Everyone’s accountable – but it starts at the top

The Everyone’s Invited movement has taken the world by storm, revealing the extent of sexual harassment, abuse and victims of assaults that affects “everyone”: sexual harassment and abuse are no longer seen as “just” a “women’s or a child’s issue”, but they are now recognised as a serious issue that harms everyone.

But while heightened awareness has brought these issues to the forefront and has made conversations about a “rape culture” and the normalisation of violence more common, harassment remains a persistent problem.

An alarming symptom is the fact that, despite the high percentage of victims of harassment, assault or abuse, reporting rates remain low. Based on the data, the extent of non-reporting is outstanding: a study in the US found that only 30% of employees experiencing a form of harassment file a complaint, and less than 15% file formal charges. It is not surprising that the many stories and ‘confessions’ that came forward thanks to the Everyone’s invited website are all anonymous. Most reporting processes in the workplace do not offer anonymity, and this makes it more difficult for some people to report an issue.

If you found yourself in this situation, you may feel embarrassed or wonder: is this issue “bad enough”? Is it actually worth to speak up and come forward, or will there be repercussions against me? Unfortunately, this is exactly how that vicious cycle of turning immoral and violent behaviour into normal behaviour starts and is gradually embedded in the workplace. As reported in a recent HBR article, most companies require employees to expose their identities in the reporting process, or are offered few choices when looking for a resolution, often resulting in retaliation.

Today more than ever, organisations should explore what more could be done to ensure that employees do take all steps they can to prevent harassment from happening and to give the necessary time and resources to anti-harassment efforts. Not only will this foster a vibrant, healthy and respectful work environment, it will also restore your employees’ trust in the organisation and ultimately decrease turnover and reputational harm.
At KnowledgeBrief, we have scanned the latest research on this topic and selected four key practices that you can implement to prevent that vicious cycle from being entrenched within your workplace:

Demonstrate accountability at the top

Leadership and accountability have the strongest impact on creating an inclusive, respectful workplace culture. Starting from the top, accountability should be embedded across all levels to prevent and stop harassment. How can this be achieved in practice? Leadership must establish a sense of urgency about preventing harassment and create an holistic culture of non-harassment by:

1. assessing whether the workplace is prone to risk factors, such as cultural or language differences, isolated workspaces, workplaces with significant power disparities, and take proactive steps to minimise those risks.
2. conducting a climate survey of employees, to help determine whether staff feel that harassment happens in the workplace and whether it is tolerated.
3. developing better processes and establishing clear metrics to hold everyone accountable, including rewarding responsiveness to anti-harassment efforts by managers.

Promote effective policies, procedures and training

Policies must be regularly communicated and be easy to understand, and reporting systems must be adhered to and be implemented in a timely and consistent fashion. Companies should ensure that where harassment occurs, the response is prompt, consistent and proportionate.

Training should be tailored to your workforce and industry. When informed and trained correctly, managers and employees can truly make a difference. Examples include ‘bystander intervention training’, which empowers employees to understand how to intervene when harassing or offensive behaviour is witnessed, and ‘civility training’, which focuses on promoting respect and civility across the workplace.

Invest money and time

Spending money and time in complaint procedures and training is critical in showing that leaders are making an authentic effort and committing to create a respectful workplace free of harassment. Sufficient time must be allocated so that all employees can attend training, which must be adequately funded and included in the organisation’s budget.

Organisations can also create anonymous formal reporting channels, and promote hotlines, chatbots, website forms, and phone apps to report an issue anonymously. These tools should allow employees to quickly and flexibly submit reports and indicate the desired solution, without fear of retaliation of repercussions. Another option is to invest in external, neutral resources such as counselling, mental health interventions, or off-the-record resources as part of an ombuds office that operates independently and serves as informal and external resource to resolve an issue or concern.

Ultimately, change should be facilitated from the top if senior leaders take the necessary steps, but it is also on all of us to be part of this fight. Harassment and abuse will not stop on their own, but should be the focus of a strong prevention and reporting policy.

Action Point: Fill in the checklist below to reflect on current practices within your own organisation and what you could do, as a leader, to improve in each area. Check the box if your organisation has the following in place:

Sources:

Feldblum, C. R. and Lipnic, V. A. (2016). Select Task Force on the Study of Harassment in the Workplace. 

Zheng, L. (2020). Do Your Employees Feel Safe Reporting Abuse and Discrimination? Harvard Business Review.