At a time when many employees are returning to the office after summer holidays, it’s crucial to take a moment to recommit to the core values that define a safe and respectful workplace. One of the most important of these is a zero-tolerance policy against sexual harassment. With more people back in shared spaces, the responsibility to ensure every employee feels safe and respected becomes even more pressing.
This renewed focus is timely, as the Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Act 2023 is set to come into force in October 2024. Although the Act may not be as comprehensive as some had hoped, it places new duties on employers, emphasising the need for proactive measures to prevent sexual harassment. This represents a crucial shift from reactive strategies to preventative ones, demanding that employers take an active role in protecting their employees.
In addition to being harmful and wrong, sexual harassment in the workplace is also bad for business: an environment in which employees feel unsafe or disrespected will lead to increased turnover, decreased engagement, and potential legal costs, all of which can significantly harm a company’s bottom line. There is no limit to the compensation the Employment tribunal can award a person who succeeds in a claim for sexual harassment.
Get it right with our free policy templates and FAQ guides
VinciWorks has a collection of guides and policy templates that can help organisations create and maintain a healthy culture where sexual harassment is simply not tolerated.
Our customisable harassment policy template can be used as an addendum to an existing equality-focused policy, or as a special insert.
We continuously receive questions on the topic of sexual harassment. We separated our answers to the questions into three categories in three distinct FAQ guides:
Our guide of Frequently Asked Questions on Sexual Harassment covers a wide range of frequently asked general questions about sexual harassment, including what behaviours counts as sexual harassment, what to do if you are being harassed, and more.
Our Frequently Asked Questions: Behaviour at Work guide covers questions on the subject of behaviour at work specifically, including questions around compliments, protection for transgender individuals, reporting complaints, and more.
Supervisors will benefit from our Frequently Asked Questions for Supervisors guide, which covers questions specific to supervisors including acceptable and unacceptable relationships, what to do if someone comes to you wit ha sexual harassment complaint, and more.
Now is the time to recommit to taking decisive action to ensure that every workplace is a safe space where respect is the norm and harassment has no place.
Diversity awareness training
The questions covered in these guides and so much more are addressed in our Diversity Awareness Training courses. Through case studies and practical guidance, the diversity awareness courses promote embracing diversity and fostering a culture of inclusion so that you can improve employee engagement and drive innovation in your organisation.
