***Safe & Respectful Workplaces: Preventing Sexual Harassment Together***

**A Practical Toolkit for New Zealand Workplaces**
Sexual harassment affects 1 in 3 workers in Aotearoa. Often, by the time a problem is identified, the trust between kaimahi, customers, clients, and stakeholders is already broken.
The good news is that sexual harassment is preventable. Proactive steps and actions can add up to create workplaces where sexual harassment is less likely to happen.
Gender at Work’s free toolkit is designed to help organisations prevent and respond well to sexual harm and change the story for future generations.

Why prevention matters in every workplace

Across every industry in Aotearoa, between 21% to 41% of workers reported experiencing at least one form of sexual harassment behaviour. And this is highly likely to be underreported - 29% of workers who are negatively impacted by harassment and bullying don’t tell anyone about it.

Sexual harassment at work causes significant harm, distress, and ripple effects to the people involved, anyone who witnesses or is aware of the behaviour, and the wider organisation and community.

As a common and known source of harm, WorkSafe acknowledges that all organisations are expected to have processes in place to address sexual harassment as a standard part of health and safety.

Prevention is possible and must be tailored to the specific risks and opportunities in each workplace and industry. Organisations can start by regularly checking in with their workforce to understand whether inappropriate conduct is happening.

Even if inappropriate behaviour does not breach the law or workplace policies, it can undermine a sense of trust and safety and contribute to a disrespectful and unhealthy work environment where sexual harassment is more likely to occur.

What’s included in the Toolkit?

The Toolkit is a free, comprehensive resource for Kiwi workplaces that supports HR, DEI, Health and Safety, and Leadership teams to understand what sexual harassment is, the impact it can have on people and organisations, and information about common myths and misconceptions. It then provides guidance on good practices to minimise the risk of sexual harassment and how to respond if it does occur.

Alongside the full toolkit, there are nine downloadable handouts for employers about:

Risk Assessment Checklist

Specialist Support Services
Bystander Intervention
Responding to Disclosures

Continuum of Workplace Behaviours Framework (including an editable version to be tailored to your workplace and industry)
Myths and Misconceptions
Sexual Harassment Policy
Communication Tips
Training Providers

What does the Toolkit cover?

Why we made this resource

Part 1: Understanding Sexual Harassment at Work

Definitions of sexual harassment
Examples of sexual harassment
Sexual harassment is shaped by inequalities and can affect anyone
Intersectional inclusion is crucial
Impacts of sexual harassment
Myths and misconceptions are common

Part 2: Preventing and Addressing Sexual Harassment

Seven focus areas:

Leadership
Culture
Knowledge
Risk management
Support
Reporting and response
Monitoring, evaluation and transparency

“Our CE came to our staff meeting and told us that it didn’t matter who the client was, that if they were doing something to make us uncomfortable, they wanted to know about it. They actually said, your safety matters to me more than our richest client.”
“We sat down together and talked about what kinds of behaviours reflected our org values. It was great to be talking about how we wanted to act, not just how not to act.”
“At a staff meeting, our manager spoke about creating a family-friendly environment where they can bring their 11-year-old child to work.”
“Every day we do toolbox talks. They say no bullying, no sexual harassment. Sometimes they say it is against the law to do that stuff. It keeps it in front of us and makes it a bit easier to talk about.”
“We put information about expected standards of behaviour in the T&Cs of our tickets and send out a reminder just before an event. That way, everyone knows how to act, and we can refer to it if we need to remove anyone.”
“I think it can go with the territory unfortunately… Because we are trained, within the industries, ‘the customer is always right.’”
“I like that I could use the whistleblower line. I didn’t feel safe enough to tell someone at work myself but wanted leaders to know there was an issue.”
“I was worried I would be seen as too much trouble for raising it. But when we were talking about what happened, he said, ‘we really value your work and want to make sure you feel safe to keep doing what you are doing’, and it made me feel like I mattered.”
“He didn’t try to fix it right away; he just listened and let me talk. It made me feel like he was taking me seriously and that I could trust him.”
“Each step of the way, I could choose. They told me about my options but always gave me time to think, ‘is this the next step I wanted to take?’”
“She just listened. Like really listened. Before I told them, I thought maybe it was just me being too sensitive. Once I got talking and really heard myself, I realised, nah, that just shouldn’t be happening. I wouldn’t have understood why I felt so bad if they hadn’t listened so well.”

Safe & Respectful Workplaces: Preventing Sexual Harassment Together

Why prevention matters in every workplace

What’s included in the Toolkit?

What does the Toolkit cover?

“Our CE came to our staff meeting and told us that it didn’t matter who the client was, that if they were doing something to make us uncomfortable, they wanted to know about it. They actually said, your safety matters to me more than our richest client.”

“We sat down together and talked about what kinds of behaviours reflected our org values. It was great to be talking about how we wanted to act, not just how not to act.”

“At a staff meeting, our manager spoke about creating a family-friendly environment where they can bring their 11-year-old child to work.”

“Every day we do toolbox talks. They say no bullying, no sexual harassment. Sometimes they say it is against the law to do that stuff. It keeps it in front of us and makes it a bit easier to talk about.”

“We put information about expected standards of behaviour in the T&Cs of our tickets and send out a reminder just before an event. That way, everyone knows how to act, and we can refer to it if we need to remove anyone.”

“I think it can go with the territory unfortunately… Because we are trained, within the industries, ‘the customer is always right.’”

“I like that I could use the whistleblower line. I didn’t feel safe enough to tell someone at work myself but wanted leaders to know there was an issue.”

“I was worried I would be seen as too much trouble for raising it. But when we were talking about what happened, he said, ‘we really value your work and want to make sure you feel safe to keep doing what you are doing’, and it made me feel like I mattered.”

“He didn’t try to fix it right away; he just listened and let me talk. It made me feel like he was taking me seriously and that I could trust him.”

“Each step of the way, I could choose. They told me about my options but always gave me time to think, ‘is this the next step I wanted to take?’”

“She just listened. Like really listened. Before I told them, I thought maybe it was just me being too sensitive. Once I got talking and really heard myself, I realised, nah, that just shouldn’t be happening. I wouldn’t have understood why I felt so bad if they hadn’t listened so well.”

Download the Toolkit