London Underground: Ending Bullying and Harassment

The groundbreaking ‘Ending Harassment’ campaign at London Underground was triggered by some high-profile industrial tribunal cases concerning harassment, and internal research indicating that bullying, and sexual and racial harassment were issues of serious concern for staff and managers. Senior management identified that a robust organisational solution was needed.

As part of this, Equality Works was commissioned to design and deliver intensive 3-day residential courses for investigation officers at London Underground. The course was open to operational and HR managers who wished to be trained and accredited as competent to investigate complaints of harassment.

After an initial pilot, 16 courses were delivered, each with 10–12 delegates, making about 170 managers and HR professionals in total. Most (95%) were accredited at the end of the programme as competent investigators

We developed the programme to include other learning activities in addition to the 3-day course. These included: Workplace based activities such as interviewing colleagues, as well as independent study, additional formal courses if necessary, and a learning/assessment day.

We undertook a thorough familiarisation process including a full Training Needs Analysis (although much had already been done by the client).

Desk research, including legal cases and best practice was complemented by in-depth study of existing policies and procedures.

Based on the output from this stage, the course was then designed and developed and included specially made videos, authentic case study examples and peer assessment work.

The finished course was first piloted, leading to later amendments, which made the assessment before the accreditation even more thorough.

In addition to core course delivery, we provided ongoing support for accredited managers:

• A telephone helpline for immediate coaching/support;
• Annual network days where managers could share successes and challenges.

We also provided complementary training for:

• Note takers in harassment cases;
• Harassment advisers;
• Trade union harassment representatives.

Most (95%) were accredited at the end of the programme which meant that the client had:

• Almost 170 managers competent to investigate complaints of harassment;
• Almost 170 managers who had deepened their knowledge of equalities, and enhanced their competence to support equalities in the workplace.

This was complemented by the subsequent substantial reduction in the number of harassment complaints, and a speeding up of the time taken to deal with them.

Evaluation was carried out in two ways: 1) by delegate feedback on the programme and 2) through tutor assessment and scoring of delegates, leading to accreditation.

Delegates completed evaluation forms at each stage of the programme, and 93% of them agreed that the programme had met or exceeded its stated objectives. They confirmed that it had enhanced their understanding and increased their competence. The additional workshops and learning which were added to the 3-day course increased the satisfaction ratings.

Another measure of our success in delivering learning outcomes was that the majority of delegates were able to meet the required standards at the final assessment day. The scoring at the assessment day was done independently by the two tutors. A small percentage (5%) of delegates were assessed as not competent to carry out investigations, and received feedback from us.

The key organisational measure of the programme’s success was the accredited investigating officers’ ability to investigate and resolve complaints. Monitoring by London Underground showed that investigations were being processed more quickly and efficiently than previously. Sanctions were being appropriately applied in cases where individuals had been found to have harassed. This contributed to the wider aims of the Ending Harassment programme, as staff began to see an effective response to claims and to feel more confident in challenging inappropriate behaviour, both formally and informally.

LU also conducts an annual staff survey which measures, among other things, the environment for equalities, and this shows a year on year improvement.

Due to the success of this project, we have since developed our relationship with London Underground and have just completed a large equalities-focussed management development programme for all 1,000 duty managers.