Rights of Women, a woman’s charity, has raised concerns about an increase in online sexual harassment of women at work as software platforms used by employers to enable remote working (e.g. Teams, Zoom, etc.) are providing another means for harassers to access their victims. A survey conducted by the charity between 23rd November and 15th December 2020 reports that, of women experiencing sexual harassment at work, 42% had experienced some or all of the harassment online and 23% reported an increase or escalation of the harassment since the start of lockdown in March 2020.
The charity says that video calling has impacted on privacy and safety by bringing harassers into their victims’ home environment, sometimes including their bedrooms if that is where people are set up for work. It is also suggested that victims have felt less able to report harassment to their employers while working remotely. This could be because they simply feel less ‘protected’ outside the fortress of the office / work site that they are used to or because they have concerns about being able to evidence the harassment. 29% of those women who raised concerns reported that they felt that their employer’s response had been negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, with some seeing investigations delayed because of lockdown restrictions.
Rights of Women has called for the Government to strengthen the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s guidance on sexual harassment at work and to make it statutory.
It is important that employers continue to regularly check in with staff from a welfare perspective and that any complaints about harassment are addressed promptly.
How Nelsons can help
If you would like any advice in relation to the subjects discussed in this article, please contact a member of our Employment Team in Derby, Leicester or Nottingham on 0800 024 1976 or via our online enquiry form.