Over the past few months, we’ve been on a mission to help organisations across the UK build positive and productive workplace cultures where people feel safe through our new e-learning package – Preventing sexual harassment in the workplace (Worker Protection Act 2023).
Throughout this process, several key questions have emerged, and in this article, we’ll address the most frequently asked ones.
What is sexual harassment?
Sexual harassment is a form of discrimination under the Equality Act 2010. It is legally defined in England and Wales as someone carrying out unwanted sexual behaviours towards someone else with the intention to make them feel upset, scared, offended or humiliated.
Beyond this legal definition, it’s important we understand that if the sexual or romantic actions are unwelcome and / or create a hostile environment they are harassment, whether intended as such or not.
Recognising and understanding these behaviours is essential for creating a respectful work environment. Proper training helps prevent sexual harassment, ensuring a safe and inclusive workplace for everyone.
How Common is Sexual Harassment in the Workplace?
Despite significant advances in workplace equality, sexual harassment remains alarmingly common. A survey conducted by the Trades Union Congress (TUC) found that nearly two-thirds of young women have experienced sexual harassment, bullying, or verbal abuse at work.
However, many victims do not to report these incidents due to fear of not being believed or concerns about damaging their career prospects, according to TUC. This silence allows harassment to continue, leading to serious consequences for both individuals and organisations.
Overall, the TUC poll revealed that 58% of women have experienced harassment at work, with this figure rising to 62% among women aged 25 to 34. These statistics underscore the urgent need for effective sexual harassment training that not only educates employees about their rights and responsibilities but also empowers them to take action when necessary.
What does the Worker Protection Act mean for your organisation?
The Worker Protection Act, also known as the Amendment of the Equality Act 2010, places a proactive duty on employers to prevent sexual harassment in their workplaces.
This legislation requires organisations to take ‘reasonable steps’ to protect their employees from harassment. Failing to do so can lead to serious legal and financial consequences. Beyond the significant human impact of sexual harassment, organisations that violate this duty may face compensation awards increased by up to 25%.
Sexual harassment training is not just about compliance, it is an essential part of building a safe and inclusive workplace. Our Preventing Sexual Harassment in the Workplace e-learning package (hyperlink) helps businesses meet their legal obligations while promoting a culture of respect and accountability.
How our Preventing Sexual Harassment in the Workplace e-leaning package can help
Our Sexual Harassment in the Workplace e-learning package is more than just a course; it’s a comprehensive solution designed to foster continuous learning and engagement.
The package includes a suite of unique e-learning interventions, each strategically designed to reinforce learning and support long-term cultural change.
What’s included in our e-Learning package?
E-learning interventions to help reinforce learning
To ensure that the knowledge gained during the training is retained and applied, we have included several learning interventions:
Courses: A 45-minute course for managers and a 30-minute course for your team. This training covers what sexual harassment is, what to do if you witness it, and steps employers must take to prevent it. We use a range of techniques to ensure content is engaging and learners remain focused. Information is relayed in bite-sized chunks within contextual, realistic scenarios.
Skill Boost: Two 10-minute bite-sized modules that reflects sections of the main course. Distribute to learners post completion to reinforce learning and track memory retention, aiding in the reduction of cognitive overload. This can be distributed to learners post completion of the course.
Skill Spark: Three 5-minute bite-sized modules that can be distributed to learners to top-up previous learning post completion of the main course. It’s a mobile-first approach that incorporates an intuitive design (swipe/tap) suitable for learning on the go.
Skill Reel: One 60-second animated video to be used for promotional purposes to spread awareness of the course, or to send out to learners post course completion to reinforce their learning.
Learning outcomes of our Preventing Sexual Harassment training solution.
At the end of this e-learning package you will:
- Recognise what types of behaviours constitute sexual harassment
- Understand the personal effect of sexual harassment in the workplace
- Be aware of the business impacts of sexual harassment
- Identify key legislation relating to sexual harassment at work
How we are helping organisations achieve long-term knowledge retention, effective risk mitigation, and sustained cultural change.
Drawing from our own research, alongside University of Sussex, we ensure our techniques and interventions enable learners to retain the maximum amount of information in the minimum amount of time and we guarantee outcomes.
With traditional learning, knowledge retention sharply declines when learners take a stand-alone course, dropping to under 20% within months. This means most of what is learned is quickly forgotten, leading to minimal long-term impact.
However, our learning methodology called SkillStream which we used in dev this package has been proven to help our customers achieve their desired outcomes. Our interventions deployed through this methodology prevent the steep decline seen in traditional methods, maintaining retention levels up to 30% more than traditional methods. This consistent reinforcement ensures long-term knowledge retention, effective risk mitigation, and sustained cultural change.
We are pleased to offer you with a demonstration of our e-learning package designed to help your employees identify, prevent and hopefully overtime, eliminate sexual harassment from ever occurring within your organisation. Our programme helps foster a safe and productive workplace culture for all.
For more information on how Me Learning can support your organisation ahead of the enforcement of the Worker Protection Act, click here or email maxblencowe@melearning.co.uk
