Building a working environment free from harassment and sexual harassment: Practical steps to creating a harassment-free environment

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 second guide, we look at what steps employers should take to fulfil their duty to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment.

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

Legislation does not prescribe the reasonable steps that employers should take to fulfil their duty to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment of their employees in the course of their employment. Below, we explore how employers should approach the duty to take reasonable steps, taking account of the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) technical guidance Sexual harassment and harassment at work.

Although the legislation requires employers to take preventative measures only in relation to sexual harassment, leading employers should use this as an opportunity to take preventative measures to eliminate all forms of harassment.

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.

Risk assessments

According to the EHRC sexual harassment and harassment at work: technical guidance, employers are unlikely to meet the duty to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment if they do not conduct a risk assessment.

In a similar way to undertaking a health and safety risk assessment, you should look at where there are risks of sexual harassment occurring in your organisation, building a heat map of where the greatest risks lie. Take into account factors such as your workplace setting, the people in your organisation and the third parties with whom your organisation works, and the workplace culture. Include any working practices or environments where there is an opportunity for harassment to occur. The following are examples of risk factors for sexual harassment:

• power imbalances, for example junior and senior colleagues working together;
• lack of diversity, including in senior roles, in particular gendered power imbalances;
• the presence of disrespectful behaviour or banter;
• lone working, including people working from home;
• working with third parties such as customers and suppliers;
• night working;
• job insecurity, such as the use of agency workers;
• the presence of alcohol;
• different environments where work or work-related events take place, such as different workplaces, the home, onsite and offsite work gatherings and parties, conferences and other third-party sites;
• socialising outside work; and
• social media contact between workers.

Understanding where the risks lie should not be a task undertaken by HR alone - often, line managers and employees will have a much better understanding of day-to-day working practices, as well as the working environment in their team. Ask employees where they think risks lie, for example by conducting regular employee surveys.

After you have undertaken a risk assessment, you should produce an action plan setting out what reasonable preventative steps you will take to address the identified risks of harassment occurring. For example, HR could issue guidance to line managers on taking care of employees who work alone with a third party, such as:

• regularly checking in with the employee whether everything is okay;
• changing working practices to ensure there is always a second person from the organisation present; and/or
• giving the employee tools to manage difficult situations, for example guidance on how to remove themselves if they are in an uncomfortable situation.

See our model Sexual harassment risk assessment form to conduct a risk assessment of sexual harassment and understand what reasonable measures to take to mitigate those risks.

Anti-harassment policies

All organisations should put in place a policy that sets out:

• the organisation's commitment to preventing harassment and sexual harassment, and how it will go about fulfilling that commitment;
• what people need to do to make a complaint about harassment; and
• how harassment complaints will be dealt with.

Some organisations may decide to issue a separate policy on harassment or sexual harassment, whereas other, perhaps smaller, organisations might include these elements in a diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policy.

Many organisations will already have a policy that prescribes reactive measures for dealing with harassment incidents, or they may have been forced to react when a situation occurred and, as a result, have a de facto policy in place. However, because of the new duty to prevent sexual harassment, and the reasons identified around the benefits of prevention, employers should have both preventative and reactive measures in place, which can be incorporated in the policy.

It is helpful to make a clear distinction between which parts of the policy are preventive actions and which are reactive actions. Both play a part in overall policy; despite your best prevention efforts, there may be a time when you need to react to a harassment situation, so it is important for those involved to understand what parts of the policy are relevant in the different circumstances.

When compiling or substantively updating your policy, consult relevant internal parties, for example unions and employee resource groups (ERGs). They are likely to have a good understanding of your organisation's working environment and can consult their members on where a policy could help to create a better working culture. Also, take account of your sexual harassment risk assessment to make sure the policy covers the risk factors relevant to your organisation.

See our model anti-harassment and anti-bullying policy for more guidance on what to include in your policy.

