It’s a delicate balance; how do you encourage employees to speak up about bullying and harassment in the workplace if they fear doing so will harm their career? This is a central issue stemming from the release of a draft report into harassment, bullying and discrimination in the practice of surgery. The report, released earlier […]
In April 2015, at the launch of her new book, senior surgeon Dr Gabrielle McMullin sent shockwaves through the medical community. She declared that junior female surgeons and surgical students would be better off acquiescing to requests for sexual favours by their senior male colleagues, as refusing requests or taking action against them would be […]
The current Royal Commission uncovering shocking examples of institutional child abuse has brought the issue to the forefront of our national consciousness. It is perhaps unsurprising, then, that some authorities get jittery about their role in protecting such a vulnerable section of the population. But sometimes, the very system that is supposed to protect in […]
In hindsight, a workplace bullying situation can seem both regrettable and avoidable. Yet time and again, we find that the circumstances leading to the making of a bullying complaint were predictable, or at least displayed a reasonable risk of complaints of bullying occurring. What we can all agree on is by the time a complaint […]