If a woman is being bullied or harassed at work and doesn't know what to do, she can gen up on her next step without anyone needing to know, writes FIONA TARRANT.

She, and any other busy working woman, can brush up on new business skills without the need to attend any boring meetings or training classes.

They simply swap music cassettes in their cars for ones produced by an enterprising businesswoman and learn as they drive.

Sue Froggatt, who began her career as a sales data analyst with General Foods in Banbury and whose family still live in the town, came up with the idea for Audio Briefings by chance.

"I'd been listening to audio tapes from America for about four years but they were mostly aimed at a different kind of audience and some of them were very poor," she said. "I've had different business ideas throughout my career but Audio Briefings is really my baby.

"The two main attributes of the tapes are that you can manage your own time more effectively by listening to the tapes at a time to suit you and they can constantly be replayed whenever you need to recap on a subject.

"The tapes deal with four different areas - management issues, specific tasks and skills - and they give examples of women who have made it."

Each month a new tape comes out covering two subjects, which Sue hopes subscribers will build up into an audio library. Topics include managing personal finance, personal safety and assertiveness training.

"Sometimes the best person to speak abut a particular topic is a personnel manager who has personally dealt with an issue, like harassment or bullying at work, and has seen the problem through from start to solution," said Sue. "She might be in the thick of it at work and have endless experience in dealing with something like this. Other good sources are businesswomen who are very good at their jobs."

PROMOTION TURNED FRIEND INTO A BULLY

Jessica and Tom had been workmates for a couple of years when the bullying began, writes. Jessica, now 49, said: "When we were equals we were friends.

"We'd often ring each other up at home to discuss work and we got on well. Then Tom was promoted and everything changed."

At first it was subtle and gradual but then it became unbearable.

Jessica, who did not want her real name used for fear of retribution, lost all her self-confidence as the harassment continued. "He became rude and intolerant. I had no discretionary power without having to ask him first and he made that difficult. If he knew I needed to speak to him, he would avoid me, forcing me to follow him around.

"Then once, in a public place, he turned on me and said I was like a little lap dog. It was humiliating," she said.

"At the time I had had a hysterectomy and he said I had become more sensitive since the operation."

Jessica said the whole experience left her feeling utterly distraught and that although it didn't affect her work, it did affect her work relationships.

"I wonder if he felt threatened by me," she said. "I was strong and good at my job and we had been equals. He said other people in the office found me difficult to work with. "That was very upsetting, so I decided to speak to one of the people he had named. She was horrified and said it was completely untrue. It was Tom's way of making me feel insecure."

Although she knew she was being bullied, Jessica refused to give in and was determined not to leave.

"In the end he left and I had no more problems," she said.

Story date: Friday 22 January

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.