A policy, however well written, will do little to prevent harassment and sexual harassment if it is left to gather dust:

• Ensure everyone in the organisation is clear about what constitutes unacceptable behaviour by communicating the policy contents on a regular basis, for example through training for all, and regular communication by the senior leadership team and line managers about the existence of the policy and the organisation's approach to preventing and managing harassment.
• Everyone working in the organisation should know how to access the policy. Communicate its existence and where to find it during onboarding and relevant training sessions, and in newsletters, townhalls and staff meetings, and provide a reminder about it ahead of workplace parties.
• Gaining access to the policy should be easy - for example employees should not have to ask their manager for a copy of the policy and it should not be hidden on the intranet - it should be in an obvious place.
• Making the policy accessible to third parties, for example by publishing it on the organisation's (external facing) website, will help to make sure it is available for anyone with whom the organisation works, and can help employees who may not be able to access it because they do not have a company laptop or mobile phone and are on leave or work in a deskless role.

In addition to a policy setting out the organisation's commitment to preventing and dealing with harassment, HR teams should review related policies to ensure they support the organisation's approach and help to create a positive organisational culture. Policies to consider include those around behaviour at work social events and social media use.

You might also decide to establish a policy on expected behaviours at work, also referred to as a code of conduct, which should be publicised to employees and third parties.

Creating the right culture

One of the most crucial steps to creating a harassment-free workplace is building the right organisational culture. The steps highlighted in this guide create collective responsibility and support the idea that your organisation is a place of safety where people are respectful of one other.

However, the key to eliminating harassment is to stop inappropriate behaviour on a day-to-day basis. Success lies in helping everyone to understand what behaviour is inappropriate, and motivating the same people to support one other and be prepared to stand up for a positive workplace culture.

Change is not always easy or fast, but building an environment that calls out harassment and sexual harassment should form part of the organisation's identity if it wants to eliminate harassment altogether.

What does an appropriate culture look like?

Some of the behaviours that are considered harassment or sexual harassment are obvious, while others are more subtle. For example, ignoring someone on purpose might be less obvious than a hand around the waist, but for the victim, it can feel the same.

To create a harassment-free environment, consider defining some of the behaviours that amount to harassment and are deemed inappropriate.

Examples of inappropriate behaviour: harassment

• Displaying racially offensive or insensitive materials on posters or screen savers.
• Making derogatory comments or taunts about a person's disability.
• Asking intrusive questions about someone's personal life.
• Deliberately making it difficult for a colleague to complete their work, for example by preventing access to equipment.
• Making derogatory jokes, using slurs, or making offensive comments around a protected characteristic such as age, race or sexual orientation.
• Imitating someone or copying accents.
• Putting a person down or making derogatory comments about their appearance or characteristics.
• Making physical threats and behaviours.
• Verbally abusing people.
• Deliberately excluding a person.
• Using body language inappropriately, for example pointing at someone, getting in their personal space, aggressive hand gestures, or whispering about someone.

 

Examples of inappropriate behaviour: sexual harassment 

• Displaying sexually explicit or pornographic posters or screen savers.
• Sending explicit or sexually suggestive emails, text messages or social posts while at work or outside the workplace to a colleague.
• Making sexually explicit jokes.
• Commenting on a person's physical appearance using sexualised language.
• Asking intrusive questions about someone's sex life.
• Social media screenshots shared on group chats
• Talking to someone's body parts instead of their face.
• Waiting until someone is alone at work to make suggestive comments.
• Leering at someone.
• Putting pressure on someone to meet outside of work, or tricking them into a "work lunch with clients or colleagues", which is really a one-to-one.
• Quid pro quo, for example "if you do this, you'll get that promotion".
• Asking someone out repeatedly and not taking no for an answer.

 

A healthy organisational culture entails building a culture of respect, inclusion and psychological safety where employees feel safe to speak up about harassment and where grievances and complaints are taken seriously, particularly where senior figures are involved.

Ask employees for their thoughts on what the culture should look like, allowing them to contribute towards a code of conduct that formalises what is appropriate in the workplace and establishes a standard of behaviour. Gather employees' views specifically on the code of conduct and where to draw the line when it comes to what constitutes inappropriate behaviour.

You can then create a code of behaviour or a code of conduct setting out what is and is not appropriate behaviour. Writing the information in a simple "dos and don'ts" format can be a more straightforward way of presenting it, and may be more easily digested by employees than when it is presented as a formal policy. This can be particularly useful in environments with a significant number of casual or temporary workers who come and go.

The importance of diversity, equity and inclusion

As fear of retaliation is one of the biggest concerns preventing people from speaking out about harassment and sexual harassment in the workplace, it is important that non-anonymous reporting policies are developed alongside a culture shift - one that is directed at making it safe for people to speak up and speak out.

