Free sexual harassment policy template

Sexual harassment complaint form

VinciWorks provides a free sexual harassment policy template to help organisations raise awareness of sexual harassment in the workplace and eradicate it for good.

The month of October saw an alarming number of high-profile allegations of sexual harassment. This included the downfall of Hollywood film producer Harvey Weinstein, Netflix cutting ties with Kevin Spacey and a scandal at Westminster. The subsequent #MeToo campaign and a shocking BBC survey highlighted further that the issue of sexual harassment is not limited to the heights of Hollywood and politics. Of the woman who said they had been sexually harassed, only 63% said they kept it to themselves, with 79% of male victims saying they didn’t report it.

Implementing a sexual harassment policy in your workplace is more than just ticking a box. Having such a policy in place, together with the appropriate anti-harassment training, will better equip staff and managers to spot signs of harassment at work and understand how to promote an inclusive and safe working environment for all staff.

You can download the sexual harassment policy template by clicking on the button below. The sexual harassment policy template can easily be edited to suit your organisation and industry.

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GDPR: is your organisation ignoring the challenge?

With just a few months to go until GDPR comes into force, there are signs that not every company is prepared to meet the new, tighter data regulations.

In fact, research from Trend Micro shows an alarming degree of under-preparedness from a large number of organisations.

GDPR may build on existing data regulations, but the new law goes further to protect individuals, and includes provisions for larger penalties for organisations that fail to protect user data.

This means that organisations cannot simply sleepwalk into the GDPR regime and hope their existing data management practices are adequate. Maximum fines have ballooned from £50,000 under the DPA (the current legislation) to €20m or 4% of a group’s worldwide turnover (whichever is greater). If the old fines were troubling, the new fines are potentially crippling – enough to sink many organisations in a heartbeat.

Complacency towards GDPR may suddenly change if an organisation is hit with a record-breaking fine. This may be the case, but no organisation can afford to be the example that sets everyone straight.

“As often happens with regulation, it’s going to take a whipping boy to understand the gravity of the situation for most organisations. One high-profile case of a company handing money over for non-compliance under the GDPR will be the required wake-up call the rest of the industry needs to get their act together.” – Rik Ferguson, Trend Micro

Time is slipping away, but it’s not too late to start preparing for GDPR! The first step, of course, is to understand what is required from you. You will also need to know exactly what data you hold, and why you have the right to keep it. You will also need to be able to explain how you acquired the data, how you process it, who has access, and how you keep it secure.

You must consider how data enters your organisation and how it exits, and the security implications of every interaction. You are also responsible for third parties that help you manage, process, or use data, so you will need to review your contracts to ensure that data security responsibilities are clearly defined for all parties.

Another cornerstone of GDPR is the duty to declare data breaches within 72 hours of discovery. Everyone in your organisation needs to know this, and they need to understand the protocol for reporting suspected breaches.

GDPR also requires organisations to have sufficient security technology in place, relative to the risks faced. The more data you hold, and the more sensitive its nature, the greater your security practices should be. Are you prepared to demonstrate how you deter/detect intruders on your network? Or how you identify unusual activity or downloads? Is your encryption infrastructure up-to-date?

Shockingly, Trend Micro’s survey revealed a surprising lack of awareness about what ‘data’ even means in the context of GDPR:

  • 56% of businesses didn’t know that email marketing data is personal information
  • 79% didn’t think that a customer’s date of birth is personal information
  • 29% didn’t know they need to protect a customer’s postal address

If this many organisations don’t know what personal data means, how can they be protecting it adequately?

Perhaps some organisations are hoping that GDPR will fall by the wayside as Brexit bites. This is an unlikely scenario, because even if the UK government had any appetite for scrapping GDPR, any organisation that trades with the EU would still need to meet the GDPR’s standards. Additionally, Britain was one of the great driving forces behind the new legislation and is unlikely to alter course on this.

Rather than resist the inevitable, it’s time to get on board with GDPR. To start building products, services and companies that offer the famous ‘privacy by design’ ethos, rather than as an afterthought or nagging concern.

We’re here to help you understand precisely what GDPR means for you and your organisation, and how to build an accountability culture where everybody understands their responsibilities when it comes to processing and storing personal data in-line with the law.

Our brand new course, ‘Protecting Data’, will help companies based in the EU, and those that deal with the data of individuals based in the EU, comply with GDPR. The course covers three topics: data and the new law, the principles, rights, and obligations of GDPR; and GDPR breaches. Learners can test their knowledge at the end of these three modules to see what they have learnt about GDPR and their responsibilities.

How GDPR-ready is your organisation?

Feeling the Heat: SMEs Lacking in Fire Safety Awareness Training

Feeling the Heat: SMEs Lacking in Fire Safety Awareness Training

A recent survey of 1,000 UK employees uncovered concerning findings about the lack of fire safety training inside small and medium-sized businesses.

More than a third of SME workers reported not receiving adequate fire safety training, and many were not aware of how they should react to the fire alarm sounding on work premises. 22% of those asked said that, in the event of an alarm, they would look to see what others were doing before taking action themselves. More worrying still, 13% reported that they might simply ignore the alarm, and 4% would try to locate the fire rather than evacuating the building.

It is a legal-requirement for all organisations with more than five employees to carry-out regular risk assessments to identify workplace hazards and prevent rather than remedy accidents and injuries. However, more than half of respondents reported that they didn’t think their employer had carried out a fire risk assessment (and 29% didn’t know either way). Ensuring that risk control measures are in place and that training is offered to staff members with the intention of eliminating workplace hazards is a basic requirement of health and safety regulation – and this should take place before and alongside other forms of control (fire doors, protective clothing, extinguishers etc.).

