The Worker Protection (Amendment of the Equality Act 2010) Act 2023 is an act that was passed by the UK Government in October 2023, that comes into effect October 26th 2024.
The law is being introduced to strengthen protection against sexual harassment for workers, which will require employers to take a more proactive approach to prevention.
What does this mean for employers?
Under the new law, employers must take ‘reasonable steps’ to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace. Failing to do so would mean that tribunals have the power to increase compensation by up to 25% if they find an employer has breached this duty.
The key element of this new law is that policies and procedures alone are unlikely to be enough to prove that an employer is taking a proactive approach to prevention.
CIPD have provided some fantastic guidance on ways to proactively and systematically approach sexual harassment prevention in the workplace.
This includes setting expectations and standards at a senior leadership level, ensuring that policies and procedures are in place – and followed – as well as regular training sessions for staff to ensure they understand what sexual harassment looks like, and their role in preventing/addressing it.
This is where our bullying & harassment training steps in – as well as our Active Bystander workshop – to ensure your employees are aware of exactly what inappropriate behaviour looks like in the workplace, and how to challenge it appropriately.
Proactive training that leads to proactive intervention
Our research shows that 86% of people take no action when they see inappropriate behaviour at work. Our approach equips bystanders to become active bystanders, encouraging better social norms in organisations, where bullying, harassment and inappropriate behaviour are not tolerated.
