Two women at the Cannes festival this year have filed a sexual assault complaint after a shocking encounter in what should have been a safe and professional work related space
The Worker Protection Act is about to be implemented in the UK in October and is designed to help prevent any form of sexual harassment happening in the workplace.
It may be easy for organisations to think “we don’t have that problem here” but this incident underlines two vital points
1. The “workplace” is far broader than the office or the site people work in. It includes
- Off site work events
- Travel to client meetings or events
- Virtual meetings on Teams, Zoom or other platforms
- Instant messaging groups such as WhatsApp, Slack
- Social events for work – ranging from a night in the pub with colleagues to company ski trips
2. The behaviour organisations are responsible for is not limited to employees. Organisations need to tackle inappropriate behaviour with
- Contractors
- Suppliers
- Clients
- Trustees
Although the legislation was diluted and so does not explicitly cover third party harassment, the EHRC (Equality and Human Rights Commission) are stressing that employers should still be taking reasonable steps to prevent it
So what are the reasonable steps?
As a starting point it is ensuring your policies cover all of the above context
But policies are never enough on their own. We need to ensure people really understand what their responsibilities are, what the expectations around behaviour are – and what to actually do and say if they find themselves witnessing or on the receiving end of inappropriate behaviour
There is a difference between saying “we have a zero tolerance policy towards sexual harassment” and demonstrating how that zero tolerance policy is enacted in practice
This can’t be done effectively with e-learning or policy roll outs – it needs discussion, understanding and commitment from everyone
Talk to us if you would like highly practical workshops and guidance in taking these reasonable steps – we all need to play our part in making sure incidents such as the one in Cannes are stamped out
Call us for a confidential chat on 01903 732 782 , email us info@focalpointtraining.com or contact us or complete our self-assessment checklist to see how ready you are for the new legislation