It's All About People - 24th October

READ TIME - 3 minute read

Welcome Back

This week’s It’s All About People covers:

🧑‍🤝‍🧑Proud moment as a Trustee

⚠️ Two Days until new Sexual Harassment Legislation comes in - and what to do

💻️ New training - register your interest

🗓️ Events coming up

Last week I was proud to be part of the launch of our new local Citizens Advice Service - a service that has served the local community brilliantly for over 20 years.

I have been a Trustee of Citizens Advice North Northants for a good few years now and events like this make me really proud of our incredible team of staff and volunteers.

Here are just some of the stats of what the team have done in the last 12 months:

• helped 2369 people

• generated £4,470,464 of income for clients

• help clients manage £2,488,817 of debt

This week sees some pretty big changes in Employment Law coming in to force, on Saturday 26th to be precise.

I covered this a few weeks ago, but it seems only right to send a reminder today, as we know so many organisations are not ready.

Let’s go 👇️ 

🛑 Sexual Harassment Law Changes

There has been law in this area for many years, but from 26th October there are significant changes.

In a nutshell employers will be required to take proactive measures to prevent sexual harassment, not just respond to complaints. This means actively fostering a culture of respect and safety for all employees - and being able to prove this if challenged.

The prevention, and protection, does not just cover from colleagues in the same workplace. It also covers third party harassment, so for example customers, suppliers, contractors etc

📋 What Does This Mean for Employers?

Under the new law, employers are legally obligated to:

📃 Implement Preventative Policies: Develop clear, comprehensive policies that outline what constitutes sexual harassment and provide examples to help employees understand. These policies should be easily accessible and communicated to all staff.

👩‍🏫 Mandatory Training: Regular training sessions on recognising and preventing sexual harassment are now required. This training should be conducted for all employees, including leadership and management, to ensure everyone understands their role in maintaining a safe work environment.

📞 Reporting Mechanism: Employers must make sure that employees know how to report incidents of sexual harassment. Adding in an option for anonymous reporting is a great option, and we are proud to be partnering with Work in Confidence - if you sign up with them you get a 10% discount using the code Gate10.

🕵️‍♀️ Prompt and Fair Investigation: When complaints are made, they must be addressed swiftly and fairly. A transparent process should be in place to investigate and respond to allegations without bias.

📋️ Regular Risk Assessments: Employers will need to conduct regular risk assessments to identify potential areas where sexual harassment might occur. These assessments will help in tailoring prevention strategies effectively.

🗣️ Creating a Culture of Respect and Safety

Beyond legal compliance, it's essential to cultivate a workplace culture where respect and safety are paramount. Here are some additional steps to consider:

• Lead by Example: Leadership should model appropriate behaviour and demonstrate a zero-tolerance stance towards harassment. When leaders take this seriously, it sets the tone for the entire organization.

• Encourage Open Communication: Foster an environment where employees feel comfortable speaking up about their concerns. Regularly check in with your team to understand their experiences and perceptions.

• Empower Bystanders: Encourage employees to speak up if they witness inappropriate behaviour. Providing training on bystander intervention can empower employees to act if they see something wrong.

• Celebrate Diversity and Inclusion: A diverse and inclusive workplace tends to have lower instances of harassment. Celebrate differences and create opportunities for all employees to contribute and feel valued.

📃 Download Our Free Guide

💻️ Sexual Harassment Awareness - elearning special offer

In the next couple of weeks we will be launching our e-learning version of our Sexual Harassment Awareness training, where you can buy multiple places for all your team to complete the training. The course is currently in test status but if you would like to register your interest you can do that here, and who knows - there may be a special offer for early adopters.

Thank You

Thank you for being part of our It’s All About People community.

Stay tuned for next week’s email, and until then have a wonderful week!

Emma

P.S. If you're a member of our HR Hub, we are adding resources and templates to help you comply with the new law. If you’re not yet a member, join us here for only £45/month.

 P.P.S.  If you are not a Hub member why not give it a try for only £7 for 7 days membership. You can do that here.

P.P.P.S If we have not connected on LinkedIn yet, I would love to connect

Events to Join in the coming weeks (click on the links to join us)

HR Masterclass - Values Aligned, Success Defined (free to all clients, £150+VAT for non-clients) - 7th November 9.30am-12.30pm

Lunch & Learn - Managing Conflict (free to all clients, £35+VAT for non-clients) - 12th November 12 - 1pm

Make Work Pay – Labour’s 100 Day Plan for HR & Leaders (Free Webinar) - 13th November 12-1pm

HR Clinic (free to all, come and ask your HR questions) - 19th November 12-1pm