Beyond defining inappropriate behaviours, to affect real change, you should put diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) and building an inclusive culture at the heart of your organisation and its policies.

In its most basic form, inclusivity means the inclusion of individuals on a personal level. It goes beyond protected characteristics such as gender, race, age and religion. Inclusion and belonging in the workplace means people feeling valued and accepted for who they are and what they bring to the organisation, without having to conform or be someone else. Inclusivity is an appreciation of difference and diversity.

You cannot have inclusion without psychological safety, which is an environment where people feel safe to speak up, take risks and share ideas without fear of a negative response.

In addition to creating a harassment-free environment, organisations that are diverse and inclusive thrive compared to those that are not. People bring different outlooks, opinions and experiences to a workplace; they do not all work and perform in the same way. There is much research on how a diverse workplace is a more creative workplace, and this is vital in making sure your organisation performs well and remains competitive.

 

 

See our Leading practice series on Equality, diversity and inclusion, which takes you through the foundations for becoming an equal, diverse and inclusive employer, and our practical guidance on creating psychological safety at work.

What if the workplace is toxic?

Working environments that contain abusive and overly controlling managers, a blame culture and negative behaviours will undermine a positive workplace culture and can be described as "toxic". Where the environment is toxic, the psychological safety element, which is so important in encouraging people to speak up and feel valued and included, is often missing.

Where it is a manager who is exhibiting toxic behaviours, it can be harder to make change. In this case, employees should be able to approach HR or other, more senior, managers with evidence, for example a log of toxic behaviours, or with witness evidence from others who have experienced the behaviours, to bring about change.

This is why different reporting mechanisms are so important to creating a harassment-free workplace. The organisation also needs to communicate regularly its intention to eliminate harassment and encourage people to speak out when inappropriate incidents happen. Here, getting senior leaders involved by speaking about this at internal events and other organisation-wide communications can make a big difference as to whether people will come forward.

Training

Despite harassment and sexual harassment attracting so much public attention in recent years, and organisations having formal reactive processes in place since the 1970s, incident numbers are still high.

Often, this is attributable to the approach of training managers and employees. Organisations should provide regular training sessions for employees, managers and leaders on recognising, preventing and addressing harassment. Training can be very effective, but it is often inadequate and outdated. Where organisations see training as a tick-box exercise, this will not be enough to change the organisational culture.

In their study "The promise and peril of sexual harassment programs", authors Dobbin and Kalev found that training was often ineffective. They discovered that where formal and mandatory "forbidden-behaviour" training was implemented, the occurrence of white women as managers decreased by five percentage points in the following years and that men, where training presents them as a constant perpetrator, are inclined to becoming defensive and will resist.

However, the right approach can create genuine change. This cannot be overstated.

 

 

Effective harassment and sexual harassment training puts the responsibility on everyone to cultivate a culture that they want to exist in. Everyone should feel they have a duty of care and collective responsibility for creating a workplace culture where harassment and sexual harassment is not tolerated. Training should encourage empathy and a collective responsibility for creating and upholding an inclusive workplace where every person feels they belong.

Bystander intervention training and allyship

Effective training includes bystander intervention, and can even encompass the role of workplace allies. Bystander intervention training empowers everyone to speak up when they witness incidents of harassment. It shifts the narrative of responsibility from the victim to the culture of the workplace itself. Bystander training helps employees to speak up and challenge behaviour that does not align with the organisational culture.

Any training scenarios should be built from the perspective of a person who has witnessed the behaviour and what they would do if they saw this happening. Examples need to be relevant and current and not reinforce negative gender stereotypes.

Training can show people how to handle incidents, for example they do not always need to intervene directly. Simply making their presence known or approaching the victim to ask if they are ok helps to diffuse an incident. Another option is to speak to the victim separately to offer support or report the incident to someone senior.

Allyship training is an extension of this. Allies advocate for others and a positive workplace culture. They are committed to listening to and amplifying the voices of others, as well as championing diversity and promoting an inclusive culture that benefits everyone. Allyship training empowers people to speak up and challenge harassment and sexual harassment. It also encourages collective responsibility for creating and maintaining an inclusive workplace.

