25/09/2024
September 2024
Ipswich law firm Prettys, in partnership with HR Consultancy Waddington Brown, is working with organisations to stamp out sexual harassment and inequality in the workplace – for good.
We live in a society that is intolerant of organisations that enable sexual harassment. It is a hidden problem until the explosive and destructive effects of an organisation being ‘outed’ lead to shredded reputations, the loss of customers and clients and the dismissal of senior executives.
From October 2024 there will be a duty on employers in the UK to take reasonable steps to protect employees from experiencing sexual harassment. The Worker Protection Act (amendment of Equality Act 2010) will change the duty on employers from redress to prevention.
But should that be the only driver for change?
Matthew Cole, a partner at Prettys and lead for the ‘Unwelcome Attention’ campaign, thinks not. “A new approach is needed, which combines a deep understanding of the issues, together with a desire to help organisations make a measurable improvement. We all want to work in a safe and respectful workplace. The introduction of ESG programmes is helping but most organisations will admit to being far from where they want to be.”
“There is growing evidence that training and policy alone simply does not work, at least not if delivered in the traditional way.” explains Matthew. “For example, research from the USA has found that grievance procedures can be counterproductive leading to retaliation, which discourages reporting. This gets worse when grievances become litigious.”
Working with Waddington Brown, Prettys has developed a process for organisations to work through as part of their ESG and cultural journey, leading to safe and inclusive workplace environments. “We have devised a process that gets to the root cause issues and focuses on workplace engagement, brand reputation and a cultural shift. Our work centres on the positive; helping employees believe in the important part they play in preventing workplace harassment and how they will be supported by their company, rather than the traditional training approach of telling people what they shouldn’t do. We believe employees are the solution, not the problem, and our bespoke support is in place to meet the challenges of different industries and organisational structures,” adds Nina Metson, MD of Waddington Brown.
Prettys Solicitors and Waddington Brown are hosting various events, both online and in person and encourage organisations to get involved. Sign up here
Contact Matthew Cole, mcole@prettys.co.uk or Nina Metson, nina.metson@waddingtonbrown.co.uk for more information about their work with organisations to deal with sexual harassment in the workplace.
Prettys is a full-service law firm, based in Ipswich with twelve partners. The firm is ranked in the Legal 500 UK as a leading firm in East Anglia committed to client service and solution-based advice.
Waddington Brown is a specialist HR Recruitment and Consultancy firm, based in Ipswich and working with clients across East Anglia
