Over the past year or so we’ve seen increasing number of high profile cases of sexual harassment and misogyny within media, government, police, NHS, fire service and in business.

According to a survey by Randstad in 2022, majority of women had encountered/witnessed inappropriate behaviour from male colleagues at work.

The extent of sexism, misogny and toxic culture was laid out in the Covid enquiry in November and highlighted the depth of sexism within Downing Street.

Whilst there is greater awareness following MeToo movement and reporting of incidents how much change has happened within workplaces?

According to a recent poll by TUC, 3 in 5 women have experienced sexual harassment, bullying or verbal abuse at work. This jumps to 2 in 3 young women aged 25 to 34 years old.

And the same poll also highlighted the low level of reporting such incidents to their employer. Only a third of women who experienced harassment reported it to their employer. Reasons for not reporting included fear of it not being believed or taken seriously and/or missing out on career opportunities.

In a separate survey by Fawcett Society, 4 in 5 workers do not report sexual harassment to their employer and prevalence of sexual harassment is much higher for disabled workers and workers from an ethnic minority background.

But what are the consequences of not taking action?

New regulations that requires employers to take “reasonable measures” to protect employees from sexual harassment come into effect on 26th October 2024. Whilst the proposed third party protection was dropped, employers cannot ignore this happens.

If your business doesn’t take preventative measures to address sexual harassment in the workplace, it can lead to:

📈 Increased staff turnover = costs associated having to go out to recruit are around £35,000 per role!

💷 Increased risk of litigation- workplace discrimination costs employers £127 billion

📰 Damaged reputation- you only need to watch the news to see how taking your foot off the pedal when it comes to dealing with inappropriate behaviour can damage a businesses’ reputation.

❌ Not winning contracts or investors pulling out.

So what can employers do to prevent and respond to sexual harassment in the workplace?

It requires a change in culture from the ground up:

• leadership taking a strong stance that such behaviour will not be tolerated and holding themselves and others to account,

• providing anti-sexual harassment training

• regularly communicating on the company' sexual harassment policy i.e. not just on everyone's first week in their role but regularly

• ensure regular check in and support to the employee who reported the incident

• offering different reporting routes and not leaving it to the individual concerned to report the incident (sadly often the default)

• taking a temperature check via anonymised survey to understand employees attitudes towards sexual harassment and take action where it is most needed

What action are you taking to prevent and address sexual harassment in the workplace?

Book a call and grab a cuppa and chat with us about how Inclusion 365 can support your organisation to get this right, avoid potential tribunal/legal costs and create an organisational culture that promotes fairness and respect in the workplace.