Government?s Department of Human Resource is planning to train staff to stop harassment and bullying in the Civil Service.

The 14 new positions, possibly called Harassment Contact Officers (HROs), will play a key role in Government?s new Dignity at Work policy.

?The importance and urgency of this policy and its associated procedures has been underlined by the recent results of a Civil Service Opinion Survey which suggests that harassment and bullying are issues of real concern to significant numbers of individual Civil Servants,? Karen West, Consultant to the Department of Human Resources, wrote in the Invitation to Tender.

The Invitation to Tender is for an organisation or individual to design the training for the HROs. They will also have to inform some of Government?s senior personnel about how the Dignity at Work policy affects them.

Harassed civil servants will not be able seek out the 14 new HROs until they are trained. Government is still looking to hire someone to train the officers in preparation for the policy?s expected launch in October. Ms West said the future team of HROs will be made up of existing staff at the Department of Human Resources, however, places are also offered to representatives of linked Government Departments and public services. ?In order to become operational the complaints procedure will require the creation and development of a team of Harassment Contact Officers (this may not be their title, but to all intents and purposes, this is the role that team players will play),? Ms West wrote in the Invitation to Tender.

?In the main this team will be drawn from the ranks of the Department?s own Human Resource Managers and Human Resource Officers.?

Applicants for the new HRO positions will need to be well-prepared.

?Whilst we expect that those nominated will come to the role with good levels of underpinning skills (e.g. interpersonal skills) this is a new area of activity for the Bermuda Government and a potentially sensitive role, so individuals must be as well prepared as possible,? the work specification said. In addition, the tender said it was important that up to 600 line managers and the most important senior managers within the Civil Service - including 14 members of the Civil Service executive - will need to be fully briefed concerning both the contents of the new policy and their implications for management practice.

The new Dignity at Work policy will include an informal complaint procedure.