Bletsoes Unacceptable and Unreasonable Behaviour Policy

Our employees are expected to treat individuals with courtesy, respect, and fairness. Similarly, we expect our employees to be treated in the same way. We have a duty to protect the welfare and safety of all employees and have a zero-tolerance policy where abusive behaviour is concerned. Where individuals behave unacceptably or unreasonably, we will refer to this policy.

Unacceptable behaviour

We understand that selling, buying, letting, or renting property can be a challenging time and people may act out of character in times of distress or due to frustration. However, if that frustration develops into aggression or abuse towards our employees, we will not accept that.

Our employees have the right to undertake their work free from aggression or abuse and we expect them to be treated with courtesy and respect. Aggressive, abusive or unacceptable behaviour may include, but is not limited to, the following:

- behaviour or language (verbal or written) that may cause employees to feel offended, upset, afraid, threatened or abused

- verbal abuse, shouting, obscene / derogatory remarks, foul language and rudeness

- insulting or degrading language

- racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic, disablist comments, or other harassment based on personal characteristics, whether direct or indirect

- commenting on a person’s ability to do their job

- making serious allegations against employees without any evidence

- recording meetings or telephone conversations without consent

- threats of physical harm or actual physical harm

- displaying of offensive items or imagery in places that our employees will visit.

We may also decide that comments aimed not at us but at third parties are unacceptable because of the effect that listening to or reading them may have on our employees.

If we feel behaviour towards our employees is unacceptable or unreasonable, we may take any of the following actions:

- instigate call recording of telephone calls, with the caller advised

- end a telephone call should the conversation continue in an unacceptable manner

- request to leave the office or property

- refer the matter to a Partner

- ask that all future contact is made through a third-party advocate

- report incidents to the police (for example, if verbal abuse has taken place or if violence has been threatened)

- take any other action that we consider appropriate (in extreme cases, this may include blocking calls/emails, returning correspondence or restricting contact)

In making our decision, we may consider:

- how the behaviour has affected our employee(s)

- how it has affected the individual (including their personal circumstances and any reasonable adjustments)

- the extent to which we are able to engage or assist

This process may be reconsidered by us if the individual commits to behaving with courtesy, respect, and fairness and:

- an apology is made where unacceptable behaviour towards an individual employee has occurred

- we receive evidence that there were exceptional reasons for the behaviour.