Bullying and harassment: NHSScotland PIN policy

7 Success indicators and evaluation

7.1 Success indicators

In order to gauge how successful the policy/procedure has been in operation, it is important to set baseline criteria to begin with. In line with the Staff Governance Standard, ³³ the NHSScotland staff survey will be an important source of baseline data.

Other sources may also supply useful indicators. For example, monitoring the number of complaints resolved without resorting to formal process, qualitative evaluation regarding the satisfaction of employees (victims and alleged perpetrators), or monitoring the number of employees who leave the organisation following an allegation of bullying/harassment.

It will therefore be necessary for organisations to gather both quantitative and qualitative data and put the relevant systems in place to assess them.

Other indicators of success can include:

• Staff awareness that a policy/procedure exists and an understanding of how it works;
• Management and staff using the policy/procedure to raise genuine concerns;
• Management and staff having confidence in the policy/procedure and feeling comfortable when using it;
• Improvements with reporting and handling such incidents; and
• Open discussion at Area Partnership Forums on the effectiveness of the policy/procedure.

7.2 Evaluation

A basis for evaluation could include:

• Feedback from the general staff survey on changes in organisational culture and the incidence of bullying and harassment;
• Return to work interviews undertaken in the management of absence, which should include the opportunity to raise any bullying/harassment problems and for these to be noted;
• Collation of anonymous information to be held from these meetings;
• Discussion of case studies at set timescales;
• Staff/management discussion groups;
• Anonymous facts and figures collated by Confidential Contacts, trade union/professional organisation representatives, occupational health, managers or HR personnel, with a view to monitoring the overall picture; or
• Information gained from the use of exit interviews.