Unite has today (8 July) released the results of a landmark survey into sexual harassment in the workplace.

The union, which has almost 300,000 women members, polled women working across all 19 sectors Unite represents on whether they had experienced sexual harassment while at work, travelling to work or from a colleague including in or out of work hours.

Disturbingly the survey revealed that a quarter (25 per cent) had been sexually assaulted, while eight per cent had been a victim of sexual coercion - when a person pressures, tricks, threatens, or manipulates someone into engaging in sexual activity without genuine consent - at work.

The survey, part of Unite's Zero Tolerance to Sexual Harassment campaign, found 56 per cent had been the recipient of sexually offensive jokes, 55 per cent had experienced unwanted flirting, gesturing or sexual remarks, over four in 10 (43 per cent) had been inappropriately touched and over a quarter (28 per cent) had been shared or shown pornographic images by a manager, colleague or third party.

Out of those who had been sexually harassed at work in most occasions it was not a one off instance, almost half (48 per cent) had it happen more than twice, while over a third (36 per cent) had experienced it more than once. However, three quarters (75 per cent) of respondents did not report these incidents, meaning many perpetrators are left free to offend again.

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: "Staff safety should be among the highest priorities for employers, but the results of our survey are damming and show women workers are being failed by bosses.

"Nobody should suffer sexual harassment in the workplace. Unite is committed to taking a zero-tolerance approach and we will put every employer turning a blind eye on notice.

"We will fight every step of the way to stamp out workplace harassment once and for all. Every worker deserves a safe working environment and should feel able to report harassment."

While the issue is endemic across all sectors, some were more badly affected than others. Areas which had higher levels of staff experiencing harassment include construction, civil air transport, passenger transport, food, drink and agricultural and road transport, warehousing and logistics, which all saw high percentages of incidents and many of these going unreported.

Many respondents to the survey said they didn't report harassment they had experienced or witnessed as they were worried they wouldn't be believed or it would put their job at risk. This was backed up by the experiences of many Unite members who had reported incidents - the union received several comments on how they had been disbelieved or accused of lying, while others said perpetrators had been allowed to remain at the workplace and in some cases had even been promoted. Other victims of harassment at work said they had been let go from their roles after reporting it to line managers.

Last October, The Worker Protection Act 2023 became law. This means employers must take measures to prevent sexual harassment from happening in the workplace and at work events such as conferences.  However, Unite's research shows this is not being implemented fully and workers are being failed.

 Unite's survey found just 26 per cent of respondents felt their employer had done enough to promote a sexual harassment zero-tolerance culture within the workplace, while 34 per cent did not believe there was a zero-tolerance approach to this behaviour at their place of work.

Unite has launched a campaign calling for greater protections to end the menace of workplace harassment. Measures Unite is campaigning for include:

  • The introduction of a standalone sexual harassment policy
  • Mandatory training on sexual harassment for all employees and a commitment to recognise union equality representatives with paid time off
  • The deadline for being able to make a claim in an employment tribunal to be extended from three months after the incident occurred to six months as a minimum for lodging a claim
  • The government to put in extra legal protections, for example third party harassment and sexual harassment should be treated by the Health and Safety Executive as a workplace injury.

Unite national women’s officer Alison Spencer-Scragg said: "The Worker Protection Act has not gone far enough in keeping women safe from sexual harassment at their workplace.

"Employers are not taking their obligations seriously despite the fact it is the law. This is creating a culture where sexual harassment is going unreported, while those who do take the issues forward are left feeling disbelieved, forced to work with abusers and even losing their roles.

"Unite is calling on the government to take our demands seriously to stamp out sexual harassment at work."

ENDS

 

Notes to editors

Anonymous comments from members who filled in the survey - more available on request

Woman member in the civil air transport industry: "Two of my friends were sexually assaulted on a work trip. I was involved in the investigation for months. The man in question is still flying in a managerial position. BA did nothing to support my friends or keep them safe by keeping this man in the company."

Woman member in the construction industry: "I was sexually harassed by my manager in a previous job for several months. I finally built up the courage to confide in the company owner who reassured me that I'd done the right thing by telling him. He sacked me the following morning... it devastated me and drove me away from working in the construction industry for many years."

Woman member in the road transport commercial industry: "The difficulty is reporting it to managers, as it is a very male environment.  There are few women managers, managers do not believe unless it can be viewed on CCTV. Reporting feels pointless. They turn the complaint around against the woman, and move us to other work sections."

Woman member working in passenger transport: "I was sexually assaulted by a colleague outside of work, the police were involved. All I asked from the company was to be kept out of a particular area that he goes in regularly, but apparently this could not be done. It would not have affected my work in any way whatsoever. So I have to see the person who assaulted me, because they won't allow me to go to a different space on these occasions."

Woman member in the food, drink and agriculture industry: "I reported disgusting behaviour and sexual comments from contractors which I had put up with for over two years and nothing was ever done about it. I refused to work with them in the end and they were still given work for over 12 months afterwards until another female colleague reported them and then action was finally taken. It made me feel worthless knowing that nobody had taken any notice of what I had said, and action was only taken after the reports from another female colleague."

*6,615 female Unite members responded to the survey

*Figures in the third and fourth paragraphs can be broken down into manager, colleague and third party on request

For media enquiries ONLY please contact Unite press officer Natasha Wynarczyk on 07970081524

Email: natasha.wynarczyk@unitetheunion.org