The research report was undertaken by the Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC), led by Sex Discrimination Commissioner Kate Jenkins, and commissioned by the Australian Council of Superannuation Investors.
It outlines the state of sexual harassment reporting in Australia’s largest companies and provides eight recommendations to support the prevention of sexual harassment, and appropriate management of any incidents. The research provides an in depth look at how companies are responding to sexual harassment with 59% of ASX200 companies participating in the research survey. Along with quantitative data, the report draws from in depth interviews with 16 ASX200 companies and desktop research.
Recommendations:
RECOMMENDATION 1: LEADERSHIP
- Demonstrate visible leadership and appropriate oversight and governance over culture, sexual harassment and gender equality. The board has primary responsibility and accountability for ensuring that the entity has in place a governance framework for the prevention of and response to sexual harassment, and for monitoring performance across the entity.
RECOMMENDATION 2: SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE
- Ensure the entity has the skills and experience to effectively prevent and respond to workplace sexual harassment.
RECOMMENDATION 3:
- CULTURE Make gender equality a priority and set gender diversity targets.
RECOMMENDATION 4: SYSTEMS AND FRAMEWORKS
- Ensure systems and frameworks are in place to collect, analyse and use data to effectively manage the risks related to sexual harassment.
RECOMMENDATION 5: EXECUTIVE ALIGNMENT
- Align appointment, expertise and performance management of the CEO and EMT with the entity’s values to ensure that EMT demonstrates and displays visible leadership on culture, sexual harassment and gender equality.
RECOMMENDATION 6: USE TRANSPARENCY TO DRIVE OUTCOMES
- Report internally and externally to measure and track the effectiveness of systems and frameworks to prevent and manage sexual harassment. INVESTORS It is important to acknowledge that institutional investors are also a workplace and the recommendations set out above will equally apply to their entities. In addition, investors have an ongoing responsibility to protect and enhance investment value. To that end, the Commission makes the following further recommendations for investors:
RECOMMENDATION 7:
- Seek information on investee entities systems and processes to prevent and address sexual harassment RECOMMENDATION 8: Advocate for improved transparency and public disclosure on sexual harassment Investors should encourage their investee entities to disclose their approach to prevent and respond to sexual harassment.
