The Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Act places a positive legal duty on companies to take "reasonable steps" to prevent sexual harassment.
This amendment emphasises the responsibility of employers to actively safeguard their employees by implementing proactive measures, such as clear policies, regular training, and effective reporting mechanisms, to minimise the risk of harassment and create a safer work environment.
Failure to take such steps could lead to legal consequences, strengthening protection for workers under the Equality Act 2010. Here are six steps you could take to help you meet this requirement and demonstrate your commitment to a safe and respectful work environment.
If you already have one, review and update it to ensure it clearly defines and prohibits sexual harassment and sets out everyone's responsibility to prevent it. Ensure the policy is well-publicised and attested by all employees, including new hires, during onboarding. If you need help digitising and automating policies and attestations, contact Skillcast.
Engender provides a model sexual harassment prevention policy that you can adopt or reference for developing or updating your own.
Training should involve educating everyone in your firm on the consequences of sexual harassment. Ensure all staff know what sexual harassment is and what to do if they experience or witness it. A good way to provide such firm-wide training is e-learning.
Skillcast provides readymade e-learning courses on sexual harassment and other compliance issues to thousands of companies. We've also created a set of five Compliance Bites (microlearning modules) on this topic:
Each of these Compliance Bites integrates with our LMS to provide reporting and an audit trail so you know who has – and hasn’t – completed the training.
This training should ensure HR personnel and managers have the confidence and required sensitivity to deal with disclosures, conduct investigations, and support their teams. Given the complexity and sensitivity of supporting victims, witnesses and even those accused, such training will likely be in-person seminars or coaching sessions. Skillcast provides tools for scheduling and tracking such training alongside firm-wide e-learning.
A nationwide survey by the UK government has found that employees report barely 15% of the cases of sexual harassment in the workplace. They were uncomfortable or embarrassed or felt they would be victimised.
To address this, encourage psychological safety and have clear reporting channels to make disclosures (anonymously, if preferred, for anyone reluctant to speak out).
Set up an online register to collate reports and help identify trends or risks (such as a predatory employee, high-risk activities - such as lone working, etc). Skillcast provides online breach registers that allow for anonymous reporting and case management.
Treat all reports as serious. Take appropriate actions promptly, fairly and confidentially. This includes:
Gather data and keep informed about the existing culture. Conduct regular surveys, read reviews and arrange exit interviews so you know of any problems early on. Periodically review and update the anti-harassment policy and procedures and monitor the work environment to ensure they are followed. To help, download: