#METOO: HOW SAFE IS YOUR WORKPLACE?

Sexual harassment in the workplace dominated the media in the last few months of 2017 as millions and millions of women globally stepped forward to say they too had been harassed, abused or assaulted. Globally some very big heads rolled and are likely to continue to do so. Annie Gray looks at what New Zealand leaders need to be doing to ensure your staff, both male and female, are safe from harassment of any kind.

Sexual harassment in the workplace dominated the media in the last few months of 2017 as millions of women globally stepped forward to say they too had been harassed, abused or assaulted. Globally some very big heads rolled and are likely to continue to do so. Annie Gray looks at what New Zealand leaders need to be doing to ensure your staff, both male and female, are safe from harassment of any kind.

As 2017 drew to a close Time magazine named the hashtag #MeToo and “The Silence Breakers” as its Person of the Year. And the movement, adopted globally by millions of women (and some men) to share that they to had faced sexual harassment in the workplace, has been described as a watershed moment for women globally.

While a hashtag won’t change anything by itself it has galvanised women globally to demand change. An article on news platform WikiTribune in early November quoted CNN as saying the #MeToo hashtag was used more than 825,000 times on Twitter and 4.7 million Facebook users engaged with “Me Too” in the wake of the revelations from US celebrities about the alleged sexual advances made by movie producer Harvey Weinstein and then a slew of other high-profile actors, television presenters and politicians.

There was plenty of activity in New Zealand too. A Tumblr page was set up so women could share their stories anonymously and by the end of the year there appeared to be nearly 200 anonymous stories on the page. While they are harrowing stories, the majority related to abuse and harassment outside of a workplace, but there are some workplace horror stories too.

But understanding the extent and prevalence of sexual harassment in New Zealand workplaces is far from easy.

Dr Jackie Blue, the Equal Employment Opportunities Commissioner, says it is hard to know how prevalent sexual harassment is, as its under reported.

The Human Rights Commission receives around 70 complaints a year about sexual harassment in an employment or pre-employment situation. But just 11 cases went to the Employment Relations Authority between November 2016 and the end of 2017. The ERA introduced a new case management system in November 2016 and since that date, it has received 11 applications involving an allegation of sexual harassment.

A spokesperson from MBIE said it should be noted that this does not mean that sexual harassment was proven in these cases nor does it mean that it was a key element, it simply means that as part of the application there was an allegation of sexual harassment.

Blue says #MeToo has been phenomenal in raising awareness around sexual harassment and in seeing women joining together to highlight the issue.

She sees the wave of international celebrities sharing their stories as a strong message about why sexual harassment matters.

So why do women hold back from reporting it? Blue says it can be for a lot of reasons, perhaps they feel they will not be listened to or believed or they may not realise what has happened to them is sexual harassment.

And sexual harassment covers a wide range of actions, it can be either spoken, in images, written or online and it has to be repeated and unwelcome and offensive to the person. Which, says Blue, is all very subjective. The Human Rights Commission has produced a booklet entitled Sexual Harassment: What you need to know (see www.hrc.co.nz) and it includes the following examples of sexual harassment: • Offensive sexual remarks or jokes in your

workplace or school. • Implied or actual threats of being overlooked for work opportunities or promotion if you say no to your boss’s advances. • Unwelcome touching, patting, or pinching

by your boss, co-worker or customer. • Unwelcome sexual advances from your

landlord. • Unusually low marks or grades after rejecting your teacher or lecturer’s advances. • Regular hassling for a date or being

followed home by a co-worker. • Unacceptable sexual behaviour by your

counsellor, doctor or lawyer. • Sexually offensive images in the workplace, including screen savers of a sexual nature. • Intrusive questions about your sex life.

The booklet says too that even if the sexual harassment is unintentional, “and the person who is being offensive is unaware of its effect, they can still be held responsible. What’s important is how the behaviour affects [the complainant]”.

Blue says women may not realise what harassment is and that they can do something about it. There is the fear of reprisals and that some negative action will occur as a result of a complaint.

She also notes that women can selfminimise what is happening and put it to one side, but they do need to act as it will only get worse and if the behaviour is distressing to someone it needs to be acted on.

Complaints can either go through the Human Rights Commission where a complainant has at least 12 months in which to do so and this can include preemployment cases. Or once the person is employed, complaints can be made under the Employment Relations Act and a grievance can be lodged with the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, although it must be within a 90-day period of when the harassment happened.

Blue also notes if the problem is a coworker MBIE only deals with the employer/ employee relationship while HRC can act on cases involving co-workers.

The HRC process includes mediation and most sexual harassment complaints are settled this way. Resolution can include an apology, an agreement not to do the same thing in the future, a training programme or compensation.

It’s a tricky area and Blue says every case is different and there’s a lot of emotion running high.

