How can employers prepare for the new duty to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace?

On the 26 October 2024, UK employers will be under a new duty to take reasonable steps to prevent their employees being sexually harassed in the course of their employment.

With the new duty set to come into force this month, we thought it would be useful to share some top tips to make sure your organisation is prepared for this upcoming legislative change.

What is changing?

Under the new legislation, there is an obligation on employers to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment of their employees.

If employers fail to comply with this duty, employment tribunals will have the power to increase compensation in a sexual harassment claim by up to 25%. Since there is currently no cap on the compensation that can be awarded in discrimination claims, this could amount to a substantial amount of money. The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) can also take enforcement action.

In light of the new duty, the Equality and Human Rights Commission recently published technical guidance on preventing sexual harassment at work, including an eight-step guide which can be viewed here.

Top tips for employers

The key takeaway from this guidance is that employers need to be proactive in their approach to sexual harassment in the workplace, the duty doesn’t just extend to responding to sexual harassment claims, employers must implement ways to prevent sexual harassment from occurring in the first place.

But how should employers go about this? We have prepared a list of ways that employers can prevent sexual harassment in the workplace.

Review staff handbooks and policies

Employers should make sure they review their workplace policies and update them where required. If your organisation doesn’t currently have a sexual harassment policy, we advise putting one in place. We would be happy to assist you with this, please do get in touch with us if this is something you would like help with.

Any sexual harassment policy should state clearly that the law requires employers to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment of workers in the course of their employment.

You should also regularly check if your policies for preventing sexual harassment are working. This can be done using staff surveys or reviewing the number of complaints received relating to sexual harassment.

Zero tolerance workplace culture

Make it clear to everyone who works in your organisation what sexual harassment is and that there is a zero-tolerance approach to harassment. Establishing a zero tolerance approach at management level can help foster a inclusive culture throughout the entire organisation where those affected can feel confident to report instances of sexual harassment when they occur.

Monitor issues and identify risk

Employers will need to continuously monitor what steps they are taking and document these to ensure they are staying on top of any changing risks.  

As the guidance states: “Employers should not wait until a complaint of sexual harassment has been raised before they take any action. The duty requires that employers should anticipate scenarios when its workers may be subject to sexual harassment in the course of employment and take action to prevent such harassment taking place.

Provide adequate training

Does your organisation currently provide training on what sexual harassment is? If not, you should consider implementing this. It is sometimes the case that employees can defend their actions as ‘workplace banter’, training sessions to all staff as early on as possible, with regular refresher training, can reinforce where the line is.

Similarly, training should be given to those who deal with complaints and grievances on how to advise people who are considering making a sexual harassment complaint. Those handling complaints should take them seriously, whether an informal complaint or a formal grievance, and deal with them promptly and sensitively. 

How can Ergo help?

The team at Ergo are experienced in providing bespoke, informative, engaging training on topics such as sexual harassment. We can also provide specific advice to your organisation to ensure you are prepared for these incoming changes. Please get in touch if you would like to know more about how we can help your organisation.

Author: Flora Smith, Solicitor