Sexual harassment can devastate workplaces, regardless of size. Close working relationships, informal cultures, and limited HR resources can make it difficult to address inappropriate behaviour effectively. However, these same characteristics also provide opportunities to create genuinely respectful workplace cultures where harassment is prevented rather than merely responded to after it occurs.
For UK business owners, the legal and business risks of sexual harassment are substantial. Employment tribunal claims can result in unlimited compensation awards, legal costs can be significant even when claims fail, and reputational damage can permanently harm your business. More importantly, sexual harassment causes genuine harm to victims and destroys the positive workplace culture that many small businesses pride themselves on.
Taking proactive steps to prevent sexual harassment protects your employees, your business, and your reputation whilst creating an environment where everyone can work with dignity and respect.
Understanding your legal obligations provides the foundation for effective prevention strategies.
Equality Act 2010: Under the Equality Act 2010, sexual harassment is defined as unwanted conduct of a sexual nature that violates someone's dignity or creates an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating, or offensive environment. This includes verbal, physical, and visual conduct, as well as requests for sexual favours.
Employers are legally liable for harassment committed by employees unless they can show they took all reasonable steps to prevent it. This liability extends to harassment by customers, suppliers, or other third parties if the employer knows about it and fails to act.
Recent Legislative Changes: The Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Act 2023 strengthens employer duties by requiring proactive steps to prevent sexual harassment. This shifts the focus from reactive responses to preventive measures, making it essential for all employers to have robust prevention strategies in place.
Clear understanding of what constitutes sexual harassment helps create appropriate policies and training programmes.
Legal Definitions and Examples: Sexual harassment includes unwanted sexual advances, requests for sexual favours, sexual jokes or comments, displaying sexually explicit material, unwelcome touching, and sexual gestures or looks. It can be a single serious incident or a pattern of behaviour over time.
The key test is whether the conduct is unwanted, not whether it was intended to cause offence. Behaviour that one person considers harmless banter may constitute harassment if the recipient finds it unwelcome and it meets the legal definition.
Impact on Victims: Sexual harassment can cause significant psychological harm, including anxiety, depression, loss of confidence, and post-traumatic stress. It often leads to reduced job performance, increased absence, and ultimately resignation. Understanding these impacts helps employers recognise the seriousness of prevention efforts.
Well-designed policies provide clear expectations and procedures whilst demonstrating your commitment to preventing harassment.
Clear Standards and Expectations: Develop comprehensive policies that clearly define unacceptable behaviour, explain the complaints process, and outline consequences for misconduct. Use specific examples relevant to your workplace and ensure the policy covers harassment by colleagues, managers, customers, and suppliers.
Reporting Procedures: Provide multiple reporting options, including informal and formal procedures, and ensure employees can report to someone other than their direct manager. Include options for anonymous reporting and clearly explain how complaints will be handled confidentially.
Consequences for Misconduct: Specify that sexual harassment will result in disciplinary action up to and including dismissal. Make clear that retaliation against those who report harassment or participate in investigations is also prohibited and will be subject to disciplinary action.
Leadership behaviour sets the tone for acceptable conduct throughout the organisation.
Setting the Right Tone: Demonstrate through your words and actions that sexual harassment will not be tolerated. Address inappropriate behaviour immediately when you observe it, and ensure your management team understands their responsibilities for maintaining respectful workplace cultures.
Modelling Appropriate Behaviour: Your behaviour influences everyone in your organisation. Ensure your conduct is always professional and respectful, and be mindful that casual comments or jokes that might seem harmless can create an environment where others feel encouraged to behave inappropriately.
Accountability Systems: Hold managers accountable for preventing harassment in their areas of responsibility. Include respect and dignity measures in performance evaluations and ensure managers receive appropriate training on their legal duties and practical responsibilities.
Effective training helps prevent harassment by ensuring everyone understands expectations and knows how to respond appropriately.
Manager Training: Provide comprehensive training for managers on recognising harassment, responding to complaints, conducting preliminary investigations, and supporting affected employees. Ensure they understand their legal duties and the potential consequences of failing to act appropriately.
Staff Education: Deliver training that clearly explains what constitutes sexual harassment, why it's harmful, and how to report concerns. Include scenarios relevant to your workplace and ensure the training is engaging and memorable rather than simply a tick-box exercise.
Bystander Intervention: Train employees to intervene safely when they witness inappropriate behaviour. This might involve directly challenging the behaviour, supporting the target, or reporting the incident to management. Creating a culture where everyone takes responsibility for maintaining respect helps prevent harassment.
When complaints arise, proper handling protects all parties and demonstrates your commitment to addressing problems effectively.
Investigation Procedures: Establish clear procedures for investigating complaints, including who will conduct investigations, timescales for completion, and standards of evidence required. Ensure investigators are properly trained and impartial, and consider using external investigators for serious cases.
Interim Measures: Consider what immediate steps might be necessary to protect the complainant whilst investigations proceed. This might include temporary changes to working arrangements, supervision arrangements, or other measures to prevent further incidents or retaliation.
Fair Outcomes: Base decisions on evidence rather than assumptions or relationships. Ensure any disciplinary action is proportionate to the misconduct found and consistent with your disciplinary procedures and previous cases.
Effective responses consider the needs of everyone involved whilst ensuring appropriate consequences for misconduct.
Victim Support: Provide appropriate support to those who experience harassment, including access to counselling services if available, protection from retaliation, and ongoing monitoring of their wellbeing. Remember that the impact of harassment can be long-lasting and may require continued support.
Addressing Perpetrator Behaviour: When misconduct is established, take appropriate action to prevent recurrence. This might include disciplinary action, training, supervision, or other measures designed to address the underlying behaviour. The goal is to stop the harassment and prevent future incidents whilst treating everyone fairly.
Numerous organisations provide guidance and support for employers dealing with sexual harassment issues.
ACAS provides free guidance on preventing and handling harassment, including template policies and practical advice on investigations. Legal advisers can provide specific guidance on complex cases, whilst specialist organisations like the Equality and Human Rights Commission offer detailed resources on employer duties.
Trade associations and professional bodies often provide sector-specific guidance and support for their members dealing with harassment issues.
Preventing sexual harassment requires ongoing commitment to building and maintaining respectful workplace cultures. This goes beyond policies and procedures to create environments where everyone feels valued and respected.
Regular communication about expectations, prompt responses to inappropriate behaviour, and consistent leadership commitment all contribute to creating workplaces where harassment is less likely to occur.
The investment you make in preventing sexual harassment protects your employees, your business, and your reputation whilst creating the kind of workplace where everyone can thrive.
Ready to strengthen your approach to preventing workplace harassment? Our Preventing Sexual Harassment for Managers elearning course is designed to help businesses create respectful, inclusive workplaces where everyone can feel safe, carrying out their work with dignity and respect.
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