Harassment
Harassment is unwanted conduct related to a protected characteristic, which has the purpose or effect of violating an individual's dignity, or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment. Harassment may occur physically, verbally or non-verbally and it can be intentional or unintentional. It also includes treating someone less favourably because they have submitted or refused to submit to such behaviour in the past.
Protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010 include: age, disability, gender reassignment, pregnancy or maternity, race, colour, nationality, ethnic or national origin, religion or belief, sex, or sexual orientation. We believe harassment is unacceptable even if it does not fall within any of these categories. Harassment may include, for example:
- unwanted physical conduct or ‘horseplay’, including touching, pinching, pushing, grabbing, brushing past someone, invading their personal space and more serious forms of physical or sexual assault.
- offensive or intimidating comments or gestures, or insensitive jokes or pranks
- mocking, mimicking or belittling a person’s disability
- racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic or ageist jokes, or derogatory or stereotypical remarks about a particular ethnic or religious group or gender.
- outing or threatening to out someone as gay, lesbian, bisexual or trans.
- ignoring or shunning someone, for example, by deliberately excluding them from a conversation or a social activity.
A person may be harassed even if they were not the intended "target". For example, a person may be harassed by racist jokes about a different ethnic group if they create an offensive environment.
What should I do if I have experienced harassment?
Harassment is not tolerated at IDS. It goes against our Respect at IDS Policy.
Think
- Are you in immediate danger? If you are in immediate danger or seriously injured, you can contact the emergency services on 999 (If you are working internationally, many countries use the global emergency number 112).
- Find a safe space. If an incident has just happened try and find somewhere you feel safe.
Report
- Report + Support. Staff, visitors, partners and third party contractors can report an incident using this Report + Support platform. You can choose to do this anonymously or give your contact details for a direct response and support. If you're a staff member at IDS you can choose to talk to an HR Advisor or Respect Responder. They will be able to talk through the options and support available to you, in confidence.
- IDS's Resolution Process. If you are a staff member and would like support to address and resolve your concerns, you can request resolution. Our HR Advisors can talk you through how IDS's Resolution process works.
- IDS's Complaints Procedure. If you are a student, partner, or third party contractor you can also report issues directly using IDS's Complaints Procedure.
Get Support
- Find out what support is available if you have been harassed.
- Talk. Talk to your manager or cluster leader, a trusted colleague or a friend.
Mental Health and Wellbeing
- Find out more on the support available for mental health and wellbeing
- Take care of yourself. It’s important that you take care of yourself. If you’ve heard something distressing or if something is troubling you, IDS's Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) offers confidential help. You can also speak to one of IDS's trained Mental Health First Aiders confidentially.