This approach has been proven to really work and creates spaces where everyone can contribute.

Without senior management buy-in, training is likely to be ineffective. Preventing workplace harassment and sexual harassment means leading from the front and proactively adopting learnings into day-to-day routines.

These are some options to get leaders' buy-in:

• Appoint a senior leader as an "owner" of the training initiative, highlighting the benefits to them of being seen as a force for good within the organisation.
• Be clear and upfront about what being a champion of anti-harassment training involves.
• Use research to demonstrate how the training can add value to the organisation. This might also include legal ramifications of not training people.
• Consider an external, third-party trainer or consultant, which can add legitimacy to the training programme.
• Keep those who have volunteered to support training regularly informed.

Quick tips

These are some additional tips for delivering effective anti-harassment training:

• Employers should provide training to all workers on the different types of harassment so that they understand what harassment and sexual harassment is and why it is wrong, and what part they play in helping to eliminate harassment. This should include what impact harassment can have on victims, such as on their health.
• Training should be frequently updated and carried out at regular intervals for everyone, including as part of the onboarding process for new employees.
• Training must be more than a tick-box exercise; not just from a legal perspective but from a cultural, moral and educational one too. Training needs to make a tangible impact, and be relatable to your organisation, your people and your industry.
• Harassment training should be practical, informative and confront the challenging issues, such as what to expect when making a complaint, your organisation's approach to harassment complaints, and what to do if an accusation is brought against you.
• Training should be tailored to the target audience, taking account of factors such as seniority.

To ensure your training programme has the desired impact, you should monitor its effectiveness. This starts with understanding the current culture of the organisation. You should then measure the extent to which training has had an impact. This can be done through tools such as employee surveys. See Monitor and review for further guidance.

The role of managers and senior leaders

All those in leadership roles, including the senior leadership team and line managers, have a critical role to play when it comes to creating a workplace culture that promotes dignity and respect. It is important that they accept and are invested in the need to create a positive workplace culture. Their conduct and input will:

• set the tone for the behaviours of everyone else;
• influence how much resources are invested into preventing harassment; and
• have an impact on how the organisation deals with complaints of harassment.  

Based on the findings of the Kalev/Dobbin study, bystander intervention training is not only one of the most successful ways of preventing workplace harassment in all its forms but is particularly effective for leaders. Training managers and leaders at all levels gives them the tools to spot harassment and step in to prevent it.

The most effective approach to keeping leaders accountable is helping them to understand their duties towards employees, and the potential impact if they do not take steps to prevent harassment and deal with situations effectively when they arise.

The impact of harassment from a personal and organisational perspective, including the significant cost of reputational damage, should be communicated to leaders and managers as part of any training. When an organisation does not take reports seriously, this is shared; employees will talk and word will get around that senior leaders are not doing what they should be doing to protect people. Conversely, when reports are taken seriously, this becomes well-known.

Leaders need to be educated and trained in the organisation's position on handling complaints of harassment and sexual harassment, including the different formal and informal approaches. Leaders need to appreciate that they must step up as role models when it comes to dealing with harassment complaints, by demonstrating that issues are being dealt with effectively. This will create a culture of trust and openness, whereby people know whom they can go to should an incident happen and that it will be taken seriously. Where leaders are confident in dealing with a situation and are unafraid to champion positive workplaces, this creates an environment that shows the organisation takes all forms of harassment seriously. See more guidance on this in Training for investigators and managers on handling reports.

Key to preventing workplace harassment is establishing clear policies and procedures. Where senior leaders understand their role in preventing and dealing with workplace harassment, and the importance of this, they will buy into and back the development of comprehensive policies that explicitly prohibit certain behaviours and detail reporting procedures and processes. 

Beyond this, to achieve real culture change, senior leaders should foster a workplace culture that values a diverse and representative workforce, promotes inclusivity and belonging, and encourages open communication. Factoring in these behaviours when recruiting senior leaders, making sure training and coaching for senior leaders incorporate these inclusive behaviours, and adopting values-based appraisals can all help to bring about culture change at the very top of the organisation. For more guidance on achieving senior leadership commitment to DEI, see Equality, diversity and inclusion: Roles, responsibilities and accountability.