Informing, training, and supervising employees on how to mitigate and handle the risk of fire is an underlying requirement for employers – in fact, all business owners have a duty of care to ensure that their staff members are safe. As Wayne Lysaght-Mason (MD at IronmongeryDirect) rightly states: ‘having robust fire safety procedures in place in the workplace is of the utmost importance. Failure to implement a proper fire safety plan not only puts people’s lives at risk, but can lead to prosecution and fines for those responsible for fire safety in the building.’

VinciWorks’ RoSPA approved Health and Safety at Work course covers all the basics of fire-safety in the workplace, including how to prevent and extinguish fires, and how to safely evacuate the building in the event of a fire. The course also explains employees’ responsibilities when it comes to fire awareness and highlights the common causes of workplace fires for reference.

Additionally, we offer two microlearning courses, ‘Don’t get Burnt’ and ‘Fire – Can you Handle It?’ to accompany and help keep fire safety techniques fresh in learners’ minds.

Looking for a guidance on completing workplace Risk Assessments? Click here.

Work Mates Behaving Badly? What you can do to Prevent Bad Behaviour in the Workplace

Any behaviour that makes someone feel intimidated or offended at work could be classed as bullying or harassment. However, due to the ill-defined nature of bullying (there is no legal definition for the term), it can often be the case that only extreme forms of workplace violence get reported (e.g. physical attacks, verbal abuse, and threats). Managers might even dismiss accusations of bullying and harassment as simple personality-clashes or someone’s robust management ‘style’, but this attitude severely undermines the damaging effects bullying and harassment can have on the workforce – even in organisations which have implemented anti-bullying policies.

Sadly, it appears that bullying is on the rise in Britain’s workplaces; Acas recently released a report stating they receive around 20,000 calls each year relating to bullying and harassment at work, with some callers even contemplating suicide and many reporting that the experience of being bullied has caused them to develop health issues such as anxiety and depression. Acas’ report also highlights areas where bullying seems to be more prevalent, e.g. for women working in male-dominated environments, LGBT workers, and for public sector and health-care workers.

Bullying is repeatedly named as a top-five workplace hazard in polls, which begs the question: why aren’t anti-bullying policies working? We know such policies are widespread in Britain’s workplaces – they are widely recommended by Acas both as an educational tool and as a deterrent for those who would commit workplace abuse – but it remains that simply having a policy isn’t enough.

It’s up to top level management to model and promote a culture of shared responsibility, one in which employees are empowered to report unacceptable behaviour, and feel safe in the knowledge that it will be swiftly and appropriately dealt with. It’s also important to outline what constitutes workplace bullying and harassment, to show examples (particularly of more subtle instances of bullying/harassment), and allow employees to explore bullying scenarios and grey-areas in a safe environment. After all, simply putting something in writing will not change peoples’ behaviour if they lack a full understanding of what it means and how it can affect the people we work with.

So, how can VinciWorks help?

We offer a number of eLearning courses that are designed to educate members of staff and help prevent abusive behaviour in the workplace. Useful as induction tools as well as refresher training for your employees, our courses employ a number of learning techniques and devices to ensure staff stay motivated, engaged, and retentive to the key learning objectives of each module.

What courses do you offer in this area?

Introduction to Equality and Diversity – familiarise your employees with equality and diversity principles, and encourage a fair, honest, and respectful workplace.

Manager’s Guide to Equality and Diversity – Lead by example with this course especially designed for managers. Learn about your responsibilities when it comes to equality and diversity legislation and how to implement principles of equality and diversity in your day-to-day working practices.

Violence and Aggression – Approved by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) this course focuses on nurturing a safe and happy work-place, and takes a closer look at how employees can avoid violence and aggression in the workplace and protect themselves should it occur.

Code of Conduct – Equip your employees with a common framework and set of values from which they can work. A code of conduct is a reference point for members of staff, it guides behaviour and helps explain away any grey-areas they may encounter during their time with the organisation.

Additionally, we offer a range of online compliance and health and safety training courses covering a variety of important topics. All our training is developed in collaboration with subject experts and accredited by the Solicitors Regulation Authority. To view the complete collection, please click here.

The Paradise Papers – interactive tax havens map

Click on a tax haven to learn more about their risks

What is a tax haven?

A tax haven is a jurisdiction or country that offers individuals and businesses favourable tax laws and regulations, often with low or no taxes on certain types of income or assets. These locations attract individuals and companies seeking to reduce their tax liabilities by taking advantage of the lenient tax policies and financial secrecy offered. Tax havens can facilitate tax avoidance or evasion strategies, as they provide opportunities to shield income and assets from higher tax jurisdictions. However, the use of tax havens is a controversial practice, as it can contribute to global tax imbalances and hinder efforts to combat tax evasion and ensure fair taxation.

What are the paradise papers?

The Paradise Papers refer to a leak of financial documents in 2017 that exposed the offshore activities and tax avoidance strategies of various individuals and companies. These documents, obtained by the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung and shared with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), revealed the offshore holdings and financial affairs of politicians, celebrities, corporations, and other entities. The Paradise Papers shed light on the complex webs of offshore accounts, shell companies, and trusts used to minimise tax obligations and maintain financial privacy.

What you need to know about the paradise papers leak

The recent huge leak of financial documents revealing how the ultra-rich are secretly investing large amounts of cash in tax havens is the biggest such leak since the Panama Papers last year.

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New competency year starts today

Today marks the first day of the new competency year and one year since the changes to CPD became compulsory. All solicitors in England and Wales need to ensure that they have reflected on their practice and that they have addressed any identified learning needs. The SRA also requires solicitors and firms to make an annual declaration that they have done so.

What should you do if you have not yet dealt with a learning need?

To help users of the VinciWorks Continuing Competence Module organise their current learning needs, we’ve rolled-over all deferred needs from last year to this new year.
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