‘There are no innocent bystanders’: Train your staff to call out sexual harassment

With the #MeToo movement now in its fourth year, hundreds of celebrities, politicians, CEOs, and others have been accused of sexual misconduct. 

While this number continues to rise and grab the headlines — including regarding the recent allegations in Canberra — we often forget about the sexual harassment occurring every day in workplaces across Australia.

An Australian Human Rights Commission survey in 2018 found that:

• two in five women and one in four men had experienced sexual harassment at work in the past five years; and
• only 17% of those same people made a formal complaint or report.

All business owners in Australia should ask: what can I do to protect my own staff?

This guide takes you through the challenges and offers best-practice recommendations for tackling these problems.

Traditional methods on their own are not working

For decades we have heard businesses told the best way to reduce sexual harassment incidents in the workplace is to run a training session every two or three years, and develop an anti-bullying, sexual harassment and discrimination policy.

But this is not reducing incidents year on year, so we need to think about sexual harassment with a more detailed lens.

The onus is not only on the survivor to come forward

One statistic we often don’t like to talk about is that of the abuse reported in the Australian Human Rights Commission survey above:

• 40% of those incidents were witnessed by at least one other person; and
• 69% of the time, the witness did not try to intervene.

In other words, we are putting the onus completely on the survivor of workplace sexual harassment in the workplace to come forward and make a complaint. We are also allowing inappropriate behaviours to go unchecked, which often can lead to even worse behaviours. 

More recently, research is showing us that we can help tackle the above, and increase workplace safety, by making bystanders more effective and responsive. 

We like the quote from Professor Anita Hill, who said in 2018:

“We need you to step up and realise that at this point in time there are no innocent bystanders. If you are aware of something, you acknowledge it, you know it is wrong but you don’t do anything about it, then it’s the same as participating in it.”

What are the benefits of effective bystanders?

Effective bystanders are an amazing defence against inappropriate behaviours in the workplace. For example, they can better:

• ensure a safe working environment for all employees;
• prevent inappropriate behaviour (or at least prevent it from turning into very serious misconduct, including sexual harassment); 
• support employees to feel more comfortable at work and improve office morale and culture;
• limit your exposure from a legal risk and liability standpoint; and
• given the above, lower your financial exposure.

The problem is that we are not training and encouraging bystanders to be effective.

All employees should be able to

1. Notice inappropriate or concerning behaviour in the workplace.

2. Appropriately intervene to discontinue or reduce the above behaviour.

3. Disclose and report the behaviour to management so that the business is aware of the behaviour and can take its own action.

4. Provide support (where appropriate) to the survivor of the behaviour to make sure they are OK.

The way to do this is to instruct a person internally with expertise in this space (or an external provider if you don’t have this skillset in-house) to run a workshop with your employees.

This workshop would normally involve going through:

• the widespread instances of sexual harassment in Australian workplaces;
• the bystander effect and how diffusion of responsibility occurs;
• the difference between active and passive bystanders (including what each looks like in practice) and the techniques that active bystanders can utilise (separate them, provide a distraction, delay the situation, directly intervene, group intervention, make a scene, call in professionals etc.);
• case studies that directly relate to your business, industry and type of workplace. This is to test the employee’s understanding and should include time to get their responses on how they would deal with an issue, and what the individuals in the case studies could have done better; and
• the company’s encouragement and commitment to creating a safe and transparent workplace, where employees feel comfortable to raise concerns.

After the above has been run, it will be important to:

• discuss the importance of bystanders regularly at team or OHS meetings (i.e. keep it front of mind);
• monitor the effectiveness of the training by reviewing all new incidents and whether a witness to the incident could have handled the situation better; and
• continue to run the more fulsome workshop on at least an annual basis.

This is not a way to delegate responsibility from a business’ board or management team, and it is crucial they set the culture from the top down, and both directly receive and promote the training.

It is also up to the board and management team to ensure the company has the right document framework and complaints procedure in place, and to enforce acceptable standards of behaviours.

Putting a focus on bystanders is purely one additional step that we can take to better protect our employees.

Risks of getting it wrong

Besides the moral and ethical onus we have to ensure the safety of our employees, there are significant risks to the business for failing to take steps to provide a safe working environment. These include:

• Reputational damage: people ignore it, but one bad news story (or several) can significantly damage your relationship with your clients, employees and the public.
• Penalties: you can face significant financial and/or criminal penalties for each breach of your state’s occupational health and safety, and discrimination legislation. You can also be on the hook for damages if an individual claims you failed your duty of care.
• Personal liability: individuals involved in a breach of a business’ duty of care can potentially be held personally liable.
• Injuries: if an employee is sexually harassed at work, they may suffer an injury (mental and/or physical), go on leave and/or lodge a workers’ compensation claim.

Therefore, if we ever meet a manager who cares more about the financial side than the people side, we always remind them of the substantial financial consequences of not addressing workplace sexual harassment.

If you or someone you know has been affected by sexual assault or violence, call 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732 or visit 1800RESPECT.org.au.

For anyone seeking help, Lifeline is on 13 11 14 and Beyond Blue is 1300 22 4636