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What can employers do about harassment at work?
Recently, hundreds of women have spoken out about sexual harassment they have experienced in the workplace, with a new, unforgiving spotlight being shone on those accused of perpetrating abuse.
As light is shone on years of alleged sexual misconduct by industry moguls it has also become clear that the problem extends far beyond the world of entertainment.
According to a YouGov survey of 1,000 adults. Only 27% of all people who experience sexual harassment report it. 70% said they did not report it and 4% of “preferred not to say”.
A survey published today for the Telegraph shows one in five women have been victims of sexual harassment in the workplace; similar polling at the BBC has found as many as half of women have been harassed at work.
So what, can employers do about harassment at work?
Understand what sexual harassment is
The Equality Act 2010 protects employees from harassment at work by their employer or colleagues. Harassment is unwanted or unwelcome behaviour which is meant to or has the effect of violating dignity or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment. Sexual harassment is also unlawful under the Equality Act, as is bullying. Behaviours which constitute bullying and harassment are explored further in the course.
The #MeToo campaign revealed that employees aren’t clear about what sexual harassment is. People found their experiences re-defined during the course of the conversation, realising they had in fact been victims of harassment.
“It can be uncertain if someone has suffered ‘sexual harassment’,” says Dr Fiona Vera-Gray, research fellow at Durham Law School. Some forms of harassment can be passed off as “banter” or be “quite subtle”, she says, while women can be criticised for “not taking a joke” or being “narcissistic”.
Everyone should familiarise themselves with what constitutes harassment in order to remove ambiguity about what’s appropriate.
It would be wise as an employer to have your own clear definition that considers your working environment. Informal industries which a lot of socialising are likely to be a a greater risk thereby requiring greater resource to consider and mitigate.
2. Understand the law
Employers are not required to have clear sexual harassment policies in place. Your legal duty of care is protect employees (reactive), clear policies including eduction will work as proactive preventative measures.
Recently the government has been chipping away at employee rights. The repeal of section 40 of the Equality Act 2010 for example. This section required employers to protect their staff from harassment by clients or customers. This is a big deal for women in public-facing roles, including NHS staff, shop workers and millions of others, who now have even less capacity to challenge perpetrators.
The Conservatives government imposed punitive employment tribunal fees, since which harassment claims have significantly reduced. Unison brought a challenge to the supreme court and the fees were abolished. But too many women still don’t know their rights, or how to go about enforcing them. So now that sexual harassment is headline news, the government should be taking out ads informing women of their rights.
3. Create a Dignity at Work policy
Employers should be required to have clear sexual harassment policies in place, and make sure that everyone knows about them, so that victims can take actions as soon as an inappropriate encounter occurs.
Policy should include:
- Dignity at work charter
- Clear definitions including Bullying Vs Management
- Grievance procedures
- Roles
- Responding to a Harassment compliant
- Investigation & Outcome
- When a Bullying Compliant is Upheld
- When referred to external Bodies
Procedures need to consider that reporting harassment can be more difficult for people in less formal employment because it may not be clear who they can speak to or what the consequences could be.
“Someone who’s quite high up in a bank will be supported by a lot of HR policies as opposed to a domestic or casual worker,” says Vera-Gray. “There’s a big push at the moment on speaking out and I’m worried individuals are going to have to shoulder the responsibility.”
4. Educate your employees and their rights and your procedures.
Indeed, education is the single most important step we can take to crack down on sexual harassment, and government and employers should work together to deliver it.
Employers – especially large employers – should offer specific training on sexual harassment. All staff should know what inappropriate behaviour looks like, and that the employer has a zero-tolerance policy. It needs to be understood that the “just banter” defence is not appropriate
Most employers have policies and guidelines about sexual harassment, but these may not be visible to workers, and management may not have had formal training.
Vera-Gray hopes “to see workplaces bringing in more mandatory sexual harassment training so this isn’t an issue that sparks up and dies down,” she says. “I’d like to see a cultural shift.
“It’s heart warming to think this could be a tipping point for employers to have a duty to act not just in the aftermath, but before anything happens.”
