Canadian HR Reporter

www.hrreporter.com 13 general well-being in the workplace, the ability to contribute to a team. When they become hostile or when they become toxic, it can have a real dampening effect on an entire team because it's not just the individual but then it reverberates across the whole team when there's microaggressions that go on between coworkers or between someone who's more senior and an employee, and that can be really damaging," she says. "There does have to be a zero- tolerance policy for microaggression because it's always important to make sure that there isn't toxicity in a workplace." For HR departments, the rules need to be clarified so that there is no distinction between the physical workplace and home environment, says Shukullari. "All your company policies will extend, so the expectation of a certain type of behaviour does not differ if you're in a remote working setting." This shouldn't be surprising con- sidering many organizations regularly hold company events offsite and have interruptions while working remotely, and that number jumps to 29 per cent for people of colour. "It's things like: 'Quiet your children; don't join the call unless you can keep them quiet,'" says Habib. "[It involves] people being told they need to be available 24-7; people being told to 'Just get it done'; people being told to manage their kids. Those feel like very imposing kinds of things to hear from your colleagues and your managers, especially around something that so few people have got control over: Schools are closed and people are really struggling to do both jobs well." This is also a gender problem, as seen in terms of unemployment numbers, she says. "This pandemic definitely dispro- portionately impacted women." HR policies need to be enforced The health of the workforce can be affected negatively if the behaviour is allowed to persist, says Pringle. "People are going to become less engaged. There's a correlation to mental health; it's tied into burnout and policies around that, he says. "Yes, it's outside of work and maybe in an uncontrolled setting, but it still requires you to behave professionally." In not managing the abusive behaviour, it could lead to toxic communications with customers, according to Habib. "For HR leaders, the biggest thing they can do is be really explicit about the fact that the culture is shaped by the words and being explicit around the fact that passive-aggressive tones are not part of our culture." This could affect a company in the real world, she says. "Any company could be put on full blast on Twitter or on social media for communication that is not above board, and it could result in a real compliance and legal risk for employers who aren't training on healthy communication." And once something has been reported, swift action is key to solving the dispute, says Shukullari. "Promptly investigate, even if the individual did not directly come to you but you are made aware of something going on; you need to approach the "All your company policies [should] extend so the expectation of a certain type of behaviour does not differ if you're in a remote working setting." Kiljon Shukullari, Peninsula Canada individual, you need to specifically ask about what has happened, who was involved and then get details as much as possible… A lot of HR issues and concerns that are left unattended for a while and time in HR… do not heal. It actually makes things worse." CHRR

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