Anti-Sexual Harassment: Resources, Tools & Templates

Select from the following:

Roles & Responsibilities

Policy & Prevention

Training & Awareness

Reporting & Investigations

Taking Action & Buy-In From The Board

Those in positions of responsibility must ensure they are making well-informed decisions that will strengthen their organisation’s ethical culture and that any mistreatment of their fellow employees is handled with the urgency and empathy it deserves.

Culture is more important than you think concerning sexual harassment: Culture is the unwritten set of rules for “how we do things here.” These shared values govern how people behave and largely dictate how they act and treat their fellow colleagues within the workplace. Companies must continue to redefine what is deemed as acceptable behaviour and actively manage and monitor their workplace culture. Where sexual harassment is concerned, the behaviour of employees at all levels is crucial and should reflect a positive attitude and a set of beliefs that are embedded within the organisation.

Recognising sexual harassment and what to do when you see it: We all have a duty to protect our fellow employees from harassment. Instilling a “duty to act” within your organisation and teaching your employees how to recognise sexual harassment when it occurs and what to do when it happens is critical. Doing nothing is never an acceptable option.

Managers play a major role: You already know the vital role managers play in maintaining the ‘tone in the middle.” Employees look to their managers to understand what’s permissible – and managers’ words and actions have a major impact on employees’ choices in the workplace. Managers therefore have a responsibility to prevent workplace harassment by addressing potential issues, taking every report seriously and by setting the right tone.

Don't forget about bystanders: Bystanders also have a crucial role to play in the fight against harassment. If the victim does not report an incident it is likely to continue unabated unless the bystander acknowledges their responsibility to act and to report the incident.

The board of directors can not delegate their responsibility: Board members can not delegate their responsibility to company ethics, nor can they when it comes to empathy. Empathy is what allows board members to preempt crises, and to understand the subtle cultural cues that truly drive and prevent bad behavior. This requires becoming active participants in the organisation’s anti-harassment programme, especially when it comes to training and policies. Leaders need to think outside the boardroom and own their role in eliminating sexual harassment in the workplace.

Revisit your code of conduct: Organisations must ensure that their code of conduct provides guidance on how it defines sexual harassment and also to outline the responsibilities of employees, management and leadership. Guidelines must be included to demonstrate what they should do to prevent sexual harassment, how they should respond to incidents, what are the mechanisms and procedures to report and address these issues, what remedial actions will be taken by the company and how to promote a healthy, safe and productive workplace.

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One of the most effective weapons against sexual harassment is having the necessary policies in place to prevent it. Having experienced individuals to define these policies and the procedures and tools to manage them is the first step in preventing misconduct and unethical practices in the workplace.

Create a strong foundation: Taking time to develop a robust policy management practice will pay dividends in all areas of compliance, but where sexual harassment is concerned, make sure you have the right team who can define the right approach to establish your policy - and make sure that team includes at least as many women as men. Once you have the appropriate resources in place you can start to set out your organisation’s values, vision and objectives in relation to sexual harassment.

Defining employee responsibilities: All employees have a responsibility to prevent harassment from happening within the workplace. Providing an anti-sexual harassment policy explains what harassment is, informs employees that harassment will not be tolerated and sets out how managers and employees should respond to incidents of sexual harassment.

What is, and is not, sexual harassment: Employers need clear, well-communicated policies on what constitutes harassment and what is acceptable behaviour. This reflects a real commitment by the organisation and its leadership to recognise the importance of the fight against sexual harassment in the workplace.

Provide details on how to report harassment: Anti-harassment polices should also set forth a detailed description of a confidential mechanism by which employees can make complaints when sexual harassment occurs, regardless of the perpetrator.

Demonstrate the consequences: To establish a strong anti-harassment policy it must clearly define misconduct and the consequences of carrying out such behaviour. The policy should make it clear how offenders will be disciplined.

Effective, high-quality training can dramatically reduce the likelihood of wrongful conduct within the workplace. Organisations need to take well planned and deliberate steps to educate the workforce on often misunderstood and sensitive issues such as sexual harassment.

Training defined by your code of conduct: A training programme built around a well-defined code of conduct fine-tuned to the organisation’s values can help instill greater understanding and awareness around the many different forms of sexual harassment. In order to communicate this to all areas of the organisation, from factory workers to board members, continuous training and compliance messaging will be key.

The critical topics of a sexual harassment training programme: Cover the emerging issues around sexual harassment such as respect in the workplace, civility training, gender expression and identity, and don't forget about the risks that social media and technology can bring to the workplace. The objective of your harassment training should be to drive changes in behaviour around sexual harassment so that employees can identify problems and feel confident in applying their knowledge.

Segment your audience: Segmenting your audience allows you to undertake specialist training and communicate your anti-sexual harassment programme messages more effectively. Start with simple groupings: employees, senior leaders, managers, the board of directors and third parties. Then consider refining by location, facility, and new hires.

