Bullying & Harassment

From October 2026, employers will have two tougher legal duties around harassment. The first: if you're taken to tribunal over a sexual harassment claim, you need to be able to show that there were genuinely no further steps you could reasonably have taken to prevent it from happening. On top of that, employers will also be liable for third-party harassment. This means that you also need to take all reasonable steps to prevent harassment by clients, customers, con

From October, if one of your employees makes a harassment claim, a policy alone won't cut it. I know you might think a policy stored away somewhere is enough. But, with the rule changes, you must be able to evidence how you took all reasonable steps to prevent harassment in your workplace.

Political and social issues are everywhere right now. You can't escape them in the news, on social media or in daily conversation. Whatever your own views, political and social debates are causing real problems in workplaces everywhere. The challenge is managing this without becoming the thought police. You need to maintain a respectful, productive workplace while letting people be themselves. It's about how views are expressed, not controlling what people think.

Workplace problems in small businesses don't stay small for long. In small businesses, these problems hit harder and spread faster than in larger companies. The relaxed atmosphere that makes small businesses great can also be their downfall. Everyone knows each other's business, banter flows freely and boundaries get blurry. What starts as harmless jokes can quickly become something more sinister: Someone gets excluded from conversations Comments about appearance, per