She says organisations need to have a sexual harassment policy with a zerotolerance approach and this needs to come from the top. Senior managers need to make sure people feel safe coming forward and that everyone is kept in the loop.

“People need to know they will be heard and listened to.”

The commission booklet on sexual harassment also notes that if sexual harassment does happen, there must be someone in the organisation the employee can complain to and a procedure for achieving a resolution.

“Nobody should be subject to any unfair treatment because a sexual harassment complaint has been made. It’s important to remember that sexual harassment complaints are subjective. What matters is what offends the individual, and that person doesn’t have to tell the offender that the behaviour was unwelcome or offensive.”

Kirsten Patterson, the CEO at the Institute of Directors, agrees it is difficult to know the extent of the problem in New Zealand but says the hashtag #MeToo shows it is a much broader societal issue that it is more prevalent than perhaps thought.

From an IoD perspective, the core role of the board is to help set the culture and tone for the organisation and part of that is ensuring the business is operating on strong ethical fundamentals.

And the core decision for the board is the appointment of a CEO and ensuring that the values and culture he or she will bring to the role will ensure they are building long term value and operating in a way is that is positive for all stakeholders.

Patterson says the wide media coverage of the United States allegations and subsequent fallout into other spheres of global businesses means the governance community in New Zealand is aware of the issue in terms of the overseas environment and is ensuring it takes lessons from overseas.

She says New Zealand continues to be ethically one of the safest places to do business.

“What this particular media coverage has shown is what a business leader can do to create a safer work environment by having a strong ethical organisation committed to diversity in the organisation and looking at further ways to make the workplace safer.”

She says it is about people bringing their ‘whole self’ to work and feeling comfortable with that in the workplace

She points out that it is not just a gender, male versus female, thing but everyone wants to work in an environment where power is not expressed in an unfair manner.

“Some of the learnings from the media examples are about how power is used unfairly and that the impact on the individual and the organisation can be quite profound. We all have a responsibility as leaders to ensure a safe and ethical environment.”

She notes too that with the current war for talent and with the transparency available today through social media, employees will select the organisation where they want to work and there is a shift in what good leadership looks like.

Bev Cassidy-Mackenzie, the CEO at Diversity Works New Zealand, says the organisation doesn’t come across a lot of complaints about sexual harassment but they are not a regulator and their work is more in the area of prevention and encouraging people to speak up.

She points to an experience at Diversity Works when she wanted to start workshops on bullying and harassment in the workplace. But organisations did not want to attend until the name was changed to “From Bias to Bullying” with the emphasis on everyone having bias and if you don’t deal with it, it can escalate.

The different emphasis has seen well attended workshops for the last five years and she believes organisations felt if they attended a harassment and bullying workshop they were admitting the problem existed in their own workplace.

She thinks there is an element of it being swept under the carpet in New Zealand but in Kiwi culture speaking up is encouraged; if people think someone is being inappropriate people do step up and say something.

She also points to generational change – a lot of younger people are coming through who will not accept inappropriate behaviour and there has also been huge change in diversity inclusion in the last five years.

She believes sexual harassment may be more prevalent in smaller companies that may think they can get away with it. In larger organisations there tend to be more policies in place and they are aware that complaints of this nature may seriously affect their reputation.

Through the Employment Relations Authority there is naming and shaming of organisations and companies do not want that organisational risk so ensure that they have better processes in place.

Although many women will stand up for themselves when age, seniority or the power of someone’s role comes into play it can become an issue.

“That’s where in a work environment you need to ensure younger female staff are not put into this position. You need to have an inclusive environment where young women feel they can bring their whole self to work.”

Cassidy-Mackenzie says young women have a right to be safe at work and if they are working shifts, or at night they also need to feel safe leaving in the dark with access to secure car parking and perhaps someone to escort them to their car.

Diversity Work runs evening events and the rule for staff is that nobody leaves the event on their own, they must go in pairs and text when they are home safely. Many companies also provide a taxi chit to get home.

Alan Geare, a professor in the management department at Otago University agrees there is probably a lot more sexual harassment going on than any research ever uncovers.

And it can be complicated. Perhaps a member of staff complains to her manager about inappropriate comments from another staff member but doesn’t want anything done, merely wants the manager to know what is going on. They may also not want it bought up with the other staff member as it would affect their working relationship.

“It is a very difficult thing for managers to deal with where the complainant does not want anything done.”

He thinks this might be quite common and the assumption might be that if they complain it will have an effect on the shifts they might be given or their chances of promotion.

Sexual harassment is in the eye of the beholder, so people telling off-colour jokes are either funny or not, but if someone is offended it's harassment.

Asked about New Zealand corporates, he says he is sure they are much more aware now than they were 20 years ago, but doesn’t know if they have been as successful as they might like to think. “Just having a policy is not going to stop anything.” You need to make sure the message comes from the top and that there is a clear example set from the top.