Our Online Support Team are available 24 hours a day to answer any questions you may have. It's easy to ask us a question. Simply visit the Ask A Question section of the website here and fill in some simple details, including your question.
You’ll be automatically shown five factsheets from our online InfoCentre based on key words in your question. If you’d still like to know more, just click ‘Submit’ to send it to one of the Online Support Team and receive a personal response.
Here are some of the questions we’ve been asked this week:
Question: I am suffering from what I believe is a bullying campaign led by two colleagues and I’m unsure what to do. I don’t know how to tackle this problem given that it’s caused by peers rather than superiors? What can I do?
Answer: It sounds like you are having a very difficult time at work at the moment. Bullying is a serious matter that should never be ignored and can have a considerable effect on you, so it’s good that you want to tackle this.
There are some steps we would suggest for you to start to deal with this:
- Keep a diary or log of each instance of bullying including the time, dates and any witnesses. Keep a copy for yourself if you hand this over to anyone else.
- Keep copies of any emails, letters, memos you feel are contributing to the bullying.
- Speak to your union as soon as possible – they will accompany you to any meetings if you want.
- Let you line manager know your situation. They have a responsibility to resolve the issue.
- Let those doing the bullying know that you find their behaviour unacceptable. If you don’t feel able to do this yourself, then you could ask your union rep to write on your behalf.
Hopefully this will enable you to take control of the situation and resolve it as soon as possible. We are here to support you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Call us on 08000 32 99 52.
You might also find these factsheets useful:
Question: I’ve been a lecturer on a temporary contract for the past 10 months and my contract is soon coming to an end with no renewal. I’d like to stay in HE but I’m having trouble finding further employment and I’m not sure what to do next. Can you help?
Answer: It’s great to hear that you’d like to continue lecturing but it can be tricky to manage when you are on temporary contracts. The best advice is to be persistent and keep looking as new positions are available all the time. Make sure your CV is completely up to date to give yourself the best chance of getting that interview.
You could also try cold-calling any organisations that you’d like to work in and make sure they are aware of you so that when a new position does become available they will already have your details to hand.
These factsheets from our InfoCentre may also help:
