We are committed to ensuring our diocese and our churches are places of safety, dignity, and respect for all.
We are committed to ensuring that all individuals working, volunteering, or worshipping within the Diocese are treated with dignity and respect. Every person is made in the image of God and deserves to be treated with kindness, fairness, and respect. We strive to create a safe, inclusive, and supportive environment that reflects the love, grace, and justice of Christ.
While churches are meant to be sanctuaries, we know that silence and lack of structure have sometimes allowed harm to go unaddressed. We must acknowledge that harassment can happen anywhere—and when it does, it damages trust, faith, and lives. Our response must be proactive, not reactive.
Sexual harassment and misogyny within the Church are part of this issue - we seek to create a culture where harassment and misogyny have no place as we live Christ's love.
We will not tolerate:
- Bullying or harassment
- Discrimination on any grounds (including age, disability, gender, race, religion, sexual orientation)
- Victimisation or intimidation
- Any behaviour that undermines the dignity or wellbeing of others
What can PCCs, clergy and church officers do to prevent harassment and misogyny?
- We encourage you all to speak out when you witness, or experience, such harassment.
- Adopt the recommended Dignity at Work policy for churches.
- Adopt the recommended Sexual Harassment Awareness Policy.
- Undertake the E Learning course developed specifically for our Diocese.
- Display a poster in your church, encouraging people to speak out and identifying how they can do this.
For a conversation, and for draft policies please speak to the HR team 01905 730730.
When things go wrong
Harassment Advisers
We are committed to the encouragement and training of Harassment Advisers. Harassment Advisers are concerned members of the clergy and laity who have volunteered, and been accepted, to undertake these duties outlined in a specific job description.Appointed by the Bishop they will receive special training for this role. They are available to any member of the clergy or laity to offer, in confidence, advice and information.
Advisers will not make judgements, and only very rarely will they make recommendations or reports; they will listen in an informal atmosphere and help with the discernment of the necessary action and support needed.
To request being put in touch with a Diocesan Harassment Adviser please contact the HR Administrator at the Diocesan Office who will simply take contact details to pass them on to a Diocesan Harassment Adviser.
The Diocesan Harassment Advisers are appointed and act on behalf of the Bishop of Worcester. Information they hold is within the context of the Bishop’s registration as a data controller.
If I think I have been the target of bullying or harassment, what can I do?
If you are experiencing bullying or harassment you should not suffer in silence or feel that you are to blame in some way for inviting bullying behaviour.
Actions you can take yourself
Keep a factual log of all incidents of bullying – dates, times, nature of incident, details of accusations, criticisms, emails and other correspondence.This may be needed as evidence should harassment, victimisation or bullying continue or subsequently recur.
Try to get witnesses to bullying incidents and avoid situations where you are alone with the bully.Find out if you are the only person being bullied or whether other people are also affected now, or have been in the past. Talk to colleagues and see if they will support you.
If possible, clarify your role description so that you can check whether the responsibilities you are given match it. It is important, for example, to ensure that any duties or tasks you have been given are not unreasonable.
Research all the available informal and formal options open to you and what support and advice is available including from qualified counsellors, professional associations, trades unions and the police.
Informal action
It may be possible for the complaint to be resolved quickly by explaining directly to the harasser or bully the effect their behaviour is having, and that you want it to stop.By trying the informal route you may be able to get the harasser or bully to stop their behaviour and so prevent the matter becoming public, or of escalating and making your situation more difficult.
But it has been shown that it is rarely advisable for a target to confront a bully alone, without support.Consult your Incumbent or line manager and discuss with them whether to confront the alleged harasser, alone or with someone, for instance a colleague or friend, in support.
Every effort should be made to use informal means to stop the offensive behaviour before formal procedures are invoked.But it should also be made clear that if the behaviour continues you will make a formal complaint.This may be enough to sort things out, particularly if the person(s) involved was/were unaware that their behaviour was causing offence.
Further Steps
If the perpetrator is a lay person:
- namely a Reader or lay worker holding the Bishop’s licence, it may be appropriate to use this process.
