40% of women and 26% of men have experienced sexual harassment in the last 5 years (AHRC). Sexual harassment costs the Australian economy $3.8 billion a year.
The Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) results released on 11 November 2024 provide some insights into the initiatives employees have put in place to meet their positive duty to eliminate sexual harassment. The Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has provided Guidelines for Complying with the Positive Duty to help employers understand what they need to do to meet their duty.
AHRC’s enforcement powers commenced in December 2023. So far, we have not seen the Commission take action, however, the Sex Discrimination Commissioner, Anna Cody has said that the Commission has received complaints. While it aims to work with employers in the first instance, if that fails it will take the compliance approach.
Commissioner Cody has warned employers in a recent interview, that employers need to take this seriously:
“it’s a legal obligation … you must comply with, you need to get on to it immediately…those in male dominated industries have bigger problems and need to take action fast.” (18.10.24)
The WGEA results are from more than 7000 employers (large and medium organisations) covering 5 million employees. The results demonstrate that some organisations haven’t done enough to meet their positive duty.
Some key results from the WGEA findings:
98% of organisations require disclosure to HR/ designated staff, however 68% of organisations claimed that anonymous disclosure processes are less available. “The ability to protect a reporter’s identity with anonymous disclosure is important, given widespread underreporting of these serious issues.”
Given the crucial role of Leadership setting the tone for a workplace’s culture, the results indicate that CEOs and Boards aren’t doing enough and should be communicating the employer’s expectations more regularly to all employees. This is particularly important ahead of big events such as the work Christmas party.
To meet the positive duty, organisations need to adopt a Risk Management approach – identify and assess the risk and implement effective controls that are regularly reviewed. The WGEA report finds that 28% of employers are simply not monitoring the prevalence of sexual harassment.
The good news is that the data does illustrate, however, that most employers have a formal policy on Sexual Harassment and offer training, usually at induction. The majority of employers incorporate sexual harassment prevention activities in risk management processes.
Our Watch also conducted a survey in September 2024* and although it may seem hard to believe, the data shows that only 76% of leaders know that workplace sexual harassment is illegal and a significant number of organisations are simply unaware of the new obligations.
The survey uncovered some very interesting data on employees who identify as women. Only 48% of Female employees felt safe to report sexual harassment and a significant number are unaware of the changes to laws. Overall, female employees do not have much confidence in the reporting process and whether any action would be taken, if they do report.
By comparison, male leaders were more confident on all those measures.
Key takeout’s from the Our Watch survey:
Only 60% of leaders were aware of the new positive duty changes. Not surprisingly, the figure is even less with employees – women in particular, showing the lowest rate of awareness overall
Men rated their workplaces significantly more positively than women on the approach to preventing workplace sexual harassment (another concerning statistic!).
According to the data, only 48% female employees Felt safe to report an experience of sexual harassment, starkly contracted to 71% male leaders. Only 49% female employees are confident they know how to report their experience of sexual harassment, starkly contracted to 70% male leaders.
Female employees have the least confidence that appropriate action would be taken (54%) with male leaders the most confident 79%.
*Survey of 1500 Australians, 500 workplace leaders and 1000 employees.
What do organisations need to do to meet their Positive Duty requirements?
Strong leadership from the Board, CEO and Leaders will have a significant impact on the overall culture.
Start Action planning – using the Guidelines for Complying with the Positive Duty, plan how will you meet the 7 standards for complying with the positive duty, informed by the 4 Guiding Principles. Worklogic can help you understand the Guidelines and prepare your Action Plan. We can facilitate sessions with your leadership team and employees to educate and develop your individual action plan, having regard to your organisation’s risks and needs.
Raise Awareness – educate your CEOs/ Boards and leaders and employees. Key areas for awareness and education:
- the positive duty to eliminate sexual harassment and understanding the law
- your policy and procedures
- workplace behaviour expectations, including upstander/active bystander
- how to make a complaint, including anonymous reporting lines
Reporting and response – Build confidence that appropriate action will be taken, regardless of the seniority of the individual. Providing the team with an anonymous reporting service line to build confidence in the process.
Worklogic provides advice, training and support to organisations who are working on their systems and processes to comply with Positive Duty. We can help you with practical scenario-based training to engage with your people in a meaningful and impactful way.
Worklogic has its own independent reporting service called Integrity Line, an anonymous reporting line for alleged workplace misconduct and unethical behaviour.
Contact Worklogic to talk to us about how we can help you to meet the Positive Duty.
