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Global Bullying and Harassment Policy

Juraj Kecso

I am in the process of reviewing and streamlining our policies and one such is our bullying and harassment policy. Every country we operate in has their own legal definition of harassment and what characteristics are protected from discrimination under their respective legislations.

Is it possible (and legal) to introduce one single policy applicable anywhere we operate which would in general terms provide our definition of harassment (or unacceptable zero-tolerance behaviours) without the need to refer to 4 separate sets of legislations?

For example, unlike UK or Australia, in Ireland protected characteristics also include being a part of the traveler community. However, that does not mean that we'd tolerate someone in the UK being derogatory towards a colleague belonging in this group even if UK Equality Act does not specify traveler community as a protected characteristic.

Am I overthinking this?

Parents
  • You can have both global and local policies. The global policy would provide a standardised approach or guideline for the company to follow across all locations. However, local policy and laws must always take precedence, so I suggest you mention it in your global policy. Also, it is important that both global and local policies are reviewed and updated regularly to ensure compliance with regulations and laws in all jurisdictions where your company operates.
  • in reply to Agnes
    We have a Global Grievance Policy that incorporates bullying and harassment even though some of the UK's protected characteristics are actually illegal in one of our operating countries. We have different procedures that depend on the legislation of the country (e.g. in Malaysia, the HR teams have the control and decision making role) but so far the approach seems to be working.
    www.hw.ac.uk/.../global-grievance-policy-procedure.pdf
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