Dealing with challenging behaviour from members of the public is a reality for many local government employees. 

Victorian Ombudsman Deborah Glass has released a new guide, titled Good Practice Guide to Dealing with Challenging Behaviour, which aims to help create better understanding between government bodies and the public.
 
“We are constantly asked for advice from government departments, agencies and local councils on what to do with overly persistent or abusive people,” Glass says. “We also hear from people who complain that an agency won’t deal with them, when they think they have a justified complaint.
 
“We recognise this difficult balancing act. The public sector exists to serve the public including those who may be demanding. But public sector resources are limited, and agencies need to protect the health and safety of their workforce.”
 
Glass says the guide recommends a graduated four-stage response, starting with preventing challenging behaviour where possible by dealing with complaints in a fair, prompt and respectful way, through to the last resort of limiting a member of the public’s access to the organisation.
 
The guide includes tips for dealing with common situations and examples of what does or does not work, based on actual cases.
 
“I hope the guide helps to de-fuse, de-escalate and de-mystify the behaviours that public servants encounter daily, and that greater understanding leads to fewer complaints,” Glass says. 

The guide is available here.