The long-awaited Sue Gray report into the parties held at Downing Street during the lockdowns has provided some timely lessons and reminders that companies would do well to heed such as the importance of positive leadership and leaders following their own rules, understanding them, and leading by example in terms of the policies and procedures they put in place.
It also highlighted the importance of allowing people to speak up and making clear to people what reporting lines are and the whistle blowing policy. It is crucial to develop a speak up culture where people feel comfortable raising issues and know how and where to do it especially in a growing organisation.
One of the things that Sue Gray talks about is how rapidly the 10 Downing Street infrastructure has grown over the last two years and in that time of growth they had not put in place adequate policies for an organisation as big as it now is. That is a real lesson to learn for other organisations which are growing fast. Reporting lines should be clear and set out in a policy which does not just sit in a handbook, but which is implemented, and everyone is trained on it.
Again, leading from the front, encouraging people to call out misconduct when they see it, to call out things that are going wrong and leading by example, admitting when mistakes have been made and admitting when things have gone wrong and learning from those mistakes. Equally an employee should know that if they do raise concerns, that it won’t result in retaliation of any form. There should be zero tolerance to any retaliation, and it should be made clear that speaking up when you see something that you think is not quite right is a positive rather than a negative.
Finally, there are the issues around alcohol consumption and what that shouldn’t look like in the workplace and how employers might manage that. There is a real culture shift where organisations are starting to put in place policies which manage alcohol consumption and acknowledging that it can be problematic when there is excess alcohol consumed. Things like putting limits on tabs, ensuring that people in management positions and people at the top of organisations are not the drunkest at the party and that employees need to remember that it’s a workplace even if it’s in a bar or a club – if it’s a work event it’s still work and employees should behave accordingly.
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