Umbrella company bullying/harassment procedures

[Soulfire]

I work for an umbrella company (as in a permenant employee of the company, not a contractor) and I work on a support phone line. The contractors who call in are considered employees of the company as well, though they pay for the payroll services while working in other places contracting for other companies.

Regularly, these employees become very abusive when calling in. In the last year, I've been called a C word multiple times, I have been told they hope I die, I've been called stupid, as well as a plethora of other insults. All of these instances have been reported to management, and exactly zero of the offending employees have been contacted or warned about their behaviour. I'm at the end of my tether enduring this abuse, and it feels so much worse and so isolating knowing that my managers are doing nothing about it. I feel like there is an expectation that this be endured so as not to lose their business. The priority is massively on receiving margin payments over addressing these behaviours. There are policies in place to safeguard us against this kind of behaviour, which are supposed to include warnings and dismissal depending on severity, but to my knowledge they have never been followed, at least not in any of the instances I have reported

GIven that these calls are being made by fellow employees of the company, i was hoping someone could tell me if the lack of action might amount to contributing to a hostile work environment by omission? My last abusive call was 4 days ago. I informed 3 managers at the time, and I've checked the employees record daily for signs of activity from any of them and there have been none.

Any help would be hugely appreciated! I just want to know where I stand as I feel as though the only way to protect myself against this abuse is to leave, which would leave me in an awful financial position and isn't feasible for me, though if it becomes a choice between my mental health and my financial well-being, I may have to.

[ULA]

I am concerned about the contractual status of the contractors given that they can work for other companies.

That aside you should not have to deal with abuse whilst performing your everyday duties and this should be taken seriously by management.

[Soulfire]

Just a quick update-

I've done the checking, the contract of employment only states that disciplinary procedures are outlined in the employee handbook. The employee handbook then guides you to a separate online resource which outlines the dignity at work (bullying and harrassment) policy. This policy does clearly outline all of these behaviours as unacceptable. It states that any claims of bullying or harrassment would be investigated and considered an act of misconduct or gross misconduct and dealt with under the disciplinary procedure.

That then outlines clear guidelines on warnings and dismissal depending on severity. So all of this is being ignored in the case of contractors.

[ULA]

Good to hear that you have the evidence which will help in supporting your grievance.

[Soulfire]

Thank you again for your reply. I have access to the contract of employment presented to the contractors, so I will check for such a clause. I also remember the name of the person, as well as the 3 I reported it to, so I will be able to prove that I've reported it. We also log our interactions and I was sure to put in my log that he was abusive on the call.

Calls are also recorded so there should be evidence of his conduct there.

[ULA]

No worries I got the gist and have removed.

You said that you had an abusive call 4 days ago, do you have any details of that, even it is approximate time of the call, date who made the call and who you reported it to that adds substance to your grievance together with any other recent examples of you being on the receiving end of such behaviour.

I think it should be a grievance about both issues.

Firstly, the contractors who call in should not be abusing you in this way and in any agreement the "umbrella company" has with them there should be something about not tolerating any abusive behaviour they direct at employees of the "umbrella company".

Secondly if you are raising incidents of such a nature to management and they are not investigating then that needs to raised as an issue.

[Soulfire]

Really sorry, I just realised I didn't redact some of the offensive language!

[Soulfire]

Thanks for your response. This is the only evidence I have as it was a live chat exchange. The majority of them are over the phone. Anything redacted in blue is either my name, the company name or the colleagues name. Anything in red is the C-word.

When you suggest a grievance, can I just clarify if you mean regarding the conduct of these people, or regarding my feelings at management's lack of response to these incidents? I do report them as abusive to management as and when it happens.

Incidentally, a manager did reach out after this particular incident, to see what they could do to help, not address the behaviour.

[ULA]

I would suggest that your first course of action is to raise a formal grievance. In support of this you would need to detail - dates, times and name of the person/s who called in and then which member of management you have reported it to.