Workplace Harassment in Australia

This article discusses the issue of workplace harassment in Australia, including its prevalence in sectors such as education and healthcare. It highlights the impact of harassment on employees and organizations, and provides strategies to prevent and address it.

Running head: NURSING ASSIGNMENT
Nursing Assignment
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Common good refers to a thought in which the person does not think about his/ her
personal achievement, rather the person is thinking about the wellbeing of many people or a
community. They are generally responsible for the common wellbeing of the people of the whole
society. As an example it can be said that, the taxes that are paid by the people are not used for
the direct need of the people, rather it is used for the common good of all the people of the
society (ACU, 2016). All the employees have the right to work in their respective workplace
without having any discrimination and it is the right of the every workers in their workplace.
Harassment refers to the unwelcome conduct that humiliate the employer and it is directly
associated with the harm to the company and as well as it also hamper the productivity of the
organization. In addition that, harassment in the workplace also enhance the staff turnover. It is
the duty of the employer to secure the laws and regulations in their workplace ("Bullying and
harassment", 2019). In the workplaces like hospital, school, there is chances of the harassment.
In Australia, cases of workplace harassment is very common. According to a report of ABC
news it is seen that a teacher of Canberra was forced out of the job as it was claimed that he was
engaged in an inappropriate relationship with female students. Although he was warned, he did
not stop his wrong behavior. In addition to that, there were also investigations in the Canberra
Public School and from those investigations it was seen that there was almost 12 cases of
harassment in that school. Since January, 2014 almost 16 investigations were completed and
more number of investigations are still running. In 2015, another incident of harassment was
reported. In that case a community service member was forced out from his work for touching a
colleague in a bad way (Sibthorpe, 2018). Not only in the school or education sector, harassment
is common in the health care sector of Australia. It is seen that, several staff of the health care
sector was fired after receiving multiple allegations against them. In the time period of 2016-17 it

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was seen that 22 cases of misconduct from the staffs were reported regarding harassment. ACT
health was conducting the investigations and a two members were sacked as a result of the
investigations. Another ACT health employee was accused for conducting aggressive threats and
verbal abusive language towards another staff. From the data bases of the ACT health, it was
found that 15 cases of harassment was reported. According to ACT health, they would take zero
tolerance policy towards any allegations of harassment in the health care sector of the Australia.
However, it is also quite evident that a serious number of harassment cases were not reported at
all. In case of the Royal Australian College of Surgeons, it was seen that, many students were
afraid of complaining about the harassment as it might restrict their progress. However, they
were conducting campaign for reducing harassment in the hospitals since 2015 (Brown, 2018).
In 2015, it was found that, the junior doctors of Canberra Hospital had faced sexual harassment
and also received abusive emails and phone calls. They had also reported that, they were afraid
of reporting about those incidents. In the health care sector almost 76% of the respondents had
noticed harassment and discrimination in their work place. In 2015, it was seen that, 50% of
junior doctor had faced harassment and among them almost 4% were sexually harassed.
However, the 63% of the total respondents were unable to raise complain against the harassment
and among them 17% had experienced threats over phone (Belot, 2016).
In order to manage the workplace harassment the organization should take effective risk
management techniques and they should monitor and review the effectiveness of the
implemented plan in the organization. A general workplace standard should be set and it should
be ensured that, everyone in the organization will maintain those rules and regulation.
Workplace harassment should be reported as soon as possible so that step can be taken
immediately. A good management should be practiced in the workplace so that a good

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relationship is maintained in the workplace. Awareness campaign should be organized in order to
increase knowledge about the consequences of the workplace harassment (Safe work Australia,
2019).
Lastly, it can be said that work place harassment is a very much serious issue and
maintaining a healthy workplace is very much important for the organization. With taking proper
measures, the harassment in the workplace can be reduced.

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References
ACU. (2016). The Common Good. Retrieved from https://leocontent.acu.edu.au/file/8e8cfd0c-
0c07-4862-92c1-118b46d203d4/18/pdf/M5-TheCommonGood.pdf
Belot, H. (2016). Canberra medical students seek support after harassment in hospitals. Retrieved
from https://www.canberratimes.com.au/national/act/canberra-medical-students-seek-
support-after-harassment-in-hospitals-20160106-gm084k.html
Brown, A. (2018). ACT Health staff sacked over multiple bullying, harassment allegations.
Retrieved from https://www.canberratimes.com.au/national/act/act-health-staff-sacked-
over-multiple-bullying-harassment-allegations-20180123-h0mqki.html
Australian Government. (2019). Bullying and harassment. Retrieved from
https://www.business.gov.au/people/managing-and-developing-staff/bullying-and-
harassment
Safe work Australia. (2019). Bullying. Retrieved from:
https://www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au/bullying
Sibthorpe, C. (2018). 'Potential to harm': Canberra teacher forced out for inappropriate
relationships. ABC News. Available at:
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-04-16/multiple-canberra-teachers-fired-for-sexual-
harassment/9645926 [Accessed 1 Jan. 2019].