Preventing third-party harassment

As noted in Employers' duties under the Equality Act 2010, the obligation on employers to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment of employees in the course of their employment covers harassment by third parties. Reasonable steps could involve:

• including policies around expected behaviour in communications with third parties when those professional relationships are being established, and in corresponding contracts;
• adding reminder statements about expected behaviours and related policies to regular, ongoing communications with third parties, for example in email signatures;
• where it is feasible, taking steps to understand the third party's own organisational position on preventing harassment, and the steps it takes to prevent and manage harassment;
• being clear with third parties about your expectations; for example, the EHRC guidance gives an example of a recruitment agency that asks applicants questions around their ability to do the job  based on stereotypical assumptions about their disability, which amounts to harassment - in this case, the employer for which the agency is recruiting would be liable for the harassment because it allowed the agency to ask whatever questions it wanted, even though it did not expressly consent to the agency asking those particular questions; and
• where employees have face-to-face contact with members of the public, displaying posters communicating the organisation's zero-tolerance position on harassment and sexual harassment of its employees.

Harassment outside the normal workplace environment

The duty on employers to prevent sexual harassment of their employees covers situations in the course of their employment (see Employers' duties under the Equality Act 2010).

Therefore, it is crucial to:

• create a clear policy that defines harassment and explains that harassment is not acceptable in all workplace settings, including: those overseas; third-party sites such as client sites, conference venues, and after-work drinks venues; and when working online and/or from home;
• communicate that harassment is unacceptable when performing any work-related activity, such as when other workers may be affected by an employee's use of social media, and when at work-related events and parties; and
• refer to the organisation's approach to harassment in social media and behaviour outside of work policies.

Reporting

Establishing easy-to-access and effective reporting procedures will give workers the confidence to report an incident of harassment or sexual harassment and will, of itself, discourage inappropriate behaviour. Where the organisation has a reputation for dealing with complaints effectively, people will feel safe coming forward and it will act as a deterrent for potential perpetrators.

Full details on how to establishing effective reporting procedures is dealt with in another guide in this series.

The employer's circumstances

In exploring what steps are reasonable for your organisation to take to prevent sexual harassment, you should consider your own circumstances. Different organisational types will likely be required to put different steps into place, although the preventative duty is present in every scenario. Consider factors such as:

• the size of, and resources available to, your organisation;
• the nature of the workplace;
• the industry and sector in which you operate;
• whether third parties are involved with workers;
• the circumstances in which there is the potential for harassment to take place;
• the effectiveness of a particular step in preventing harassment;
• the time, cost and disruption of taking a particular step weighed against the benefit of the step; and
• whether concerns have been raised about harassment and sexual harassment before.

Monitor and review

It is vital for employers to regularly monitor and review the steps they take to prevent and manage harassment and sexual harassment regularly, at least every 12 to 24 months. This is to make sure the approach they are taking is working.

Take a data-based approach to understand the effectiveness of your programme:

• Collect feedback from employees on their experiences of harassment and sexual harassment, and whether they think the organisation's approach is working, for example in exit interviews, stay interviews and employee engagement surveys. The EHRC guidance provides some suggestions on what questions to ask in surveys.
• Ask employee resource groups (ERGs) to feed into this process. ERGs could encourage people to report incidents, and people may even prefer to report an incident of harassment to ERG members. ERGs could also gather feedback from employees on their views on the steps the organisation is taking to prevent and manage harassment.
• Create a database of complaints that is compliant with data protection law. You can then use this to review incident reports to identify areas for improvement and make necessary adjustments by looking at patterns of behaviour across the organisation. Consider all the types of reports and feedback you may need to include, for example whistleblowing reports, grievances and reports of harassment, including anonymous and non-anonymous reports. The EHRC guidance suggests analysing complaint records based on factors such as the date of events, business area, roles, protected characteristics and outcome.

Ensure that you take on board any feedback and make adjustments to your processes as a result of your analysis.

In addition to reviewing experiences of harassment, employers should monitor diversity, equity and inclusion in their organisation. As noted, gender imbalances, as well as other diversity imbalances in the organisation, are a risk factor for harassment. Use our guides on Using data to create a more diverse and inclusive workforce and Empowering ethnicity disclosure to understand how to collect data and use it effectively as part of your DEI programme.

Next: Building a working environment free from harassment and sexual harassment: Reporting procedures