How To Stop Employee Harassment + 7 Common Types Of Employee Harassment

1. Why is employee harassment an important issue today?

When an organisation does not act to stop unlawful workplace harassment, it can lead to low morale amongst employees, dented productivity and trouble retaining talent for the company, causing high turnover rates for staffing. Reputationally, online reviews of working conditions can damage the business in the eyes of not only existing and prospective employees but also customers, clients and suppliers. 

Harassment is more widespread than many people realise, with a report into the Istanbul Convention finding that the rate at which women experience workplace harassment ranges from 11 to 41 per cent, depending on the European Union member state in which they live. 

In a global survey of employee harassment, the International Labour Organisation, Lloyd’s Register Foundation and Gallup found that 23% of people had suffered harassment at work. However, only around half had reported their experience to another person. The authors found that it often took suffering multiple forms of harassment for employees to come forward with their stories. 

Victims cited reasons such as not wanting to waste their time on a report that went nowhere and reputational fear for their silence. This shows why creating a safe environment, where employees feel able to make a report, is essential to avoid this negative impact.

2. Best practices to prevent workplace harassment

2.1 Establish a clear policy

The first step to preventing workplace harassment is to work with human resources to create a clear policy that spells out exactly what constitutes harassment and which kinds of behaviours you prohibit in the workplace. This could form part of your code of conduct or ethics. 

The harassment policy should detail the procedure for reporting unwelcome conduct and the steps that the company will take to investigate reports. It should also state the sanctions for anyone found to have contravened the policy and committed harassment against a colleague. 

Make sure you cover all types of unlawful harassment in the policy, from sexual harassment to that targeted at age, religion, race, gender, sexual orientation and more. 

Having a document to state your policy clearly shows that you are determined to prevent harassment in the workplace. You should distribute it to all workers and include it in your employee handbook. 

​​2.2 Educate employees

Once you have your policy, you need to bring it to life for employees, and that means undertaking regular training sessions. Helping employees understand what constitutes harassment and how to spot the signs that a colleague is suffering from workplace bullying of some kind helps to encourage reporting, and the earlier you find out about it, the more easily you can shut it down. 

Training is a way to keep the issues at the forefront of employees’ minds. It can help people understand that what they are experiencing is not okay and that they should report it. Without this, some victims can feel that they have somehow encouraged the behaviour and even that they deserve it. 

It can also help perpetrators understand the consequences of their actions and encourage them to change their behaviour. 

2.3 Create a supportive culture

When trying to combat wrongdoing of any type within a workplace, the company culture is integral. As evidenced by the statistic about half of victims not reporting their harassment, without the right culture, people can be dissuaded from calling out this behaviour. 

You need to ensure there is no overarching atmosphere of fear and intimidation and instead nurture a speak-up culture that values reporting of misconduct. This ensures the organisation is seen to take issues seriously and investigate them properly. 

Promoting your harassment policy, being seen to be swift and effective in stopping abusive behaviour and ensuring that you develop creative ways to promote the message of zero tolerance for bullies are all ways to instil a supportive culture into your workplace. It can help you avoid poor employee morale. 

2.4 Implement an internal reporting system 

Part of this speak-up culture is making it as simple as possible to file a report in the event of an employee suffering harassment. For these sensitive cases, it is essential that people are able to make reports in confidence and that the investigating team maintains contact with the reporting person throughout the process. 

It takes a lot of courage to make a report of misconduct, and if the reporting person has to go public with their accusation or faces hurdles in the process of making the report, they could easily lose confidence and back out. 

Using IntegrityLog helps overcome these issues. It is an online platform that the victim can access remotely. Since only authorised individuals have access to the details of the report, it remains confidential from the perpetrators. The investigating team can communicate with the reporting person even if the anonymity function is used. This way, they can provide updates and ask for further information without compromising confidentiality. 

2.5 Lead by example

The confidence victims have in your anti-harassment policy is directly related to how they see it being enforced in public. In order to show how seriously you take this type of behaviour, you must lead by example and show that you will sanction those found to have committed abusive behaviour with strict action. 

In addition, executives must be seen to commit to your policies and take action immediately if they suspect there is harassment happening in the departments they lead. They must be seen to welcome reporting, rather than treating it as an inconvenience. 

The culture has to filter down from the top. If there is no buy-in from leaders, it can dissuade victims from making reports and give perpetrators free rein to harass their colleagues.

3. The most common types of employee harassment

These are some of the types of workplace harassment you might have to deal with:

4. FAQs

4.1 What is employee harassment?

Employee harassment refers to any unwelcome or offensive behaviour or action by one employee towards another.

4.2 What makes a psychologically safe workplace?

A psychologically safe workplace is a work environment where employees feel comfortable to speak up and share their ideas and concerns without fear of ridicule, humiliation, or retaliation. A psychologically safe workplace fosters open communication, collaboration and trust among team members.

4.3 How important is psychological safety in the workplace?

Psychological safety is crucial in the workplace, as it has a direct impact on employee wellbeing, engagement, and performance. It creates a safe environment with a sense of belonging and encourages employees to take risks innovate, and contribute to the organisation’s success.

4.4 How can whistleblowing solutions help prevent employee harassment?

Whistleblowing solutions provide a safe, confidential and even anonymous reporting system for employees to report any cases of harassment without fear of retaliation. This enables organisations to take immediate remedial action and prevent further harassment.

4.5 What are the legal and ethical obligations of employers in handling harassment cases?

Employers are legally obligated to provide a safe workplace, investigate any reported harassment cases, take corrective action and prevent retaliation against the victim. Ethically, employers should prioritise employee safety and wellbeing and create a supportive and inclusive workplace culture.

5. Conclusion

When harassment is left to fester in an organisation, it creates a culture of fear and intimidation, leaving a hostile work environment. This dissuades employees from sharing innovative ideas out of concerns over how they will be received. It can lead to losing talent and reputational damage that prevents you from attracting the best candidates on the market due to the perceived hostile environment. 

Implementing a simple, confidential reporting system helps you to encourage reporting and allows you to stop harassment before it becomes a major issue. IntegrityLog allows confidential reporting on any device in any location with internet access. It helps the investigating team keep on track with its user-friendly dashboard. They can interact with the reporting person, building their confidence and keeping them informed of what is happening with their case. 

Request a demo of IntegrityLog today to find out how it can help you create a supportive and safe working environment.