Preventing sexual harassment in the workplace
Sexual harassment in the workplace is more common than you think. In fact, one in three workers in Australia are victims of sexual harassment, so no workplace is immune.
As highlighted by the recent experience at Nine Entertainment, organisations across Australia struggle to identify the risks of workplace sexual harassment and implement an effective strategy to address them.
At Intersection, we assist boards, leaders and organisations to become Respect@Work ready and foster safe, respectful and inclusive workplace cultures.
From our work across a range of sectors and workplace contexts, we’ve identified the common challenges businesses face and developed a comprehensive suite of services to support employers overcome them.
Understanding the legislation
Prior to 2022, under the Sex Discrimination Act 1984 (Cth), the onus was on victims of sexual harassment to take the first step in reporting an incident. This was problematic for many reasons, including the fact that it did nothing to prevent workplace sexual harassment from occurring in the first place.
The team at Intersection led and authored the ground-breaking Respect@Work: National Inquiry into Sexual Harassment in Australian Workplaces which recommended the introduction of a positive (or preventative) duty, and the prevention framework which underpins the seven standards for compliance.
The positive duty commenced in December 2022 and requires all employers and persons conducting a business or undertaking to eliminate (as far as possible) sexual harassment and related behaviours. This means that employers must adopt a ‘prevention’ rather than ‘response’ mindset, and aligns the anti-discrimination law framework with employer duties under the work health and safety regime. To comply with the requirements of the positive duty employers need to approach sexual harassment and other forms of inappropriate workplace behaviour in terms of risk.
To support employers on their path to better understanding their positive duty obligations we’ve outlined some key points below.
Educate your leaders
Leadership sits at the centre of the positive duty. Leaders must be equipped to support an organisation’s positive duty compliance measures. This begins by educating leaders on what the positive duty means - both from a technical and practical perspective - and their role in bringing it to life for the people they lead.
While it is essential that the board and executive leadership team have a clear understanding of the positive duty, all people leaders should have line of sight of the positive duty in their day to day. They should be confident that the way they are leading, as well as being supported to lead, is characterised by safety, respect and inclusion.
Find out what you don’t know
You don’t know what you don’t know. In organisations where C-suite members are the ones with the power to make decisions, the greatest irony is that these same people are the ones least likely to be aware of any issues.
Employees rarely feel safe reporting incidents of sexual harassment or other forms of inappropriate workplace behaviour. Fearful of getting a reputation as a troublemaker or risking their career, internal complaints data doesn’t tell the full story when it comes to sexual harassment. We know that fewer than one in five employees (18%) report their experiences of workplace sexual harassment. Underreporting is further exacerbated where the perpetrator is the victim’s manager, or another person in the reporting line.
Independent reviews, cultural health checks and other forms of employee listening strategies can support the identification and analysis of systemic issues, risk areas and barriers that are preventing your workplace from being the safe, respectful and inclusive workplace it could be.
Make it safe to report
Making it safe for your employees to report sexual harassment and other forms of inappropriate workplace behaviour is a key part of preventing this behaviour from occurring in the first place. You want your people to come forward as soon as they have concerns to allow you to take action early.
Safe reporting includes providing multiple and anonymous pathways, as well as taking a person-centred and trauma-informed approach at all times. This builds trust in your complaint handling mechanisms. Assessing your reporting channels and the policies and procedures that support them, to ensure they align with these principles, is critical.
Share what you find out
Transparency is a key component of creating safe, respectful and inclusive workplaces that are characterised by mutual trust between leaders and employees. Confidentiality and privacy should always be front of mind when dealing with sensitive matters but sharing findings and outcomes is also important.
Too often, sexual harassment and other instances of inappropriate workplace behaviour are hidden by organisations, tucked away from view using settlements and NDAs. This leaves employees feeling uncertain if there has been any accountability for misconduct. Sometimes, actions have been taken, but a lack of communication leaves employees feeling like nothing has been done. This further results in a loss of trust and a potential reluctance to call out bad behaviour in the future.
Creating a safe, respectful and inclusive workplace culture that prioritises transparency and sets an example at all levels, leads to a safe environment that attracts the best and most diverse talent.
Actively manage your risk
A crisis is often a catalyst for action in workplace issues; the greatest lesson is that it can teach us is what we can do differently next time. In the case of the positive duty, crisis or not, the most important step that an employer can take is to develop a framework to actively and comprehensively manage their positive duty risk.
Intersection works with organisations to develop frameworks which take into account the full range of risk factors that impact workplace culture. This includes reviewing policies, training, workforce demographics and the issues that are unique to each context. Based on the insights revealed through this process we can develop practical and evidence-based solutions to support positive duty compliance.
Build a safe, respectful and inclusive workplace with Intersection
Intersection is a boutique consulting firm that focuses on supporting boards, leaders and organisations to foster safe, respectful and inclusive workplace cultures. Our team of social policy and legal professionals has deep expertise in gender equality, intersectionality, discrimination, human rights and workplace culture reform.
Intersection has a range of offerings to create safe, respectful and inclusive workplace cultures including:
independent workplace culture reviews and cultural health checks
advisory services focused on the development of systems and structures, including risk assessments, to promote a positive workplace culture
Respect@Work Masterclasses
the Intersection Academy which offers targeted training, both face-to-face and online, with options ideal for any size organisation and both frontline and office-based workforces.
Our training offerings use leading practice principles of adult learning. Training is available on a range of topics including how to:
build leadership capability to prevent and respond to inappropriate workplace behaviours
conduct trauma-informed and person-centred workplace investigations
equip individuals to be active bystanders.
With a trauma-informed and victim-led approach, you can have confidence our services will prioritise the wellbeing of your employees.