What the Worker Protection Act Means for You

Louise Petty

September 24, 2024

4 min read

From October 2024, there is a new legal obligation under the The Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Act 2023 for employers to take reasonable steps to protect their workers from sexual harassment in the workplace. In this article, we’ll outline everything that employers and managers need to know about the Worker Protection Act and explain how employers can take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace, wherever that may be and no matter the industry.

What is the Worker Protection Act?

The UK’s Worker Protection Act is an amendment to the existing Equality Act 2010 and is in force from October 26th 2024.

The new Worker Protection Act states that all employers must take ‘reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment of employees in the course of their employment’. This puts the onus on the employer – rather than the employee – to take action against inappropriate conduct in the workplace. It also gives workers more protection, rights and support should they experience sexual harassment when at work.

The term ‘harassment’ refers to any sort of behaviour that has the purpose or effect of violating a person’s dignity or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for that person. The term ‘sexual harassment’ refers to any sort of unwanted conduct of a sexual nature that has this effect.

If you want to learn more, our article on Preventing Sexual Harassment in the Workplace explains more about what sexual harassment is, gives some examples of workplace sexual harassment and gives more details on employer responsibilities.

Employer Responsibilities: How Can Employers Take Reasonable Steps to Prevent Sexual Harassment?

The Worker Protection Act puts a responsibility on employers to take ‘reasonable steps’ to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace. There is no single definition of what ‘reasonable steps’ means, however, so it’s up to each employer to determine what action needs to be taken in order to demonstrate they’ve taken appropriate steps to prevent sexual harassment from occurring.

Despite there being no official guidance of what ‘reasonable steps’ are, there are five key actions that employers can do today to help show that they’ve taken reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace:

Conduct a sexual harassment risk assessment

It’s a good idea to take stock of where you currently are and carry out a risk assessment in your business. This means identifying any potential risk areas, reviewing past incidents of sexual harassment and evaluating how employees currently act and feel about sexual harassment in the workplace.

Consider carrying out a new staff attitude survey to collect feedback and find out what workers really think about existing measures, such as gender equality, workplace bullying and harassment reporting procedures. The information gathered in the risk assessment process will then enable you to address problem areas. Remember to keep written records of all your actions too, as you may need it as evidence that you’ve taken ‘reasonable steps’.

Review existing harassment policies

It’s essential that you take a look at your existing policies and procedures to check they’re up-to-date, relevant and suitable. Your business will likely already have a formal bullying and harassment policy, so check what it says and ensure it includes a section containing the definition of sexual harassment, examples of sexual harassment in the workplace and guidance for employees on what to do if they experience sexual harassment at work.

You may want to create a standalone sexual harassment policy – that’s separate to the main bullying and harassment policy – to show that you take the topic seriously and see it as worthy of having it’s own procedures and guidance. This policy can then go into more detail about the business’ expectations of employees, examples of unacceptable behaviours and details of the incident reporting procedure.

Educate the workforce about sexual harassment

In order to prevent sexual harassment from occurring, it’s vital that everyone understands what sexual harassment actually is. Employers should provide all members of staff with regular training so they can recognise inappropriate behaviours, prevent them from happening and understand what to do to address and report sexual harassment should it occur. Staff training is also a great opportunity to promote positive behaviours and encourage a culture of equality.

Online training courses you may find useful include Sexual Harassment Training Course For Managers and Supervisors, Sexual Harassment Training For Employees, Workplace Bullying & Harassment and Equality, Diversity and Inclusion training.

Establish a ‘speak up’ culture and remove barriers to reporting harassment

Ensuring employees have an easy and efficient way to report sexual harassment is essential for improving staff wellbeing and psychological safety. Having a clear and simple reporting procedure in place is also a key ‘reasonable step’ towards preventing sexual harassment – remember to document your procedure should you need to prove this.

Establish a workplace culture where employees are encouraged to ‘speak up’ about sexual harassment, as this will give you more opportunities to detect unwanted behaviours or problem areas. For example, regular staff surveys, one-to-ones with line managers, a clear reporting procedure and group training sessions will empower workers to speak up about potential issues.

However, for staff to feel confident to speak up about sexual harassment, they need to see that the reporting procedure is free from barriers, otherwise they simply won’t bother reporting at all. This means ensuring employees can trust you’ll take their report seriously, you’ll take swift appropriate action once a report is made and staff are reassured that they won’t face repercussions for speaking up.

Set the tone from the top down

For employees to feel confident that you are taking all reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace, you need to walk the walk and talk the talk. This means setting the right example at all levels of the business, from senior management down to line managers and supervisors, by living the values you’ve established and behaving in the way you expect your employees to.

Everyone at all levels of the business should be trained in sexual harassment so they feel confident to challenge it and speak up about it. Managers and senior leaders should promote a culture of dignity and respect, set the tone for expected behaviour and challenge ingrained attitudes that are known to be problematic. If workers can see that senior management take sexual harassment seriously, then they’re much more likely to follow suit.

The Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Act 2023 puts a requirement on employers to take ‘reasonable steps’ to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace. Sexual harassment involves any sort of sexual conduct or behaviour that makes an employee feel uncomfortable whilst at work and it must be prevented, challenged and dealt with appropriately. To do this, employers need to put measures in place to empower workers to speak up about sexual harassment and recognise that their employer takes their concerns and report of harassment seriously.