Determine the right timing: Deciding how often to provide your training and send out your communications is not an exact science but there are best practices that you can follow. Be sensitive to busy times, leave time to digest the content and re-iterate your core messages. Offering annual courses and short refresher courses is recommended.

Choose your communication and training methods: Training and communication methods can be formal and informal. Live and on-line training, focus groups, town halls and annual reports are all relevant examples. Make use of supplementary materials such as posters and experiment with new trends such as videos and podcasts.

Designate owners and document: Your sexual harassment training plan will need owners. Make someone accountable for content, delivery and execution. Archive your training and communications materials and measure your outcomes and attestation data to know if you are meeting your objectives.

Making an impact with awareness programmes: At the heart of any compliance activity is an awareness programme. Ensure your employees and staff know how to access and use the resources you have provided including your code of conduct and anti-sexual harassment policies.

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Investigating a sexual harassment case can be one of the most testing events for the HR, compliance and legal teams to undertake and resolve.

Project planning: Have the appropriate incident reporting mechanisms and personnel in place to receive harassment reports confidentially and to carry out the investigation in a prompt and thorough manner. Although individuals should be encouraged to identify themselves when making a report, crucially for sensitive issues such as sexual harassment, you also need to have a safe method of receiving reports anonymously.

Show that each case is being taken seriously: Treat every case with the severity and empathy it deserves for all parties involved. Conduct an initial review to triage each case, especially for HR reports that consist of a broad mix of issue types including harassment. Use this to determine whether it is necessary to undertake further enquiries to not only establish the extent of the alleged wrongdoing and the availability of evidence but also who is best placed to take forward the investigation if a full investigation is required. At each stage take the opportunity to demonstrate to those involved the commitment the company is taking to resolve each case.

Building the investigations team: Build an impartial team with the right competencies that can act independently from any internal or external conflict of interest. Deciding whether to bring in external legal counsel should also be seriously considered as external investigators are often the best way to ensure impartiality and to convey trust in the process to all parties, including the reporter, the victim, witnesses and the accused.

Handling the reporter and the accused: Interview each individual separately and ensure two impartial investigating managers participate in the interview process. At least one should be of the same sex as the interviewee and be thoroughly familiar with harassment law and the company’s harassment policies and procedures. Record all physical and verbal reactions of witnesses and discuss the results only on a strict 'need to know' basis such as with the complainant’s and alleged harasser’s supervisors and senior HR staff.

Confidentiality and protection: With the onset of regulations such as GDPR and a number of equality and human rights commissions developing statutory codes of practice on sexual harassment, organisations must now ensure the confidentiality of information and data as well as the protection of parties throughout the reporting and investigations process.

Proposing the appropriate remedial outcome: Organisations should consider a number of factors when determining the appropriate remedial action to take for sexual harassment cases. This should include the credibility of the complainant, alleged harasser and other witnesses, any prior conduct and the level and frequency of harassment. Also consider providing harassment training to reform and educate the perpetrator.

Concerns about sexual harassment, bullying and corporate culture should be top-of-mind of every CEO, C-suite executive and board member.

Board members need to step outside of the boardroom on the issue of sexual harassment: Sexual harassment is not a compliance issue, it is an abuse of power issue. It can also be a neglect of power issue. It’s what happens when good people in power stand by rather than intervene. And for corporate leaders, intervention is a job requirement. The structure of board meetings should be reconsidered to accommodate the time needed to effectively deal with issues like sexual harassment in the workplace.

The younger generation are making sexual harassment a board issue: If eliminating sexual harassment and discrimination in the workplace is not already on the list of board action items, our two youngest generations of employees plan to put it there – and quickly. When those in regulatory and organisational authority fail to demonstrate an appropriate response, young people appear unlikely to simply go away quietly.

Inclusivity yields better decisions for the overall business: Sexual harassment, at whatever level it occurs in an organisation, is a barrier to inclusiveness. Not only should the composition of senior leadership be diverse, especially at board level, but the contributions of minorities within these groups, and lower down the hierarchy, should be positively encouraged and be valued based on their substantive merit.

Board directors need the right information: When executed well, board reports helps the compliance team to gain credibility and visibility while increasing board oversight and engagement. Data on sexual harassment cases needs to be supplemented with a synopses of employee attitudes, rehashing of 'off-the-cuff' remarks and an overview of the general sentiment pervading the organisation. Getting the right level of support from the board can take a combination of providing data-driven results and effective communication skills to gain the buy-in needed.

Demonstration through action: There should be a willingness from leadership to take strong action against anyone displaying conduct that amounts to harassment, including against high performing executives. But the appropriate course of action also requires fair treatment of the accused. Recent examples of 'knee jerk' reactions, without due diligence and a thorough and impartial investigation taking place, has damaged trust almost to the extent as if no action was taken at all.

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