Why Workplace Behaviour Matters

Bullying and harassment are not just personal disagreements; they are safety risks. They distract staff, stop people speaking up, and block the flow of important information.

In optical practice, each patient moves through reception, pre-test, consulting, dispensing, and collection. If a colleague feels belittled or unsafe, they are less likely to challenge a risky decision, report a near miss, or ask for help with an unfamiliar device.

The General Optical Council (GOC) requires registrants under GOC Standard 11 to protect patients, colleagues, and others from harm. To meet that duty, the workplace must allow staff to speak up, correct each other respectfully, and raise concerns without fear.^[1]

How behaviour links to safety and performance

Research shows that feeling threatened narrows attention and reduces memory, so people fall back on habits. In practice this may mean incomplete histories, missed warning questions, forgetting to give safety advice, or shallow record keeping.^[2]

Rude or dismissive comments also discourage people from speaking up.^[3]

Juniors may hold back information that challenges a senior’s view; receptionists may avoid interrupting to pass on flashes/floaters; dispensing colleagues may skip questions about fit or lens design. Over time, this leads to more remakes, poor call triage, and complaints that use up time. By contrast, a respectful culture encourages reporting, faster problem solving, and steadier supervision — all of which protect patients.^[5]

Patterns seen in optical settings

• Public undermining: correcting staff sarcastically in front of patients; eye-rolling in huddles; showing off criticism at the bench.
• Exclusion by “banter”: jokes about accent, body, age, religion, or neurodiversity; pressure to accept teasing even after discomfort is made clear.^[6]
• Blocking information: not sharing booking notes, referral outcomes, or device passwords; ignoring handover messages to stay in control.

These behaviours train teams to keep quiet and confuse patients, who notice inconsistency and start to doubt advice.^[4]

Enablers of a healthy, accountable culture

Culture has to be built on purpose. It helps when leaders show curiosity (“What are we missing?”), invite challenge without punishment, and deal with tone early. Clear roles and responsibilities keep disagreements focused on process, not status.^[4]

Good feedback is specific, about behaviour not personality, private, and timely. At the same time, zero-tolerance rules remove any doubt about sexual harassment or discriminatory behaviour.

Simple systems then support these behaviours: shared handover sheets reduce friction; short end-of-day huddles keep messages consistent; posters remind staff that speaking up is normal.^[7] Accountability comes from checking incident themes, survey results (on safety and respect), and staff turnover, then showing what actions will be taken and by whom, with dates.^[8]

Workplace behaviour matters because it is part of clinical quality, legal compliance, and public trust in optical care.

References (numbered in text) Why we include references

1. Speaking up — General Optical Council (GOC) Find (opens in a new tab)
2. Grant S. Shields; Matthew A. Sazma; Andrew P. Yonelinas — The effects of acute stress on core executive functions: A meta-analysis and comparison with cortisol. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews (2016) Find (opens in a new tab)
3. Arieh Riskin; Amir Erez; Trevor A. Foulk; et al. — The Impact of Rudeness on Medical Team Performance: A Randomized Trial. Pediatrics (2015) Find (opens in a new tab)
4. Amy C. Edmondson — Psychological Safety and Learning Behavior in Work Teams. Administrative Science Quarterly (1999) Find (opens in a new tab)
5. Lynne M. Andersson; Christine M. Pearson — Tit for Tat? The Spiraling Effect of Incivility in the Workplace. Academy of Management Review (1999) Find (opens in a new tab)
6. Reasonable steps to preventing workplace harassment — Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) Find (opens in a new tab)
7. Martin Müller; Jonas Jürgens; Marcus Redaèlli; Karsten Klingberg; Wolf E. Hautz; Stephanie Stock — Impact of the communication and patient hand-off tool SBAR on patient safety: a systematic review. BMJ Open (2018) Find (opens in a new tab)
8. Patient Safety Incident Response Framework (PSIRF) — NHS England Find (opens in a new tab)