the issue of workplace bullying is in Gibraltar?
“…In a nutshell bullying is behaviour from one person to the other where the target of such behaviour is negatively affected... Many targets of bullying don’t necessarily become ‘victims’ because they can do something about it because of their nature, their character. But many do suffer and become victims. What they can do is empower themselves through knowledge, perhaps through contacting D.A.W.N. as we can give them a spectrum of possibilities and empower them to deal with their personal issue and in practical terms.
D.A.W.N. is an NGO that started in 2005 … basically we deal with cases of bullying in the workplace. We try to help people who need or want our help and we give them information, representation and advice we think is pertinent to their case.
Bullying statistically speaking… about 80% of the bullying is done by people in positions of power, managerial power or supervisory power… 15% usually goes from peer to peer and only 5% can go upwards where management are bullied by subordinates, but that is rare because of the power issue.
According to statistics that we have… this week, there are about 1 in 3 cases of bullying in workplaces, which is very serious as far as numbers go. What we do is we offer a telephone line people can call +350 57799000.
We try to find out the issues in their particular case and we can offer advice, representation or any other possible solution to their particular problem…
Some employers do contact us when they have an issue among their employees or themselves and we can advise them as well on what to do…
We offer support to people who have been accused of bullying and then we look at their case, establish whether that is the case, and if it is of course we make recommendations accordingly”.
Finally, I asked Francis what tips he could offer individuals who want to help reduce the incidence of bullying?
“The first thing I would say is start with you, empower yourself through knowledge, understand what bullying is and what bullying is not in a working environment. Once you do that, that will give you … a sense of identifying what you are going through, the effects and how to deal with it on a personal and of course on a practical level. If there is a policy within the workplace then great. Locally there is legislation which obliges employers to have a policy… They have a minimum requirement within the Schedule in the law. That means that if employers actually comply with that, they will probably find that helps with the employer/ employee relationship and that is always a good thing!”
Call D.A.W.N. for free and confidential advice or support on +350 57799000.
For further information, please contact: amber@amberlaw.com
