The Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Act came into effect on 26th October 2024. Its intention is to create safer working environments for all Employees, by placing the onus on Employers to proactively prevent occurrences of sexual harassment at work.
This marks a shift from the historical approach of responding to incidents and allegations, to preventing them from happening in the first place.
Sexual harassment is any unwanted conduct of a sexual nature that violates a person’s dignity, or creates a hostile, degrading, or offensive work environment.
Under the new Act, Employers are responsible for and must take ‘reasonable’ steps to prevent sexual harassment at work.
Employers who fail to comply with the new Legislation could face legal consequences, with Employment Tribunals granted new powers to increase compensation for sexual harassment by up to 25%.
What is a Reasonable Step?
The guidance on what denotes a ‘reasonable step’ isn’t specific, but it is safe to say that it includes absolute basics such as awareness training, ensuring all Employees know to whom they should raise concerns, and risk assessing workplace situations for the possibility that sexual harassment could take place.
However, issuing measures to prevent sexual harassment is not as straightforward as issuing Health and Safety rules to prevent workplace accidents. With every item of Legislation, Code of Conduct and workplace directive in the world, the decision to sexually harass another person, or not, and choosing to speak up about inappropriate behaviour, or not, is ultimately down to the individual, and that individual’s decision-making process is often impacted by the workplace culture that surrounds them.
The Influence of Workplace Culture
Many Employers invest heavily in creating robust frameworks, procedures and policies, which is essential. But the tone, everyday experience and interactions in a workplace can say far more about the nature of a business than its ability to defend itself in court.
Demonstrating that reasonable steps were taken to prevent sexual harassment may be all an Employer needs to defend their position at an Employment Tribunal, but does showing that they were compliant with Legislation prove to their Employees that their workplace is a safe place to be?
A workplace culture is made up of values, beliefs, attitudes and practices that influence how Employees communicate, interact, and work together. A positive workplace culture can produce an engaged and satisfied workforce, while discouraging toxic behaviours. On occasions where issues do occur, a positive workplace culture can also influence its Employees’ willingness to stand up and speak out.
A Trusted Workplace
There is a difference between Employees knowing where they need to go to speak up and feeling like they actually can. There can be an understanding of the system, but also a lack of trust in it.
Employers need to demonstrate a business that invites Employees to talk honestly and openly about sensitive situations, and investigates and tackles issues promptly, without negative consequences for those raising concerns. Its Managers should be well trained and equipped to spot issues, listen, show compassion, and act promptly on all claims of sexual harassment.
In essence, a workplace that creates a strong sense of psychological safety amongst its Employees.
Psychological Safety
Many individuals don’t feel comfortable to speak up on issues of concern, for fear that it may fall on deaf ears, that they may not be taken seriously, or that there may be repercussions, professionally and/or personally.
Many will only raise concerns about sexual harassment if they feel psychologically safe to do so – that they will have the support and understanding of their Employer, Managers and colleagues, the support of the organisation’s systems and policies, and confidence that their job will not be negatively affected.
There are a number of steps that Employers can take to create a sense of psychological safety for Employees, resulting in an overall trusted workplace:
- From the recruitment stage, and throughout their employment, Employees must be informed and reminded of what is expected of their behaviour;
- Learn more about the work environment and the Employees. Are relationships positive? Do Employees feel safe in their workplace? Do they feel comfortable in raising concerns, either with their colleagues or with Management?
- Review systems and Policies relating to sexual harassment. Does their tone encourage Employees to raise concerns without fear of implications to their career?
- Provide training for Managers in identifying and handling sensitive situations, and dealing with conflict;
- Provide Employees access to informal mediation support; and
- Create a robust framework for conducting investigations when allegations are reported.
Training for Employees
Training and educating Employees on the importance of listening, empathy and compassion, and how to give and receive feedback constructively, can have a huge impact on creating a workplace culture where individuals feel safe and supported in reporting incidents of what they perceive to be inappropriate behaviours.
Having open conversations and discussions and knowing the importance of alerting others when a situation makes them feel uncomfortable can go a long way towards building a sense of psychological safety.
The Importance of Investigations
Employers must demonstrate their commitment to investigating reports of sexual harassment, through a fair and robust HR framework.
Where sexual harassment affects more than one individual, but there is a hesitance to speak up, an investigation carries an extra benefit of serving as an opportunity for all affected persons to come forward, in support of the initial reported allegation. However, it is crucial to investigate each supporting claim separately and under its own merit, prior to adding it to the primary claim, to weed out any opportunists or individuals with unrelated axes to grind.
Conclusion
All Employers must ensure they are compliant with the new Worker Protection Act, but it is important to remember that many behaviours are influenced by the prevailing culture of the workplace. The potential for acceptance and support, or backlash or rejection from colleagues will be quicker to come to Employees’ minds than the potential consequences of breaking a company rule. It is therefore worthwhile to invest in creating a positive workplace culture – one that universally and forthrightly deems all forms of sexual harassment unacceptable.
Please do not hesitate to contact us if you require any advice or support on this topic.