At Universities UK we have a zero-tolerance approach towards any form of unlawful discrimination, prejudice, bullying and harassment. We are committed to ensuring all people are treated with dignity and respect regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, or sexual orientation. We will respond promptly to any reports of incidents whether in person or virtually.
This Code of Conduct sets out expected standards of our staff, contractors, external partners and stakeholders, event speakers and delegates and venue clients.
Behaviours we encourage
- Respectful of beliefs, differences, and physical boundaries
- Collegiate
- Welcoming
- Inclusive
- Receptive and responsive to feedback
- Taking accountability for own behaviours
- Sharing credit
Behaviours we will not tolerate
- Harassment
- Bullying
- Victimisation
- Microaggressions
- Passive aggressive behaviour
- Unwanted physical contact
- The use of offensive or inappropriate language
Giving feedback
There will always be a need to deliver feedback. We encourage positive feedback, recognising an individual or team contribution and sharing credit. Where there are performance or behaviour issues, constructive feedback can be a helpful to achieve improvement. Any feedback should be:
- Evidence based,
- Specific, relevant to the job, constructive, credible and unbiased
- Timely,
- Accompanied by clear guidance and tips on how to improve, and
- Individuals should be given the opportunity to respond.
What can individuals do?
Senior managers, leaders and external stakeholders have to be aware of the perceived power dynamic in relationships. Where there is a perceive power imbalance, individuals are expected to model best practice – by virtue of their role they will be held to the highest standards. Everyone has a responsibility to help create and maintain an environment free of bullying and harassment both in person and virtually. You can help to do this by:
- being aware of how your own behaviour may affect others and changing it, if necessary - you can still cause offence even if you are "only joking";
- treating your colleagues with dignity and respect;
- taking a stand if you think inappropriate jokes or comments are being made;
- making it clear to others when you find their behaviour unacceptable;
- Intervening where appropriate, if possible, to stop harassment or bullying and giving support to a victim;
- making it clear that you find harassment and bullying unacceptable;
- reporting harassment or bullying of you and witnessed by you where appropriate to your line manager or human resources and supporting the organisation in the investigation of complaints; and
- if a complaint of harassment or bullying is made, not prejudging or victimising the reporting person or those against whom a report has been made.
Where can I find support?
If you need to discuss anything relating to this code, or report an incident contact UUK’s events team, [email protected]