You know you have a legal duty to prevent workplace harassment. But how can you prove you have taken those duties seriously?

New research commissioned by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) suggests that many organisations still rely on policies, annual training and low complaint numbers as evidence that everything is fine. The research concludes that none of those measures, on their own, are reliable indicators of a healthy workplace.

Preventing harassment is not about having the right documents. It is about creating a culture where poor behaviour is challenged early, concerns are raised safely and leaders can demonstrate that their interventions work.

For employers, this is less about new law and more about evidence.

Since October 2024, employers have had a legal duty to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment. The EHRC’s latest research raises the bar on what good governance looks like in practice. It highlights consistent leadership, tailored training, effective reporting systems and regular review as the factors most likely to reduce harassment.

When a claim lands, the question is no longer only what happened. It is what did you do to prevent it and can you prove it?

Can your board show it understood the risk, acted on it, and tracked the result?

What does this mean in practice?

Many organisations still measure success by the absence of complaints. That can be a dangerous assumption. A workforce that stays silent may not feel safe enough to speak.

Low reporting can reflect fear, mistrust or resignation rather than a respectful culture.

Resist treating harassment as an HR issue. It is a governance issue. Tribunal claims are expensive but the legal costs are just one part of the problem. Senior managers’ time, staff turnover, recruitment challenges, damaged customer confidence and reputational harm can dwarf the value of any award. Once a culture is questioned publicly, rebuilding trust rarely happens quickly.

There is another uncomfortable reality. Middle managers shape culture every day. If they ignore inappropriate behaviour, others notice. If they deal with concerns confidently and fairly, that message spreads just as quickly. Leadership behaviour travels faster than any policy.

What should you do?

• Review whether your harassment risk assessment reflects how your organisation works.
• Test whether staff trust your reporting processes rather than assuming they do.
• Refresh manager training so it focuses on real workplace scenarios and decision-making.
• Record the steps you take and review whether they change behaviour, not simply whether they were completed.
• Ensure your board receives regular reporting on workplace culture alongside other business risks.
• Treat harassment as a board risk, minute the discussion, and review it like any other material exposure.
• Combine culture surveys with hard data such as turnover, promotion and absence rates, because numbers reveal what people will not say.
• Offer several reporting routes, including anonymous and external ones, and act visibly when someone uses them.
• Keep the evidence, so you can show the reasonable steps you took.

Culture starts at the top, and so does liability. The leaders who treat this as a governance issue now will spend far less explaining themselves later.

Source: Our research into workplace harassment | EHRC