Workplaces Need Staff to Feel Confident to Speak Up About Unwanted Behaviours at Work. Here’s How.
Workplaces are more than just places where we clock in and out: they’re small communities, and in small businesses, inter-work relationships matter even more.
Like any community, small businesses thrive (run more smoothly and profitably) when people feel safe, respected and treated equally. Creating that type of environment takes intention, effort and appropriate policies and practices. A safe-to-speak culture is one where employees feel psychologically safe and have confidence that they can provide feedback and raise concerns without fear of negative consequences. Our Watch has some tips and tools to make this easy to implement, and help you create a safe-to-speak workplace culture, and you can find them here: https://www.ourwatch.org.au/workplace/resources/creating-safe-to-speak-cultures
Why invest in creating a safe-to-speak workplace culture?
The introduction of positive duty into the Sex Discrimination Act 1984 means that all organisations, including small businesses, must actively prevent sex discrimination and sexual harassment in the workplace.
The Australian Human Rights Commission have increased powers to enforce the positive duty and to investigate systemic discrimination. Preventing sexual discrimination and harassment is not just about addressing the behaviour of individuals but about changing the culture and environment of workplaces. Prevention requires a whole-of-organisation culture shift and the engagement of all leaders and employees. This means that across the breadth of an organisation (not just in specific teams or functions) prevention measures need to be embedded within practice, policies, and structures.
Organisational culture and leadership that value respectful behaviour help prevent sexual discrimination and harassment, with employees more likely to display appropriate behaviour, identify issues and concerns, and feel safe responding to discrimination and harassment. In turn, an organisational culture that tolerates sexual discrimination and harassment can contribute to the prevalence of such harassment in the workplace.
A safe-to-speak workplace culture enables an organisation to:
– Strengthen internal governance around positive duty obligations.
– Promote stronger levels of engagement and inclusion, where all voices are heard and valued.
– Build confidence in an organisation’s integrity and transparency by hearing experiences and concerns related to sexual discrimination and harassment.
– Identify and respond to risk and underlying drivers to prevent sexual discrimination and harassment from occurring.
– Ensure incidents are likely to be reported so organisations can respond quickly and have a clearer picture of the types of activities occurring in the workplace.
– Create a sense of respect and belonging as a basis for stronger teamwork.
– Learn faster on where improvements are needed to prevent and respond to sexual harassment, so as to adapt and innovate.
Are staff not speaking up?
Employees in Australian workplaces are not speaking up about unwanted behaviours (including non-lawful actions) which are affecting them;
– According to the Australian Human Rights Commission’s 2022 Fifth National Survey of sexual harassment in the Australian workplace, almost two in five women (41%) and just over one in four men (26%) have experienced sexual harassment in the workplace in the last five years.
– Despite the high prevalence of workplace sexual harassment, fewer than one in five people (18%) make a formal report or complaint.
– 2 in 5 people (41%) have witnessed or heard about the sexual harassment of another person occurring in their workplace, yet only just over a third (35%) taking action to prevent or reduce the harm of the harassment they witnessed or heard about.
– The majority of people (61%) who took action after witnessing or hearing about workplace sexual harassment said that the harassment stopped as a result, and just over half (57%) received positive feedback for their actions. However, one in six (16%) of those who took action were ostracised, victimised or ignored by colleagues. In over one in 10 cases (13%), the bystander resigned after taking action in response to the incident; whilst in 8% of cases, the bystander was dismissed.
We can set up our systems to do better.
Why are staff not speaking up?
Research shows that there are multiple barriers to speaking out and feeling safe to do so, including:
– Thinking that an incident is not serious enough or that others would see it as an overreaction.
– A lack of trust that concerns will be taken seriously.
– Fear of the impact of speaking out on reputation or career opportunities.
– Fear of retaliation.
– Group loyalty to a work team and not wanting to ‘rock the boat’.
– Not knowing how to speak out safely.
– Inadequate or complex reporting and feedback tools.
Often, employees will choose to stay silent rather than voice their concerns about sexual discrimination and harassment because of a fear of negative consequences. This pressure to remain silent can also apply to organisational leaders.
