Policy on bullying and sexual harassment

Danish Cultural Institute (DCI) strives at ensuring a working environment that respects the dignity of the individual employee. Engaging in sexual harassment, bullying and other abusive behaviour will not be tolerated. Sexual harassment and bullying can happen at any level of the organization or workplace. It can occur both between equal colleagues or between boss and employee – and in both directions. It is the responsibility of management to seek to avoid or stop all forms of harassment. A non-tolerance for abusive behaviour is clearly communicated to all employees based on these definitions:  

Sexual harassment can be perpetrated by both men and women and means that the dignity of another human being is violated by a series of sexual approaches of either physical or psychological nature – or both. Determining whether harassment or offensive behaviour occurs is the exposed person’s experience. Examples of sexual harassment include: 

• Undesired physical contact, touches, pats, squeezes, pinches, caresses and the like
• Unwelcome allusions with sexual undertones, such as lewd stories, jokes, comments about appearance and crude verbal assaults
• Suggestions, expectations or demands for sexual services
• Lewd and compromising offers or invitations to sexual intercourse
• Display of pornographic images
• Physical assaults

Bullying is an expression of a lack of tolerance and a display of contempt for other people. Bullying is a behaviour that can cause undermining of another person’s self-respect and sense of value. Examples of bullying include:  

• Abuse of power
• Denigration of the person or his/her work performance in crude terms, typically when others are present
• Coarse language, both word choice and idiom
• Falsehoods or lies, often born out of gossip.

Sexual harassment and bullying must be prevented by observing and raising awareness of any potential violations of the above defined conducts. In addition, DCI focuses on bullying and harassment in the working environment survey conducted every three years.  

In the case of an employee feeling harassed sexually or any other way, it is encouraged to address the issue with the line manager or submit a complaint though the complaint mechanism established by DCI management. See Guidelines for Complaints mechanism.