Sexual harassment

[P Prentice]

whilst remembering that this is an internet forum and not a court of law

[Sith]

Oh, and not an RO, so no, it doesn't actually require any pressure at all, merely the will to do things properly, certainly not from IFA which I suspect is what you're implying. There are plenty of business quality accreditation schemes out there, don't be fooled into the blinkered view that IFA is the be-all-and-end-all, only they think that

Should still apply if any members of the team/management structure are members (small M) of the IfA because the Code of Conduct applies to everyone who signs up, not just ROs.

[Dinosaur]

Certainly not the management, may be a few sneaked in lower down though but frankly no one cares (I know one keeps forgetting to cancel his pointless membership), if they want to waste their money thats up to them, IFA membership is no guarantee of quality as has often been pointed out on here so it certainly shouldn't be (and round here isn't) viewed as any sort of employment advantage. Anyway, looking at a lot of commercial grey lit product we do a better job of following the Standards etc. than a lot of RAOs without any compulsion at all....not that IFA seems to be reknowned for enforcing any of them... :face-kiss:

[Dinosaur]

Oh, now you've raised the point, even though the company currently under discussion obviously can't be named, is it an RAO? Wouldn't blow its anonymity... :face-stir:

[Jack]

The case of sexual harassment describe a few pages ago is shocking to say the least. I hope the culprit gets their just deserves.

Though to play devils advocate.....in the case of bullying claims........I have recently been near to a claim of bullying on site that went official and resulted in someones job needlesly being threatened. A serious situation in this day and age, especially as the person in question having a family. My comment is not about that particular case, but about the principle.

It seems to me, unless a company / management are very careful, and unless the systems put in place are well-thought through and fair, such a system could be abused as a tool for disgruntled employees to get back at, threaten, or even blackmail their supervisors.

A bit like angry school children crying rape to get back at a teacher that has just told them off.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying these policies and procedures aren't needed....they definately are, I'm just pointing at how tricky, dangerous and delicate these situations can be.

[kevin wooldridge]

It seems to me, unless a company / management are very careful, and unless the systems put in place are well-thought through and fair, such a system could be abused as a tool for disgruntled employees to get back at, threaten, or even blackmail their supervisors.

Fortunately there are a number of archaeological organisations who have managed to implement these procedures (many because of their previous local authority connections) and have dealt with sufficient cases over the years to make the operation of the system fairly smooth. I spent a number of years accompanying union members at the Museum of London through such procedures and can't recall any occasion where 'blackmail' was involved. Although of course I accept that one persons 'righteous indignation' might occasionally be construed by other parties with less seriousness. The Corporation of London (the ultimate appeal body of the Museum of London system) had an appeal committee that included equal numbers of trade union and management representatives and always attempted to seek consensus rather than a majority.

[Vigillant]

The company I work for is not IFA registered.

Regarding bullying, the examples I witnessed and have been subjected to basically amounted to doing a decent job, then being criticised

i suspect you get this sort of thing in all kinds of jobs, I doubt it's a common problem in archaeology. I've accepted I no longer have a future with my firm. What makes me sad is that young new archaeologists have been treated badly in their first contact with the company and have left under a cloud. I really hope they haven't been put off and get a job with a decent firm.

[BAJR]

I would ask vigilant to please contact me... Info@bajr.org. and I can talk with them. I would appreciate this... Rather than having me shut down a thread that was designed to help.

[Ken Denham]

Had to deal with a problem like this quite a few years ago when I was supervising a site and a young female volunteer was being subjected to harrassment from another staff member, mainly via obnoxious text messages once he'd been rejected. I was told about the situation and rang the bloke in question saying that my boot would rapidly connect with his ar*e and then I would report him to the IFA (of which he was a member). Harrassment ceased.

[Carrickavoy]

I just want to thank Nell23 and Kiwi12 for sharing their experiences with us. I hope that they get some closure, and justice, in regards to these terrible situations.

I am also heartened by the mature nature of discussion on this thread and hope it leads towards establishing some concrete procedures to deal with bullying and sexual harassment on site.

I had the misfortune to work on site with an incredibly lecherous director who made one woman's life a misery. Unfortunately we were too young and recently graduated to understand how to effectively deal with this situation beyond vocalising support. Thank-fully one of the supervisors rose their concerns with head office and he was removed from the job. She was brave and lead by her example. I would not tolerate such behaviour again.