- namely someone volunteering or employed by e.g. a Parochial Church Council, the Diocesan Board of Finance, or a Health Authority and the harassment is arising in the context of that role, it may be appropriate to use the relevant body’s complaints procedure.
However, if the perpetrator is some other lay person then there are not formal diocesan processes but the following informal procedures may help with dealing with such complaints.
- Make it clear to the person harassing you that their behaviour is inappropriate and explain the impact of their actions on you.
- Report it to your incumbent.
Annex 1
What is bullying and harassment?
'Harassment, in general terms, is unwanted conduct affecting the dignity of men and women. It may be related to age, sex, race, disability, religion, sexual orientation, nationality or any personal characteristic of the individual, and may be persistent or an isolated incident. The key is that the actions or comments are viewed as demeaning and unacceptable to the recipient.'
'Bullying may be characterised as offensive, intimidating, malicious or insulting behaviour, an abuse or misuse of power through means intended to undermine, humiliate, denigrate or injure the recipient.'
The legal definition of harassment also requires the behaviour to have 'the purpose or effect of violating people's dignity or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment.'
‘Unacceptable behaviour’ changes its label to ‘bullying’ or ‘harassing behaviour’ when it causes actual harm or distress to the target(s), normally but not exclusively, after a series of incidents over a prolonged period of time.
How can bullying and harassment be recognised?
Bullying may manifest itself in a variety of different ways. It is usually persistent, and often unpredictable, and can amount to severe psychological intimidation.It is insidious, and undermines the ability and confidence of the person suffering from it.It can lead to fear, isolation, demotivation and reduced output, poor concentration, symptoms of stress, a noticeable level of sickness absence or stubborn attendance when obviously unwell, psychological, emotional and physical harm.
On the other hand it is important to distinguish between bullying, and behaviour that is reasonable in a particular context.For example there may be occasions where shortcomings in performance are being addressed and more incisive behaviour is interpreted as bullying simply because the recipient is unused to being challenged or asked to account for their actions.
Also it can be the case that when clergy or lay leaders are seeking to bring about change it may not always be welcomed by everyone. This may trigger difficult behaviour amongst some of the congregation etc and clergy or lay leaders have to recognise that some of that (although only within reason) is a part of managing change and is not automatically bullying or harassment but about managing people in difficult situations
Harassment, in general terms, is unwanted conduct affecting the dignity of men and women in the workplace.It may be related to age, sex, race, disability, religious belief (including theology or churchmanship), nationality or any personal characteristic of the individual, and may be persistent or an isolated incident.The important point is that the actions or comments are viewed as demeaning and unacceptable to the recipient.
On the whole it is safest to take the view that if a person complains that they are being bullied or harassed, then they have a grievance, which should be dealt with regardless of whether or not their complaint accords with a standard definition.
Examples of bullying behaviour
The following list of behaviours is not exhaustive but gives a clear indication of the sorts of actions that constitute bullying or harassment
- removing areas of responsibility without discussion or notice
- isolating someone or deliberately ignoring or excluding them from activities
- consistently attacking someone’s professional or personal standing
- setting out to make someone appear incompetent
- persistently picking on someone in front of others
- deliberate sabotage of work or actions
- deliberately withholding information or providing incorrect information.
- overloading with work/reducing deadlines without paying attention to any protest
- displays of offensive material
- use of e-mails to reprimand, insult or otherwise inform someone of their apparent failing, either to the individual or to third parties
- repeatedly shouting or swearing at someone or about them in their presence in public or in private
- spreading malicious rumours to third parties
- public humiliation by constant innuendo, belittling and ‘putting down’
- personal insults and name-calling
- aggressive gestures, verbal threats and intimidation
- persistent threats about security
- making false accusations
- aggressive bodily posture or physical contact
- talking/shouting directly into someone’s face
- direct physical intimidation, violence or assault
The most serious incidents might result in:
- creating an unsafe working environment
- ignoring signs of overwork and extreme stress
- putting someone’s health physically, emotionally or psychologically at risk by making them upset, frightened and/or ridiculed
