Zero Tolerance Policy

September 2024

Introduction

This policy is designed to provide a framework that supports a safe and secure working environment for all members of staff working for Imara, safeguarding them against harassment, abuse, aggression and violence.

This policy covers all staff working for Imara, including our employees, volunteers, trainees, those working for us on internships or placements, and members of the participation group.

This policy applies to anyone coming into contact with Imara, including clients, suppliers, members of the public and former staff, students or volunteers, either using our service or working in partnership with us.

Purpose and Scope

We have a zero-tolerance stance on any harassing, abusive, aggressive or violent behaviour towards any member of the Imara team. This policy outlines what is considered as harassing, abusive, aggressive or violent behaviour and the measures we will take if a client, supplier, or member of the public is found to be behaving in this way towards any of our team.

Unacceptable behaviour

This policy covers any harassment, abuse, aggression or threats made in person, over the telephone or in written communication, including on social media. The types of behaviour that we will not accept towards our staff members includes:

1. Aggressive or abusive behaviour

We understand that people can become angry if they feel that matters that they feel strongly about, are not being dealt with as they wish. If that anger escalates into aggression towards our team, we consider that unacceptable.

Any harassment, aggression or abuse directed towards our team will not be tolerated.

• Aggressive or abusive behaviour includes language (whether verbal or written) that may cause Imara team members to feel afraid, threatened or abused and may include threats, personal verbal abuse, derogatory remarks and rudeness. The use of swear words in written or verbal communication will not be tolerated and these communications will not be responded to. Swearing at members of the Imara team will not be tolerated.
• Harassment includes any persistent and repeated contact or behaviour that is unwanted, uninvited or unwelcome and causes annoyance, alarm, or substantial emotional distress without a legitimate purpose.
• We also consider inflammatory statements, remarks of a discriminatory nature and unsubstantiated allegations, to be abusive behaviour.

2. Unreasonable demands

A demand becomes unacceptable when:

• it starts to excessively impact on the work of our team.
• complying with it excessively impacts on the work of our team
• dealing with the matter takes up an excessive amount of team time and in so doing, disadvantages other clients or those who use our service.
• it falls excessively outside the scope of the agreement we have in place with the individual
• complying with it would breach the confidentiality or best interest of our clients, another
  member of the team or anyone else using our service
• complying with it would require us to breach our own policies, best practice principles, values or legal obligations

For example:

i. Repeatedly requesting and/or demanding responses within an unreasonable timescale
ii. Requesting and/or demanding responses from several members of the team on the same subject
iii. Insisting on seeing or speaking to a particular member of the team when it has been explained that is not possible;
iv. Making manifestly unfounded or excessive requests or complaints, as defined by the Information Commissioners Office;
v. Repeatedly posing a question when a response has already been given;
vi. Repeatedly requesting information on an Imara team member, client or someone who
uses our services, when that individual has not given us permission to share that information

3. Unreasonable levels of contact

Sometimes the volume and duration of contact made to our team by an individual causes problems.

This can occur over a short period, for example, when a large number of calls or emails are received from the same person in one day.

When we are dealing with a complaint or enquiry, this may occur when a person repeatedly makes unacceptable contact with Imara, which may include long telephone calls and/or multiple emails, texts or social media posts.

We consider that the level of contact has become unacceptable when the amount of time spent talking to an individual on the telephone, or responding to, reviewing and filing written correspondence, impacts on our ability to deal with the matter, or on our responsibility for carrying out tasks relating to other clients or those using our service.

How we manage abusive or aggressive behaviour:

Any member of the Imara team who directly experiences harassing, aggressive or abusive behaviour from anyone coming into contact with Imara has the authority to deal immediately with that behaviour in line with this policy.

Team members will end telephone calls if they consider the caller aggressive, abusive or offensive. Our team have the right to make this decision, to tell the caller that their behaviour is unacceptable and to end the call if the behaviour then persists.

If behaviour persists in future correspondence, we will tell the person that we will not permit any further contact from them, and will document this in writing.

In some cases, we may need to withdraw our support and / or refer the person back to a relevant partner organisation.

How we deal with other categories of unreasonable behaviour

Where a client, supplier, or member of the public repeatedly phones, emails, texts, writes or visits our offices, raises the same issue repeatedly, or sends us large numbers of documents about which the relevance is not clear, we may decide to:

• Limit contact to telephone calls from the person at set times on set days;
• Restrict contact to a nominated member of staff who will deal with future calls or correspondence;
• See the person by appointment only;
• Restrict contact to written correspondence only;
• Refuse to deal with further correspondence and return any documents;
• Take any other action that we consider appropriate to the circumstances, which may include reporting to authorities such as the police and/or social care.

Where we consider continued correspondence on a wide range of issues to be excessive, we may tell the person that only a certain number of issues will be considered in a given period and ask them to limit or focus their requests accordingly.

Where someone repeatedly requests a response on an issue on which they have already been a given a clear answer, we may refuse to respond to further enquiries from the person.

Where appropriate we will always tell the person, and we will document in writing the action we are taking and the reasons why.