New guidance: Employers welcome new guidance on how to stop harassment in the workplace

While written for the hospitality sector, the new guidance ‘Preventing sexual harassment at work: checklist and action plan for employers’ can easily be adapted for use by employers in other sectors.

The checklist and plan advise employers to consider:

• whether to make changes to the workplace environment (which includes, for example, work-related social events, and time during shift changes);
• working practices, including how to make it safe and easy for workers to report harassment, and ensuring training remains effective;
• whether communications with staff about harassment issues, both orally and through posters and other means, on issues such as how to spot harassment, how to report it, etc. are fit for purpose.

The new resources recognise that there should be zero tolerance of harassment in the workplace – particularly, in the hospitality sector, that it should never be treated as normal simply because alcohol is available there.

The action plan also gives guidance on how to monitor implementation of steps taken to combat sexual harassment. The checklist has a built-in monitoring register, so employers can record when it is used.

Operative date

• Now

Recommendation

• Employers should check out the new guidance, review their sexual harassment policies, practices and processes, consult with both senior and junior staff for ideas on how to improve them to make employees feel less vulnerable and safer at work, and update them if necessary.