What is sexual harassment in the workplace?

Several high-profile stories of pervasive workplace sexual harassment at "leading" companies have been exposed victims in recent years. These stories might dominate the headlines, but they're just the tip of the iceberg. One survey found that 6 out of 10 women in the EU have faced sexual harassment in the workplace. 30-40% of women have reported suffering from workplace sexual harassment in the Asia-Pacific region. Meanwhile, a YouGov survey found that 30% of women in the United States have experienced sexual harassment at some point in their life.

Women are overwhelmingly the victims of sexual harassment, so most of the stats we see relate to their experience. However, the limited data that is available suggests LGBTQ people and people of color are also disproportionately affected. A smaller percentage of men are also harassed by women or other men.

While the victim's experience of sexual harassment can range from uncomfortable to devastating, there are also ramifications for the broader organization in the workplace. The relationship between culture and workplace sexual harassment is complicated. Still, with 98% of US organizations reportedly having sexual harassment policies in place, something is clearly awry in how culture is espoused versus how it's experienced.

We need to talk about why this is the case.

Because workplace sexual harassment claims are often settled behind closed doors, there's little opportunity to understand and learn from what's happened. Even if details are shared, people tend to focus more on the salacious detail than on any lessons that can be learned.

Privacy is essential, but organizations need to start having tough conversations to make change happen. We want to help create these conversations, so we've partnered with Nathan Luker from Your Call, a whistleblowing service provider, to deliver a comprehensive overview of workplace sexual harassment.

In this article, we'll cover the following questions:

• What is workplace sexual harassment?
• Why don't people report workplace sexual harassment?

The importance of defining workplace sexual harassment

Before we even get to the definition itself, let's start by establishing why it's essential to have a shared understanding of what sexual harassment is.

Even when a definition is set out in black and white, cultural biases – particularly those stemming from a traditional view of the workplace as male-centric – can impact how people interpret "sexual harassment."

The Harvard Business Review tested this idea by asking a small group to read and then discuss a sexual harassment policy. They found that even though the policy clearly focused on specific behaviors of sexual harassment, the participants overwhelmingly felt that the policy focused on perceptions of those behaviors. Therefore, many participants found the policy threatening. The participants believed it could be inappropriately applied to punish 'innocent' behavior by one employee (typically a heterosexual male) if an irrational person (typically a heterosexual female) perceived the behavior to be harassment.

From a reporting perspective, being clear on the content of sexual harassment can actually change how women self-report their experiences. The US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission examined a range of surveys and found that when a survey specifically asked respondents whether they had experienced particular behaviors, like unwanted sexual attention or sexual coercion, rather than simply asking about "sexual harassment," the level of reported harassment increased. In short, even women experiencing these behaviors as uncomfortable or offensive don't necessarily label them as sexual harassment.

These examples illustrate how even when we think we're on the same page on something (in this case, sexual harassment), we're often not. And this divergence can have major consequences culturally and individually.

Defining workplace sexual harassment

The definition of sexual harassment in the workplace is the same as that of sexual harassment anywhere. The following definition is from the Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC), but very similar wording is found in the US, UK, and EU:

An unwelcome sexual advance, request for sexual favours or other unwelcome conduct of a sexual nature which a reasonable person would anticipate would cause a person to feel offended, humiliated or intimidated constitutes sexual harassment.

To really understand what the definition covers, we need to look more specifically at the types of behaviors covered. The AHRC gives these examples:

• Unwelcome touching
• Staring or leering
• Sexually explicit pictures or posters
• Unwanted invitations to go out on dates
• Requests for sex
• Intrusive questions about a person's private life or body
• Unnecessary familiarity, such as deliberately brushing up against a person
• Insults or taunts based on sex
• Sexually explicit physical contact
• Sexually explicit emails or SMS text messages

These are just examples, and the ones above look incontrovertible. Other behaviors that still amount to workplace sexual harassment can be less obvious and perhaps delivered more subtly. In these situations, perpetrators may excuse their behavior as flattering or flirtatious, while victims worry they're rocking the boat unnecessarily. The fact is, if someone is experiencing behavior of a sexual nature that makes them feel offended, humiliated, or intimidated, then it counts as sexual harassment.

Workplace sexual harassment laws tie these behaviors to the employment context – which generally means every employment situation and relationship. The prohibition covers conduct in the workplace itself, work-related activities (e.g., conferences and parties), and all the interactions between people who work together.

When the environment is sexually permeated or hostile, the environment itself can also amount to unlawful sexual harassment. This could include a workplace where pornographic materials are displayed or a culture where the norm is offensive jokes, sexual banter, and crude conversations.

Who's responsible when sexual harassment happens?

The person who sexually harasses someone is responsible for the harassment, but employers can also be held accountable for the actions of employees. Having policies and procedures to create a harassment-free environment and make reporting effective will help limit an employer's liability and can help reduce incidents.

Unfortunately, many (up to 80%) sexual harassment incidents go unreported.

Why don't people report workplace sexual harassment?

Nathan says some of the reasons victims of workplace sexual harassment often decide not to make a formal report are a lack of support and protection. "People may not feel comfortable speaking up when there's a lack of robust policies, procedural rigor, or reporting frameworks. Also, when there's a perceived or actual lack of consequences, lack of commitment from leaders, or the feeling the perpetrator won't get caught because there won't be a thorough investigation, people don't feel safe reporting wrongdoing," he says.

Susan Fowler's blog post detailing the sexual harassment she experienced at Uber was remarkable for many reasons. Among them was her cool recitation of the unacceptable actions of her manager and her meticulous account of how both HR and upper management actively ignored her complaints and instead turned on her. But perhaps the most remarkable thing is that Fowler spoke up at all – first internally and then externally.

