Anti-Bullying Week: Odd Socks Day 2025

Each November, the United Kingdom focuses attention on one of the most pervasive issues affecting workplaces, schools and communities: bullying. The annual campaign of Anti‑Bullying Week (this year 10–14 November 2025) kicks off with the visually distinctive and widely-celebrated Odd Socks Day on Monday 10 November.

For organisations operating in highly regulated sectors (such as financial services, healthcare, legal, regulated training providers and public sector bodies), these awareness days are much more than a “nice‐to‐do". They offer a strategic opportunity to reinforce culture, embed respect, ensure compliance, and pre-empt risk. 

In this blog, Anna Nova Galeon will define the key terms, explore the themes for 2025, and draw out practical implications for regulated organisations.

Defining key terms

With these foundations in place, below are the key terms that shape the conversation around Anti-Bullying Week and its impact on organisational culture and governance:

• Bullying - At its simplest, bullying is unwanted behaviour by one or more persons that is intended to or is likely to intimidate, offend, degrade, humiliate or undermine the recipient. It may be repeated or persistent, and may occur in person, by telephone, email or social media (cyber-bullying). For example, the Anti‑Bullying Alliance (ABA), which coordinates Anti-Bullying Week, defines bullying behaviour as a “behaviour choice” used against someone weaker

• Anti-Bullying Week - This is an annual UK-wide awareness campaign, coordinated by ABA, which aims to raise awareness of bullying, encourage discussion and equip children, young people, staff and organisations with tools to prevent and respond to bullying

• Odd Socks Day - This day marks the start of Anti-Bullying Week. Participants (students, staff, organisational teams) wear odd, mismatched socks as a simple and fun way to celebrate individuality and send the message that bullying, even if it seems small, will not be tolerated. No elaborate costume is required: simply wear two different socks

• Highly regulated organisation - For this blog, we mean any organisation subject to substantive external regulation (for example, by the Financial Conduct Authority, Care Quality Commission, Ofsted, the Health and Safety Executive, or equivalent regulators in other sectors). These organisations face stricter compliance requirements, higher-stakes reputational risk, and greater obligations around governance, culture and ethical behaviour.

Why 2025’s theme matters - “Power for Good”

The 2025 campaign theme is Anti‑Bullying Week 2025: “Power for Good". It encourages individuals to recognise and safely use their power to stop bullying, whether that means speaking out, offering support, or creating inclusive communities.

This theme has particular resonance in regulated environments:

• Power is often concentrated (senior teams, compliance, governance leads, risk managers) and thus there is a responsibility to deploy that power positively (creating safe workplaces, encouraging speak-up culture)

• The ‘for good’ part emphasises ongoing cultural shift, not just a one-off event

• The campaign links across online and offline behaviours, which is vital in sectors where hybrid work, remote teams, or digital communications are the norm.

Practical implications for regulated organisations

Building a respectful and inclusive culture requires more than awareness; it demands consistent, structured action across policies, training, and leadership.

To help regulated organisations translate the message of Anti-Bullying Week into meaningful practice, here are five practical ways to embed its principles into daily operations and compliance frameworks:

1. Embed anti-bullying awareness into governance & culture

For regulated organisations, culture is a key regulatory focus (for example, FCA’s focus on culture; CQC’s assessment of leadership and culture). Anti-bullying awareness aligns with those obligations. Use Anti-Bullying Week as a tangible bridge between policy and lived culture:

• Kick off with an internal “Odd Socks Day” (everyone wears odd socks) to make the message visible and inclusive

• Follow with short sessions, webinars or bulletin items exploring what bullying means in your context (including subtle behaviours, micro-aggressions, cyber-bullying)

• Use the theme of “Power for Good”: prompt senior teams to reflect on how they use influence, how they model behaviour, and how they challenge unhelpful norms.

2. Operational risk and compliance angle

Bullying behaviour, if unaddressed, leads to regulatory risk, including complaints, adverse impact on service users, staff turnover, decreased morale, potential whistleblowing, or litigation. Highly regulated organisations must be alert to this. Consider:

• Reviewing HR/conduct policies to ensure bullying behaviours (including online and remote) are explicitly covered

• Ensuring there are effective, confidential channels to report bullying.

• Ensuring that investigations are conducted in a timely, fair, and robust manner, with thorough documentation and oversight

• Linking anti-bullying efforts to broader safeguarding obligations (for example, in health/social care settings).

3. Training, awareness and refreshers

Use this week as an anchor for refresher training or awareness modules. Even if your mandatory training modules already cover bullying or harassment, you can leverage Anti-Bullying Week to:

• Remind employees of key definitions (bullying vs. banter; power imbalance; repeated behaviour)

• Provide practical scenarios tailored to your sector (e.g., remote teams, client-facing roles, micro-behaviours in professional services)

• Reinforce bystander behaviour: according to the ‘Power for Good’ theme, encourage colleagues to speak up, support peers and escalate.

