What to do if your line manager is not receptive to your plight

  If you find that your line manager is unhelpful or unreceptive to your plight, there is usually a range of further options available to an employee. These are usually outlined in the policies and procedures of the employing organization. They may involve bypassing the direct line manager and going to a more senior manager, seeking advice from the human resources service, or from the workplace occupational health service. Other alternatives include seeking advice from a workplace trade union, or health and safety representative who will have some expertise in this area. Also, remember that in the UK it is mandatory for your organization to carry out a stress risk assessment and there are strong expectations that they then act on the findings. If your employer has not done this, you may need to point this out to them that they are in breach of their duty of care to their employees. Get to know your rights and make use of existing policies and procedures for complaints for discrimination, bullying and harassment and pursue them through the appropriate channels. In the UK workplace, health and safety representatives have been identified who have the power to conduct periodic inspections of the workplace to ensure that environmental stressors are properly controlled and the Health and Safety Committee has a key role in ensuring that policies and procedures are implemented. The committee looks at sickness absence, referrals to occupational health services and may conduct surveys and focus groups. Employers may ignore their health and safety obligations at their peril!

What to do if you do not get the problem resolved within your workplace organization

  If you feel that you have a good case and have not had any satisfactory solution to your grievance, it is possible to seek support outside of the organization. For example, in the UK there is an independent government body known as ACAS (the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service), which offers a mediation service for employers and employees. ACAS has specialists who can help you and your employer sort out a problem informally and hopefully avoid the need for more formal legal action. The contact details for ACAS can be found in the Appendix. If a problem cannot be resolved at this level, you can seek legal advice from specialist employment lawyers but this can be an expensive option. Before doing so check with your union representative since the union may be willing to fight the case on your behalf if they think you have a good one.

It may be possible to get a new manager who is more sympathetic, or to be redeployed to a new job in a different part of the organization where you do not have to continue to put up with difficult individuals or working practices. While this will remove the source of stress for you, it does not tackle the source of the problem in the work environment or remove the person causing the problem from the workplace. Also, you may feel that it is unfair that you have had to make changes for reasons that are not your fault. However, for the sake of your mental health this may be a preferable option.

If there is no opportunity for redeployment, as a last resort you may decide to vote with your feet and leave the job. You can still pursue legal action even after you have left a job if you can prove that your reasons for leaving amount to constructive dismissal. If you do decide to resign, make sure that your employers know the reasons for your leaving and put this in writing. While this may not help you immediately, it could help you when making a compensation claim later on. It may also provide valuable evidence to help others who experience similar treatment to you fight the case in the future if the situation persists. Also, make sure you take all the evidence with you when you leave, so that you can use it if you decide to seek compensation. A specialist employment lawyer will be able to advise you on whether you have a case to pursue and some even work on a no-win, no-fee basis.