Yahoo Finance Is Westminster leading a workplace revolution? The noes have it
After MPs voted to ban politicians who’ve been arrested from parliament, Westminster has gone further than the law dictates, so should other employers follow suit? Asks Simon Neville
Earlier this week MPs voted to approve new rules that would see politicians banned from the Parliamentary estate if they are arrested for a serious sexual or violent offence.
This now puts the threshold for a politician to be banned from their workplace higher than for an employer looking to ban a member of staff from the office after an arrest.
Currently, employers in the private sector must have just cause for sacking or suspending an employee and employment lawyers will tell you an arrest may not be enough.
Even if they are charged and convicted, some companies could struggle to push them out, depending on the offence and their contract.
But should workplaces follow Westminster’s lead? Or would it be doomed to failure?
The issue at play here is that MPs appear to be taking a performative approach to workplace abuse. Of course, it is right that wrongdoing is stamped out. But getting arrested is no easy feat and the threshold for inappropriate behaviour tipping into the criminal realm is higher than most realise.
We all know Kevin Spacey was inappropriate in his behaviour when running the Old Vic Theatre – he admits it himself – but a jury found it wasn’t criminal. And, like with Spacey at the Old Vic, the issue in Westminster isn’t whether or not someone has been arrested – it’s the culture that enabled it.
The same issues arose at the CBI last year when it almost collapsed. Then-chief executive Tony Danker was shown the door over allegations of inappropriate behaviour, which got mangled up with allegations of criminal sexual assault by other members of staff he had nothing to do with.
Reports made clear the two were separate, but, reputationally the CBI failed to make enough of a distinction and Danker became the fall guy for the whole debacle. The CBI’s knee-jerk actions would lead to an out-of-court settlement ahead of an employment tribunal.
The point being that, as with the Old Vic and the CBI, lawmakers in Westminster need to be clear that illegality and acting like an idiot are not the same thing. Politicians need to make sure the backslapping on the new rules does not stop the work needed to improve the culture, where staff feel undervalued or bullied.
Typically, parliamentary researchers and assistants are young, low-paid and impressionable.
They are unlikely to file a complaint for inappropriate behaviour because they know any investigation could take several months. They also know that raising a grievance could jeopardise their career – especially in a profession that will have dozens of willing candidates ready to fill their shoes.
And, finally, those in their first jobs may know no different and assume the 24-hour culture of living and breathing politics, with the lines between professional and personal lives blurring, is totally normal.
“He’s just like that” and “his bark is worse than his bite” are refrains still heard in all workplaces and younger staff will take such advice at face value.
But until we can call out inappropriate behaviour in the workplace first, telling someone they will be banned for getting arrested seems more destined to generate headlines than real change.
It is laudable that Westminster wants to show it is standing up to the worst behaviours exhibited by MPs but workplaces would be wrong to follow their example.
Fostering a culture that ensures employees are treated appropriately is a far more effective way to improve the workplace. But sometimes window dressing is cheaper than the hard graft that’s needed.
Simon Neville is media strategy and content director at SEC Newgate