A 2012 survey by the Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) reported that only 20% of respondents who experienced sexual harassment made a formal complaint. A YouGov survey reported similar figures in the US.

Nathan and the Your Call team have also seen people be held back by feelings of personal guilt about the incident. Sometimes, people feel like they somehow caused or contributed to the perpetrator's behavior. This response is troubling and speaks to how sexual harassment continues to be viewed in wider society.

4 ways company culture can impact the reporting of sexual harassment

Below, we look at how a lack of protection and support in the workplace, can impact people's decisions to speak up.

Lack of protection

When we talk about lack of protection, we're really talking about a lack of formal policies and procedures in place to protect victims of sexual harassment. How these frameworks are actually practiced is a very different question and something we'll discuss more below.

The vast majority of organizations (around 98%) do have sexual harassment policies in place. However, smaller businesses and startups can lag in setting up appropriate protections.

Often, the focus is elsewhere in the early years of a business. "For a fast-growing or early-stage business, the focus is usually on scale, hitting targets, and creating fun physical working environments to attract top talent. These elements are important and contribute to culture and performance. However, leaders need to be careful robust policies and procedures don't get overlooked," says Nathan.

There's really no excuse for not having the frameworks in place – being able to be safe at work, free from sexual harassment is a basic human right and is key to having a healthy company culture. There's plenty of guidance out there on how to establish appropriate frameworks, including from the Australian Human Rights Commission and the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Lack of support

Even when formal policies and procedures are in place, Susan's story shows how they aren't always enough – a reality that Nathan confirms with his own experience. "Despite formal policies being present, there may be a lack of support for individuals. Moreover, information may not be handled appropriately to ensure confidentiality, which makes it so that people are not afforded proper protections," he says.

He continues, "Individuals who choose to speak up need to feel confident they'll be protected and supported, that their career path won't be jeopardized and they'll avoid any retaliation or victimization."

A lack of support can impact individuals in different and complex ways. As Nathan explains in an example leading an organization to contact Your Call, "One woman who was continually propositioned in the workplace was surprised by the behavior and inaction of management after reporting the incident. As the perpetrator was a team leader, the individual didn't feel comfortable reporting the incidents internally. There was no support system or anonymous external avenue to speak up."

In addition to the lack of support at work, she was wary of the impact of speaking out on her loved ones. "This fear about how she'd be perceived in her personal life and the fear of speaking up internally could have been remedied with support mechanisms like an Employee Assistance Program and adequate reporting pathways," Nathan says.

One reason for this may be that leaders in fast-growth organizations, including the CEO/founder, may not have been trained to handle misconduct. Depending on what stage the organization is at, the HR function may also not be fully developed and may lack the expertise to deal with sensitive incidents.

"CEOs/founders of early-stage businesses may not have been exposed to misconduct in the past. So they often haven't had the opportunity to build the skills necessary to adequately receive a complaint, impartially assess the facts, apply procedural fairness, and conduct an investigation. When mixed with an incomplete HR function, this can reduce the number of proactive measures in place to detect inappropriate workplace behavior, increasing their personal liability and the organization's commercial and reputational risk," says Nathan.

The challenges of scaling a business or moving between similar size/type organizations can also come into play, explains Nathan. "A CEO/founder may go through a five-year period not needing to deal with an incident, and this can lead to complacency. Then, all of a sudden, there's an allegation and they don't have the ability to adequately respond, potentially leading to serious repercussions."

Because of this, it's important to go beyond simply putting paper-based policies and procedures in place. The rights and philosophies that those frameworks set out must be brought to life so that individuals feel like they have the support to come forward and that their allegations will be taken seriously.

This may involve formal training for both leaders and employees alike to make sure there's a common understanding of what constitutes sexual harassment in the workplace and how reports should be handled. But it's also very much a cultural issue, especially when a claim clashes with other dominant aspects of the culture, like high performance.

The role of culture

The issue of culture was right at the heart of Susan's blog post. While policies and procedures were in place at Uber, the behavior of both HR and management, and in particular, the apparent priority that was given to the "high-performing" perpetrators, revealed how a toxic culture quickly overrides what's on paper.

Just like support, culture's impact is complex. There's the internal culture to consider, but layered on top of this is the external culture which has historically preferenced men (usually white) over women and other minority groups. We'll focus on internal culture here, but the impact of the external environment can't be ignored.

It starts at the top. "The leadership aspect is critical," says Nathan. "If leaders aren't walking the talk, whether explicitly or implicitly, they're not demonstrating a commitment to the organization's values and approach to wrongdoing. This can corrode an individual's trust and can make sexual harassment go unreported."

Culture Amp CEO Didier Elzinga emphasizes how culture is often built on the little things. "Throwaway comments like a senior male partner saying to a junior male: 'When you have kids, the office is your friend' set up particular expectations and a view of how you run your life," he says.

"The worst things are the systemic comments and behaviors. That's because, in these situations, you may think, 'Well, it's actually not surprising that it happened.' The environment was set up to encourage that type of behavior and that's the stuff an organization has to focus on, the stuff you have to fix," says Didier.

This can be a real challenge for companies in the start-up and scaling phases, especially when a "win at all costs" mentality starts to dominate. "The challenge for a lot of companies is that at some point they have to sit down and go, 'What do we care about more than just winning, and what will we be willing to lose?'"

"It's through thoughtfully answering that question that you build bigger, more sustainable, longer-term companies because you've found something that gives the organization purpose beyond just winning. It's not that you're not going to win. You still want to win, but it's about saying, 'If we can't win on that basis, we won't win,'" says Elzinga.

Learn more on the topic:

• How can you create a reporting culture?
• How can you plan to respond to sexual harassment at your workplace?
• What are the red flags to look for?
• How can a new CEO address a toxic culture?