Workplace Sexual Harassment Training ROI

Workplace Sexual Harassment Training ROI – In business when making an investment decision it is important to weight up the cost/benefit and consider the return on your investment and also the risk of not investing.

The same is true when considering investing in workplace sexual harassment training.

• So consider the cost of workplace sexual harassment training as being 1X
• You could expect that the cost of an investigation into a complaint/s of sexual harassment could be 10X, or maybe 20X if there are multiple complainants and multiple incidents which frequently there are.
• The cost of defending a sexual harassment claim in court could be 100X
• The cost of settling a sexual harassment claim out of court could be as much as a 100X
• The cost of losing a sexual harassment claim in court (beach of the employers duty of care) could be as high as 200X or more
• The cost of the reputational damage and lose of good staff, priceless, think David Jones

Workplace Sexual Harassment Training ROI – On 25 November 2022, the Anti-Discrimination and Human Rights Legislation Amendment (Respect at Work) Act 2022 was passed into Law. The Act to implements recommendations from the AHRC 2020 Respect@Work report. It will significantly strengthen Australia’s regulatory framework in respect of sex discrimination, and in particular, sexual harassment.

The Act amends the Sex Discrimination Act 1984 (Cth) by introducing a new positive duty for all employers to take ‘reasonable and proportionate measures’ to eliminate, as far as possible, unlawful sex discrimination, including sexual harassment, sex-based harassment, hostile work environments and victimisation. This duty will coexist with existing duties under work health and safety laws, including the duty of employers to provide a safe working environment for workers, so far as reasonably practicable.

The Australian Human Rights Commission  concluded in the Respect@Work report that a positive duty shifts the burden from individuals making complaints to employers taking proactive and preventative action. As the positive duty is an ongoing duty, it shifts the emphasis from a complaints-based model to one where employers must continuously assess and evaluate whether they are meeting the requirements of the duty.

Under this new duty, it will be imperative that all employers and organisations adopt preventative measures to address sex discrimination and sexual harassment in the workplace, one of the most important preventative measures is training your employees to understand what sexual harassment is and that it is unlawful. More on the positive duty here

It is definitely time to start considering that ROI!!

Workplace Sexual Harassment Training ROI – Compliance with the new positive duty

It is vitally important to note that from 1 December 2023, the Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) can inquire into compliance with the new positive duty. If non-compliance is reasonably suspected, the AHRC can issue a compliance notice and apply to the Federal Court for orders to direct compliance with the notice. More about compliance with the positive duty here

Workplace Sexual Harassment Training ROI  – Employers vicarious liability.

A person who sexually harasses someone else is primarily responsible for their behaviour. However, in many cases organisations can also be held liable for sexual harassment by their workers, agents and contractors, unless they can show that they took steps to prevent the sexual harassment from occurring. This is known as vicarious liability.

Under the Sex Discrimination Act, to avoid vicarious liability an employer must take all reasonable steps to minimise the risk of discrimination and harassment occurring. All reasonable steps is not defined in the Sex Discrimination Act, but is determined on an organisation’s size and resources.

Reasonable steps could mean that an employer has:

• an appropriate sexual harassment policy
• trained employees on how to identify and deal with sexual harassment
• put in place an internal procedure for dealing with complaints
• taken appropriate remedial action if and when sexual harassment occurs.

Even more reasons to start considering that ROI NOW!!

How can AWPTI help

AWPTI can provide your organisation with our Understanding Workplace Sexual Harassment programs. The program can be delivered in person or remotely via Zoom or MS Teams with a flat rate with no limit on attendees.

Details and content of the programs can be found here – https://awpti.com.au/sexual-harassment-training/

The programs have been designed and developed and are facilitated by Phil O’Brien, (more details here) a highly skilled and experienced workplace investigator and trainer.  The advantages of having Phil deliver the program for you are;

• Your participants are able to hear about real life sexual harassment complaints and investigations rather then someone with no real world experience just reading off the script.
• The sessions are highly engaging with many ‘real world stories’.
• Your participants are able to ask questions and get answers relating to real life sexual harassment complaints and investigations.
• We have found that listening to the real life examples and being able to engage and ask questions makes the sessions more enjoyable and very interesting.
• Based on the feedback we have received, the sessions are engaging and entertaining.

Please contact me if you would like more details or would like to discuss making a booking, enquiries@awpti.com.au

AWPTI – Workplace training national wide and internationally

Workplace investigation based in Sydney, conducting workplace investigations nationwide including Queensland, Victoria and South Australia, Western Australia, the ACT/Canberra, Northern Territory and Tasmania.

Misconduct investigations, bullying investigations, harassment investigations & sexual harassment investigations, complaint investigations, grievance investigations, discrimination investigations