Strategies to create a safe-to-speak workplace culture
Frame what you want to see
Organisations need to clearly state their commitment to promoting gender equality and respectful behaviour (including calling out sexual harassment). There should be clear communication that speaking out about discrimination and harassment is valued, important, supported, and expected. Framing a safe-to-speak culture also requires:
– Clear expectations and consequences for sex discrimination and sexual harassment.
– Clear information on formal and informal options for reporting concerns and incidents of sexism and sexual harassment.
– Training, guidelines and tools on preventing, identifying, and responding to sexism and sexual harassment.
– Ensuring employees know how to report harmful behaviour or concerns, and the support, protection and advice available if they do.
Lead from the top
Creating a safe-to-speak workplace culture requires leaders who support diversity, inclusion and collaboration. Such leaders have several distinct qualities, including asking questions, facilitating constructive conversations, giving actionable feedback, taking advice, implementing feedback, sharing credit for team success, and empowering decision-making.
It is important that organisational leaders and senior staff model transparency and integrity – themselves speaking up and demonstrating that sexual discrimination and harassment must be called out and responded to. Ensuring that leaders call out harmful behaviour immediately improves workplace culture.
Encourage employee voices
A safe-to-speak workplace culture needs to be present at all levels of an organisation to boost morale, safety, and productivity. Employees will not speak out about unwanted behaviours in a workplace that does not encourage or listen to employee voices. It requires building communication skills amongst team leaders (or your own!) and people’s capacity to manage difficult conversations. Strengthening team norms to collectively identify and address harmful workplace behaviour can have a powerful impact on the prevention and reduction of sexual discrimination and harassment.
Act on reports
Employees and teams will not take the risk of speaking out if they see it has little or no effect. Organisations must show how they are listening and responding to both specific reports and broader concerns. Creating a feedback loop to the business on the outcomes of incidents and interventions builds this trust.
Build psychological safety
‘Psychological safety’ is a term coined by Harvard Business School Professor Amy Edmonds to describe work environments where team members feel safe enough to take risks and openly express their thoughts and concerns, without fear of retribution. It is now part of Workplace Health and Safety laws here in Australia to ensure psychological safety is considered alongside hazards and risks in workplaces.
Psychological safety is the foundation of a safe-to-speak workplace culture and involves creating trust, mutual respect, and openness. Research shows that for many employees, speaking up is perceived as risky, with potential social rejection and damage to reputation, personal standing, and upward mobility.
Whilst an organisation may encourage employees to speak up, if psychological safety doesn’t exist, few will do so. Strategies for increasing psychological safety include:
– Value diversity, inclusion and mutual respect.
– Encourage open and honest communication and discussion.
– Create a range of opportunities for everyone to contribute.
– Recognise and appreciate employee contributions.
– Eliminate censure, ridicule or disregard when contributions are made.
– Provide channels for idea-sharing and constructive feedback.
– Address concerns promptly and provide timely feedback on how concerns are responded to.
Lead from the top
In creating a psychologically safe environment, Professor Amy Edmonds also notes the importance of;
– establishing clear norms and expectations,
– encouraging open communication and active listening,
– making sure team members feel supported, and
– showing appreciation and humility when people do speak up.
In a psychologically safe culture, employees are valued for their contributions, diverse viewpoints are welcomed, conflicts can be addressed constructively, and innovation thrives. The most effective lever to make this happen is for business leaders to demonstrate the behaviours they want to see.
Final thoughts: Lead with curiosity and courage
Creating safe-to-speak workplaces isn’t about perfection; it’s about progress. It means being brave enough to take on feedback and support your staff to call out when things go wrong.
So ask yourself: what kind of workplace do you want to be part of? One where people survive, or one where they thrive? Find out more here: https://www.ourwatch.org.au/workplace/resources/creating-safe-to-speak-cultures
About the Author
Alisha Taylor-Jones is the Workplace Implementation Lead at Our Watch, running programs to prevent violence against women in workplace settings, with a current focus on small businesses. Alisha has led projects with large Australian organisations across the construction, telecommunications, logistics, and retail sectors, and has managed mentoring and leadership programs for women in male-dominated sectors. Alisha has a Master’s in Gender and Development, and over 15 years of experience working with government, universities, TAFEs, NGOs, and corporate businesses to foster gender equality and inclusive leadership.