4. Inclusive communications and visible leadership

One of the strengths of Odd Socks Day is that it is visible, non-threatening, and inclusive, allowing everyone to join, regardless of their role. For regulated organisations:

• Ask your leadership team to wear odd socks and post a short message emphasising respect, inclusion and a safe culture

• Encourage teams to share photos, internal communications, posters or banners to embed the message that being different is valued

• Use the visual symbol (odd socks) to prompt deeper discussion: “Yes, we wear odd socks, but how do we treat each other every day?"

5. Monitoring, measurement and continuous improvement

Regulatory expectations increasingly emphasise firms' monitoring culture, staff perceptions, and behaviours. It’s not enough to run a campaign; you need to know the impact. Consider:

• A short pulse survey post-week: did staff feel safer? Did they see examples of respectful behaviour?

• Measuring internal reporting trends: have bullying-related reports increased (in a good way) because people feel safer to speak up?

• Incorporate findings into your next culture governance meeting and link to your training refresh, HR policy review or compliance roadmap.

Case study reflection - What does this look like in practice?

Imagine a mid-sized regulated training provider (for example, you, with your services through the ComplyPlus™ ecosystem). In the lead-up to 10 November 2025, you:

• Send an internal bulletin - “On Monday, 10 Nov, we will mark Odd Socks Day and launch Anti-Bullying Week. Wear your odd socks and join us.”

• Schedule a 20-minute virtual lunch-and-learn session - “Power for Good: spotting, preventing and responding to bullying in training, remote and hybrid teams”

• Refresh your e-learning module on workplace conduct to include micro-behaviours, subtle bullying (e.g., exclusion, withholding information) and scenarios relevant to trainers, support staff, and remote delivery

• Post-week, send a pulse survey - “Did our messaging make you feel more confident to speak up if you see something? Did you feel better informed?” Analyse results and share a short leadership summary highlighting next steps.

• Link this to your wider compliance roadmap - “As a regulated entity, we commit to a respectful culture; bullying in any form undermines client trust, regulatory obligations and our mission. This week is a visible marker, not the end, of our commitment.”

Why this matters now

The following points highlight why Anti-Bullying Week and Odd Socks Day 2025 remain highly relevant for regulated organisations, not just as awareness events, but as catalysts for lasting cultural and compliance impact:

• Regulatory spotlight on culture - Bodies such as the FCA, CQC, and Ofsted require firms to demonstrate effective culture, speak-up mechanisms, and safe working practices. Anti-bullying campaigns are a tangible way to show commitment

• Remote/hybrid work adds complexity - Bullying may look different in virtual teams (silent chat channels, exclusion from meetings, persistent online negativity). Awareness and training must evolve

• Staff wellbeing, retention, and reputation - Bullying erodes trust, reduces engagement, increases turnover, and undermines an organisation's reputation. In highly regulated environments, the cost is even greater

• Client-facing risk - For many regulated organisations, staff behaviour affects client outcomes. Bullying or exclusion undermines service quality, compliance with standards (e.g., equality, diversity, safeguarding) and regulatory exposure

• Year-on-year commitment - These awareness-week markers (Odd Socks Day, Anti-Bullying Week) provide a visible, consistent slot each year to refresh messaging, maintain momentum and embed culture. The 2025 theme, “Power for Good", gives renewed impetus.

Practical checklist for your organisation

Here's a practical checklist your organisation can use to plan, implement, and sustain meaningful engagement during Anti-Bullying Week and Odd Socks Day 2025:

• Schedule 10 Nov 2025 - Odd Socks Day, communicate it widely across teams

• Prepare visual materials (posters, digital banners, internal mail) with the 2025 theme and your organisation's branding

• Host a short leadership message or team session emphasising “Power for Good”, speak-up culture and what bullying looks like in your environment

• Update or refresh training content (e-learning, team briefings) to ensure bullying and micro-behaviours are explicitly addressed, including remote/virtual scenarios

• Ensure reporting channels are visible, confidential and up-to-date (email, hotline, HR link, compliance portal)

• Deploy a short pulse survey at the end of the week to measure staff perceptions

• Review HR/ethics/compliance dashboards to track any changes in reporting, incident investigation, and outcomes

• Feed findings into your next Board or Senior Management governance report: what went well, what needs attention, and how is this embedded into your culture-risk framework.

Strengthen your culture with ComplyPlus™

At The Mandatory Training Group, we understand how highly regulated organisations must combine a visible culture of respect with rigorous compliance. Through our ComplyPlus™ ecosystem, you can access training modules, policy templates, toolkits and governance dashboards built to support organisations just like yours.

This Anti-Bullying Week, make sure your culture, training and compliance infrastructure align: invite your teams to join us, refresh your anti-bullying resources and use the campaign as a springboard for deeper, lasting change. 

Let’s harness our collective “Power for Good’’, this week, every week.