Workplace Sexual Harassment Complaint Procedure

A workplace sexual harassment complaint procedure commonly directs people to their manager, and that is the point of failure.

A meaningful share of complaints involve the direct manager, or someone that manager is close to. A single channel means the people in the worst position have nowhere to go, and they leave instead.

A procedure with several routes in works better. The direct manager. Any other manager. A named HR contact. A trained contact officer outside the reporting line. An anonymous channel, with the limits of anonymity stated honestly. And a clear note that external avenues exist and using one is not disloyalty.

Publish all of them together. A route that only appears in a policy nobody has opened is not available.

The Australian Human Rights Commission publishes guidance for employers. This is general information rather than legal advice, and obligations vary by state and territory.

See Sentrient’s policy management software and incident reporting software.