There are plenty of steps to be taken now to ensure an appropriate culture is encouraged within the workplace. Acting early should avoid exposure to the additional 25% in compensation if your organisation is found liable for sexual harassment from 26 October 2024.
Here are our thoughts on five “reasonable steps” you can take now to help prevent sexual harassment in the workplace.
Zero-tolerance – set a clear and consistent approach to dealing with issues of sexual harassment. Harassment without consequence can breed a culture of acceptance…and potentially hefty tribunal awards! Even with the right policies and training in place, those tasked with dealing with grievances must be empowered and supported to act consistently and take robust action when required.
Policies – bullying, anti-harassment and inclusivity policies must be up to date, regularly communicated, and enforced. Tribunals are already quick to call out employers with out-of-date policies that act simply as a “paper commitment to equality issues”. Ensure your policies are clear on how to report concerns and how those concerns will be dealt with. Click here if you’d like us to review your existing policies.
Training – tribunals take a dim view of “tick box” and “stale” training, so up-to-date, meaningful, and robust learning is key to educating and embedding what is and isn’t acceptable behaviour. Training should cover employees at all levels and be refreshed annually. We’ve built an eLearning solution to help – book a demo. We can also review your current eLearning to ensure it covers all the necessary elements, get in touch.
Risk assessments – start by thinking through where and when sexual harassment might occur, who is likely to be the victim (keep an open mind here!), what preventative measures you already have in place and how you measure the success of your policies (amongst other things). Keep your risk assessment under review. We’ll update you when our risk assessment is live on the Intelligent Employment document platform.
Specially trained individuals – sexual harassment complaints are hopefully few and far between. For that reason, it’s sensible to select individuals within your organisation with the right skills to support appropriately when a grievance is raised and to then provide those individuals with extra training in the moment and throughout the year.
Get in touch if you need our support with any of these recommended steps.
