Building a working environment free from harassment and sexual harassment: Handling complaints effectively

Overview

This series of Leading practice guides looks at how to create a working environment free from all forms of harassment and why HR and the organisations they represent need to prioritise this issue.

In this final guide we explore what to consider when setting up procedures to respond to complaints of harassment and sexual harassment, including conducting investigations and supporting the victim.

Other guides in the series:

• Building a working environment free from harassment and sexual harassment: What is harassment and what impact does it have on the workplace?
• Building a working environment free from harassment and sexual harassment: Practical steps to creating a harassment-free environment
• Building a working environment free from harassment and sexual harassment: Reporting procedures

While this series of guides does not provide specific guidance on the proposed changes to the law on harassment in the Employment Rights Bill, expected to come into force in 2026, following the steps outlined will help employers to prepare for compliance with the proposed changes. For more information on the Employment Rights Bill, see the Future developments section of our Employment law guide on Harassment.

The organisation's response to a complaint

From a simple joke to persistent unwanted conduct, HR leaders and managers will have a range of harassment and sexual harassment behaviours to deal with. Importantly, the organisation needs to have an effective process for dealing with complaints - this can act as a deterrent for harassment, but also inspires confidence in employees to report.

An employer's response should be swift, supportive, thorough, consistent, and fair to the complainant, any witnesses and the accused. Following the below tips will help to achieve this:

• Following the same overall procedure for handling all reports of harassment or sexual harassment will encourage people to come forward with a complaint, and alongside a consistent and robust approach to reporting incidents, there will be built-in a deterrent for anyone thinking of engaging in harassment. Consistency will also encourage people to have confidence in the organisation's other policies and procedures.
• How you deal with a complaint will depend its nature and how the person making it wants to progress. Where possible and appropriate, try to resolve complaints informally as this is often less stressful for all those involved. If you, as the person charged with responding to the complaint, and the complainant, cannot agree, or you are unsure of how to proceed, it is best to move forward with a formal complaint procedure. For example, a one-off inappropriate joke of a sexual nature should be handled differently to sending someone explicit images or unwanted touching. Where possible, "low-level" behaviours should be addressed and managed through direct, good quality conversations. It is important to make this distinction in treatment of harassment complaints clear in policies, both for victims and for those investigating complaints.
• Create a response strategy that is appropriate to the severity of the harassment; the organisation should be seen to take appropriate disciplinary action against individuals who have been found guilty. For example, a single inappropriate joke of a sexual nature may need a different response to a person who is repeatedly sending unwanted and unwelcome text messages propositioning a colleague. Disciplinary action should also be consistent for similar incidents.
• It is good practice to have a standard policy to investigate all complaints above a certain threshold. This includes historic complaints, so the organisation should decide how it will handle complaints that involve incidents that happened in the past. If someone makes a complaint a long time after an incident has taken place, you still need to take it seriously; many victims do not feel confident in coming forward until they are in a more secure role or headspace.
• Consider your response to all scenarios, for example, "I just want to tell you something, but I don't want you to tell anyone about it…" Be consistent in how the organisation deals with these scenarios, setting out your approach in your anti-harassment policy.
• Make a clear distinction between how you will handle malicious complaints, ie those that are deliberate falsehoods, and complaints that are found to be without foundation. Employees should not get into trouble because they made a complaint in good faith and it was subsequently found to be unfounded. This distinction will also have a positive effect on people feeling confident and comfortable in coming forward to report a problem.
• Set out timescales for handling complaints. Addressing issues promptly not only helps in collecting accurate information but also prevents the escalation of problems.

Training for investigators and managers on handling reports

When allegations of harassment arise, organisations must undertake a thorough investigation to gather evidence, determine the facts and make informed decisions. Getting it wrong not only consumes valuable time and resources but can also incur costs, damage relationships and erode trust among your employees.

On the other hand, managing investigations effectively builds trust in the reporting channels and helps to prevent harassment and sexual harassment because people know there is accountability.

A consistent, process-based, approach to all complaints, alongside bias training, will help to make sure investigators can look at each incident on a case-by-case basis and draw conclusions based on the facts.

Therefore, provide training to HR leaders and managers who will be conducting investigations into reports of harassment, including guidelines on handling reports they receive. These are some guidelines to include in training for investigators, as well as managers to whom employees might report an incident:

• Investigators should take all reports of harassment seriously and conduct an investigation without bias. Support should be provided to both the complainant and the accused throughout the process - see below for further guidance.
• In cases of sexual harassment, victim blaming can come into play during investigations. This can result in investigators having a lack of understanding and empathy of the trauma involved when a serious incident of harassment takes place. Training should include giving investigators an understanding of the impact of trauma, for example how a traumatic situation may cause a delay in the response time before reporting.
• Help investigators to understand proper interviewing and questioning techniques. Questions should be designed to establish facts, not prove guilt or innocence. They should not be leading, but challenging, to get to the truth. Interviews should not be an intimidating experience for those involved. Questions based on ''Why…?" can feel accusatory, so guide people on using "What…?" or "Tell me…", instead. Open questions such as, "Describe what you heard" encourage general responses, and investigators can follow up with more specific questions to get more detail, eg "What time was that?"
• Ensure that complaints are not minimised or dismissed. It is all too easy to respond with, "Are you sure you haven't got the wrong end of the stick?" However, responses like this, even if meant in good faith, can quickly erode confidence in the reporting of harassment. The more supportive a manager or HR leader's responses to allegations, the more likely it is that victims will come forward.
• Personal feelings should be left out of the equation, and the person hearing the complaint should not make assumptions.

Support for the affected individual during an investigation

As part of an investigation, organisations should ensure that victims receive the necessary assistance to address any emotional or psychological effects, such as access to counselling or support through your employee assistance programme (EAP). Being part of an informal or formal grievance or complaints procedure can be very stressful for those involved, and the organisation should consider workers' wellbeing. Each case is unique, but consider the following:

• Make it easy for those involved to speak up if they feel like they are struggling by ensuring they know where to access mental health support, if the organisation has it, including access to professional advice where possible, and/or signpost to external sources of support.
• Keep those involved updated throughout, informing them not only of the investigation progress but also what to expect to happen next.
• Designate a person for victims  to contact who is not involved with the investigation. Leading organisations have specially trained employees to support people through a complaints process, which might include "speak up" guardians or bullying and harassment advisors. You could assign reporting instances of harassment into your mental health first-aiders' roles and responsibilities by providing additional training for them.
• Be flexible and allow for adjustments during the course of the investigation, including having a friend present during interviews.