Written by Ann Barker, Head of Growth and Engagement, WorkInConfidence
From 30 October 2026, employers will be required to take “all reasonable steps” to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace, strengthening the existing duty to take reasonable steps.
For HR teams, that puts renewed focus on prevention. Many organisations will already have reviewed their policies, considered their risks, updated training and made sure employees know how to raise concerns.
But there is another important question to ask:
How do you know those measures are actually working?
Because having the right things in place, and knowing they are having the intended effect aren’t necessarily the same thing.
It would be reassuring to look at an organisation with very few reports of sexual harassment and conclude that prevention measures are working. Unfortunately, it isn’t quite that simple.
Recent research commissioned by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) Research Link here warns organisations against relying on the number of harassment reports as an indication of whether there is a problem. Low reporting may mean there is little harassment, but it might also mean employees don’t feel able or confident enough to report it.
That makes the measurement of sexual harassment prevention particularly challenging.
So what other things can HR leaders look at?
Before asking whether employees know how to report sexual harassment, there is a more fundamental question:
Would they recognise it in the first place?
Sexual harassment is defined in the Equality Act 2010 as “unwanted conduct of a sexual nature which has the purpose or effect of violating someone’s dignity, or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment.”
But employees may not always recognise where the boundaries lie. Sexual harassment isn’t limited to physical contact or overt sexual advances. It can include sexual comments or jokes, inappropriate messages or images, unwanted touching, or behaviour dismissed as “banter”.
And it doesn’t have to come from a colleague. Customers, clients, patients, contractors and other third parties can also be responsible for harassment.
So, alongside having policies and training in place, organisations might ask:
Do our people feel confident that they would recognise sexual harassment?
If they experienced or witnessed it, would they know how to report it?
And perhaps most importantly:
Would they feel comfortable doing so?
Knowing where the policy sits and feeling able to speak up are two very different things.
Policies and training can explain what employees should do, and organisations may have several reporting channels in place. But that doesn’t necessarily mean people know those channels exist, understand how to use them, or feel confident doing so.
Organisations might ask:
- If you experienced or witnessed sexual harassment, would you know how to report it?
- Do you know what reporting options are available to you, including whether you can raise a concern anonymously?
And knowing how to speak up isn’t quite the same as feeling able to.
Would you feel comfortable raising a concern — and confident that it would be taken seriously?
Employee surveys and pulse surveys can help organisations test that awareness and confidence, rather than simply assuming that because policies, training and reporting channels are in place, they are understood and working in practice.
This may be one of the most important measures of all.
People need confidence that if they raise a concern, it will be taken seriously, handled appropriately, and treated as sensitively as possible.
They also need confidence that speaking up won’t damage their career, relationships or reputation at work.
That trust can’t simply be written into a policy. It has to be experienced, and organisations need ways of finding out whether employees believe it exists.
Formal complaints tell you something. They don’t necessarily tell you everything.
Useful intelligence can come from many places: anonymous Speak-Up reports, employee surveys, informal concerns, grievances, exit interviews, case management data, and conversations with managers.
Individually, these may appear to be isolated pieces of information.
Together, they may reveal patterns.
- Are concerns appearing more frequently in a particular location, team or role?
- Are similar behaviours being mentioned through different channels?
- Are employees telling you through surveys that they lack confidence in reporting, even though formal complaint numbers remain low?
Looking across different sources provides HR with a much richer picture of what is happening within the organisation.
Prevention shouldn’t be a one-off exercise.
If a survey identifies that employees don’t know how to report sexual harassment, communication can be strengthened. Then, understanding needs to be measured again.
If concerns suggest a particular area of risk, action can be taken, and the impact monitored.
If case data identifies a recurring theme, the insight gained can inform training, communication or wider preventative action.
In other words, the most useful question isn’t simply:
“What have we put in place?”
It’s:
“What is this telling us, and what should we do next?”
The move from “reasonable steps” to “all reasonable steps” will understandably encourage organisations to look carefully at the measures they already have in place.
But prevention is about more than being able to demonstrate that policies have been written, training delivered or processes established.
It is also about understanding whether those measures are creating the workplace they were intended to create.
- Do employees understand the expected standards of behaviour?
- Do they know how to raise concerns?
- Do they trust the organisation to respond?
And is HR receiving enough information to identify risks, spot patterns and act before problems become more serious?
Perhaps that is the real test of an effective prevention strategy:
Not simply whether an organisation can show what it has done, but whether it can listen, learn and continually improve what it does next.
At WorkInConfidence, we help organisations capture meaningful employee feedback in a way that supports trust, transparency and action, using anonymous two-way communication designed to encourage honest voice.
If you’d like to explore what that could look like for your organisation, we’re happy to share examples and walk you through it.
Email: [email protected] I Tel: 0114 304 9648
FAQ's
It means employers must be able to demonstrate and evidence they have taken every practical and proportionate action to prevent sexual harassment, not just have a policy in place.
No. Employers must show that policies are understood, used, and supported by training, reporting routes, as well as taking action.
While not mandatory, a trusted reporting route is often considered a key part of demonstrating “all reasonable steps”. It enables people to come forward to report matters, (and with WorkInConfidence remain anonymous if they choose). In this way employers can find out early if there are any issues that need to be addressed.
A safe and secure two-way anonymous channel for your people to raise concerns via phone, tablet, or PC, ensuring you are aware of any workplace issues, and can respond quickly and accordingly
Easily set up, run and interpret surveys on engagement, respect, wellness or other topics to ensure you always understand your people, their needs and motivations.
A confidential external phone line with a dedicated Speak Up Guardian for your people to raise concerns with. We also provide training in Freedom to Speak Up, Speaking up and safeguarding processes.