Low levels of workplace harassment reporting should not be taken as evidence that employees are safe, with new research warning that a lack of complaints may instead indicate workers do not feel able to speak up.
Employers should look beyond the number of formal reports when assessing workplace culture and instead focus on whether employees trust reporting processes and believe action will be taken, it suggests.
Research commissioned by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), Britain’s equality regulator, found that organisations should not rely on harassment reporting rates to determine whether they have a problem. Instead, low reporting levels may indicate employees feel unable to report concerns, while policies introduced primarily to protect an organisation’s reputation often fail to prevent harassment or support those affected.
The rapid evidence review also found that anti-harassment measures are most effective when they are implemented consistently, reviewed regularly and combined with leadership, training and clear reporting procedures. The research comes as employers continue to meet their legal duty under the Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Act to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace.
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Building trust in reporting
Responding to the research, Gemma McCall, co-founder and CEO of workplace misconduct reporting platform Culture Shift, said organisations needed to move beyond treating reporting as a case-by-case exercise and instead use it to drive wider cultural change.
“A reporting process is only effective if it helps the organisation learn and act on issues early,” McCall told HRreview.
“It requires a shift from a reactive-led approach (dealing with reports on a case-by-case basis), to building a proactive, trusted process centred on safety and data-driven cultural change.”
She said this meant offering employees multiple trusted and accessible reporting routes, including anonymous options, alongside clear procedures and trained responders who prioritise the wellbeing and psychological safety of those raising concerns.
McCall also argued that organisations should use reporting data to identify behavioural trends and hotspots rather than treating complaints as isolated incidents, helping employers address underlying causes and prevent future misconduct.
Reporting rates tell only part of the story
The EHRC research also found that reporting systems should be clear, accessible and encourage victims to come forward. It recommends offering multiple reporting channels, including anonymous, external and digital reporting options, alongside collecting wider organisational data such as staff surveys, turnover and progression to understand workplace culture.
“To increase efficacy, organisations should consider where anti-harassment interventions can be integrated into existing structures of performance management and professional development for leaders and managers,” the EHRC said. ”As best practice, organisations could use an accreditation scheme so that leaders are required to reach anti-harassment goals in their workplace to be accredited. The research found that this is likely to increase compliance and motivation amongst these groups.”
McCall added that the research “also rightly picks up that low harassment reporting rates may indicate a workplace in which employees feel unable to report, rather than the absence of harassment.
“Our recent research found that 28 percent of all UK employees had experienced workplace bullying, harassment or sexual harassment in the last 12 months, yet almost 60 percent chose not to report it.”
She added that employers should assume some level of misconduct exists and measure workplace culture using wider prevalence data, employee surveys and anonymous feedback, rather than relying solely on the number of complaints received.
William Furney is a Managing Editor at Black and White Trading Ltd based in Kingston upon Hull, UK. He is a prolific author and contributor at Workplace Wellbeing Professional, with over 127 published posts covering HR, employee engagement, and workplace wellbeing topics. His writing focuses on contemporary employment issues including pension schemes, employee health, financial struggles affecting workers, and broader workplace trends.
- William Furney
- William Furney
- William Furney
- William Furney
