April is Sexual Assault Awareness Week, but it’s not universally promoted or actioned across Australia.  I’m one to not miss an opportunity to raise awareness on sexual violence, so since sexual harassment is the hot topic at the moment, I thought I’d write up a short article for you. 

This article covers four key actions to have in place to prevent sexual harassment in your workplace.  Of course, there are more than four, but I believe these are the first ones to start with.  If you have these in place, excellent, well done – just review them, observe the current legislation and latest resources to make sure all is in place.

Just an early tip – if you have already had a sexual harassment complaint or claim in your business or organisation, you have missed the boat.  Your business or organisation has missed the chance to have a safe work environment where sexual harassment doesn’t occur. 

It’s a bit like primary prevention – it’s up to leaders to prevent sexually harassing and inappropriate conduct from happening in the first place. 

Here are the tips….

1.     ZERO TOLERANCE FOR SEXUAL HARASSMENT

Do you have a zero-tolerance stance on sexual harassment in your business or organisation?  Is this across all your policies, procedures and in your code of conduct?

Make it very clear it’s not acceptable and there is a zero tolerance to any type of harassing and inappropriate behaviour.    

Most importantly communicate this across every aspect of your business or organisation.  Every staff member needs to know of the organisations policy on sexual harassment and how its defined in the workplace. 

Not in place? – start today, set a goal to get it done. 

  2.     CREATE A SAFE PHYSICAL AND ONLINE WORK ENVIRONMENT

The physical working environment can contribute to the risk of sexual harassment in the workplace.

Do a review of your workplace environment.  Make sure that work site areas are secure and well lit.  Is workplace furniture placed in a way that keeps work areas open and visible to all staff with open spaces?

Provide facilities that give privacy such as toilets and change rooms.  Have communication systems in place like phones or duress alarms for workers who may need to gain assistance when unsafe.

Review your online working environment around social media, use of work phones and how your clients or customers interact online with your staff.

Remember to also have a look at the working situations for your staff.  Review policies and procedures around isolated or remote locations, work conducted at night, staff working alone and how staff contact is made with the public.

Another big consideration is alcohol in the workplace. Workplace cultures that tolerate alcohol consumption as part of work during work hours or after hours, provide a greater opportunity for workplace sexual harassment.  Consider your policies around alcohol consumption with your staff and clients and/or customers.

3.     TRAIN YOUR STAFF

It’s important to train your staff so they understand what sexual harassment actually is, what’s outlined in your policy and procedures and how to make a report. 

Your policies and procedures provide an overview of your organisations or business stance and standards of acceptable behaviour. Training however, is something that will help your staff retain information about sexual harassment and how to speak up about it.

Training can be easily done at staff meetings, using staff memos, intranet information, or short sessions by external educators.

Making a claim of sexual harassment can be a really hard thing to do, so it’s important that staff know what is involved.  Many people experiencing sexual harassment keep quiet – this is due to fear of not being believed, repercussions in the job, and being labelled as trouble makers.

Training staff is key so that your staff are aware of the process to make complaints and that it will be taken seriously as well as being treated confidentially. 

 4.     INVESTIGATE ALL CLAIMS

Make sure that you investigate all sexual harassment claims.  The policies and procedures that you have in place will outline your process for investigating claims. 

It is up to the person experiencing the harassment, whether they consider a particular incident to be a form of sexual harassment (not you).  Be mindful of all claims, even those that take place out of hours, not in the main workplace or even if you think there isn’t any substance to it.  Take it seriously and investigate.

If you haven’t touched your investigation process for a while, revisit it, adapt and make sure its suitable for the current environment.   It’s important that these policies and procedures are in place to protect your staff and your business or organisation.

If you are a leader, be proactive and lead the way to a safe workplace.  If you are a staff member, talk to your leaders and tell them the importance of having these actions in place to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace.

Further information on workplace sexual harassment is available at Safe Work Australia.
https://www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au/doc/preventing-workplace-sexual-harassment-guide

Contact me if you require specialist support with sexual harassment training, or policy and procedure development or reviews.