False Accusations of Bullying at Work

Over my years of working across a range of different organisation types, I’ve gratefully witnessed a positive transformation in workplace dynamics, including how we as professionals address bullying. Policies aimed at creating secure and collaborative workplaces have played a crucial part in developing increasingly thriving environment. Throughout these years however, I’ve encountered a less-explored impact of these otherwise positive policies: false accusations of bullying.

These false accusations can be confusing for people on the receiving end and, as they’re still not fully understood or addressed by organisational policies, they can become drawn out, leading to self doubt, professional isolation and a loss of motivation and productivity. Even when the situations are resolved in favour of the falsely accused, the long term impact on self-esteem and leadership efficacy can be notable. It’s important that we address the possibilities of such situations arising on our organisations, otherwise we risk losing the trust of, and possibly creating long term adverse impacts for, people who are often assertive, creative and (positively) challenging colleagues and leaders.

I know… it’s disheartening to acknowledge that well-meaning anti-bullying policies can be exploited for personal agendas, but as professionals and leaders we must ensure our organisations are prepared to handle both real incidents of bullying as well as false accusations. Here are my recommendations for navigating false allegations of bullying, which I hope are beneficial for HR professionals, managers, and individuals facing such accusations.

1. Neutrality as your starting point

Regardless of any suspicions you may have, the situation should be handled in a fair and neutral manner in the early stages. Follow your organisation’s grievance procedure for investigating and addressing the complaint. If your organisation doesn’t yet have such any process in place to support you, Acas offer excellent disciplinary and grievance guidance.

2. Take expert advice

Employment law is tricky, especially when protected characteristics or certain types of complaints (e.g. whistleblowing) are involved. If these subjects are introduced into a complaint then it’s crucial to get advice from a qualified professional who can offer guidance on the lawful approach to the process.

Even if such things aren’t introduced, I would recommend seeking the advice and support of a professional who is removed from the situation to avoid introducing bias into the process, although I recognise this isn’t always easy in small organisations with stretched resources. Remember, grievance complaints also take a toll on the people managing them and it’s important they also have support and don’t go it alone.

For those who have made the complaint, and those against whom the allegations have been made, you might also want to think about connecting them to separate independent professionals. These people can support and coach each party through the experience, and offer them some important stability in what can be a disorienting time. Both parties should be discouraged from leaning on or speaking about the issue with colleagues, as this has creates the possibility of additional rifts being introduced across the team.

3. Act fast, investigate fully, be decisive

Long, drawn out grievance investigations are painful for the people involved and I would recommend that the people investigating the complaint do so in a trauma-informed way. Do what you can to prioritise the investigation into the complaint, ensuring you gather as much information and evidence as is available to support decision making. All interviews in the information gathering process should be conducted confidentially and independently, and detailed records should be maintained in case of any further issues (for example a claim to an employment tribunal). Contact should be maintained equally and fairly across the parties involved, ensuring that their wellbeing is properly considered. A lack of communication during an investigation can be damaging to the individuals involved.

Once a full investigation is undertaken and all information is gathered, it’s important that there is no unnecessary delay in making and communicating a decision. If the investigation concludes that the allegations were unfounded then decisions will need to be taken regarding the accuser. This will depend on whether the false allegations of bullying were maliciously and deliberately made, or if they did in fact believe them to be true, and it was therefore a misunderstanding.

4. Communicate and support

If you come to the end of the investigation and it is concluded that the accusations were unfounded then additional communication with and support of the accused should be a priority. It’s too often overlooked that this will have been a stressful and disorienting time for them, and so assurance and support after the conclusion will be essential.

It’s likely that a one-off conversation to communicate the outcome is not going resolve things for the accused. The outcome may be the end of the process itself, but it’s just the beginning of the healing process for the person who was accused. Their professionalism, character and integrity has been called into question and they will benefit from a period of coaching or other support to get them back on their feet.

5. Review and update your policies

Hopefully your organisation already periodically reviews and updates its policies, including those related to anti-bullying, and this will help you to continue adapt to evolving workplace dynamics. Learning from experiences such as those described above can further ensure continuous improvement, and I would also recommend using the experience and expertise gained in the process revealing a false accusation to update policies and strengthen your organisation’s response to false accusations. The resources provided by Acas can offer excellent guidance when bringing your policies in line with current legislation and best practice.

If accusations have been made by employees about management, you may also want to consider improving the resources available to both managers and direct reports detailing what is expected and acceptable in line management relationships. These resources should make clear what expectations managers will have of their staff as well as offering clear guidance on how managers can effectively communicate those expectations.

In conclusion, fostering a fair and supportive workplace culture should be a top priority for all HR professionals, leaders and team members. This should be supported by clear processes for managing bullying complaints as well as policies that make clear the repercussions for making malicious and false complaints. By addressing both actual bullying and false accusations with diligence and empathy, we can contribute to creating environments where all individuals thrive.