REWARD
Taking the risk out of Valentine’s Day in the workplace
Danny Done, managing director of Portfolio Payroll, explains why the traditional day of love could prove problematic for employers that aren’t aware of the potential risks and proactive in their approach to tackle them
V alentine’s Day is a day to celebrate love, relationships and appreciation. However, it might not be all hearts and flowers for employers. Care needs to be taken to ensure that the event doesn’t turn working relationships sour and create more work for human resources teams in the form of grievances, and worse. One of the most obvious risks posed by Valentine’s Day at work is sexual harassment. Employers need to be more alert to the risks of failing to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace given the increased legal consequences in place since October 2024, so getting their house in order to make sure these events come and go smoothly is a must. Proactive steps In the eyes of the law, sexual harassment can take place where there is unwanted conduct relating to sex, or of a sexual nature, which causes the recipient or any person witnessing the conduct to feel that their dignity has been violated or it has created an intimidating, humiliating, hostile or degrading environment. Employers are responsible for the actions of their employees in a wide variety of circumstances. This means that an employer could have to pay compensation when an employee sexually harasses another, even if they just meant it ‘as a joke’ and the employer had no idea it was going on. Employers can avoid this result if they can show they took all reasonable steps to prevent it from happening. There is a risk that traditional Valentine’s Day gestures can lead to incidents of sexual harassment in the workplace where these are unwanted by employees. Take the Valentine’s Day card for example: although the employee giving the card may view the card’s message as cute, funny or romantic, the words written in a card can be viewed as
unwanted conduct which goes on to create an intimidating environment amounting to sexual harassment. However, it’s not just cards. Valentine’s Day emails, instant messages, presents or physical gestures can all increase the risk of sexual harassment taking place. Even where the intentions of the employees are ‘good’, it is the perception of the person claiming sexual harassment that is up for analysis. An employment tribunal found, on one occasion, that an employee was subjected to sexual harassment when colleagues repeatedly tried to set them up with another member of staff, even though the action was intended to be good-natured and not purposefully with malice or offence. Raising awareness To ensure sexual harassment is not occurring in the workplace, on Valentine’s Day or at any other time, employers can take steps to increase awareness and deter staff. One of the most effective deterrents is to have a clear, well-drafted sexual harassment policy which outlines the rules on unacceptable conduct within the workplace. The policy should state how to make complaints once the behaviour has taken place and it should also be clear about the consequences if it is found that harassment has taken place. This should include summary dismissal. To reinforce the policy, employers should train their employees on their anti- harassment stance and include examples of how sexual harassment may occur in the specific working environment in question. This is particularly important to reduce the risk of instances often excused away as ‘banter’. In the days leading up to Valentine’s Day, and on the day itself, a gentle reminder to employees about what is acceptable in the workplace can be an effective way
of reducing the risk of sexual harassment taking place. Some employers choose to arrange activities to encourage ‘Galentine’s Day’ or other similar initiatives to show appreciation to colleagues. Galentine’s removes the romantic element of the event, which in turn can reduce the risk of any associated behaviour of harassment. Employees should still be reminded to be respectful and considerate with clear boundaries as to the acceptable and unacceptable actions, even if they were initiated on a friendship level. Employers should now be embedding their zero-tolerance position on sexual harassment into their everyday responsibilities. In addition to the liability implications of an employment tribunal claim, employers now face an extra layer of enforcement by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) because of the changes in October 2024. Employees are now able to refer their employer to the EHRC for failing to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment even where no harassment, or allegation of harassment, has occurred. This includes taking steps to prevent harassment from third parties such as customers, clients, suppliers, members of the public, etc. There need, therefore, be no specific trigger for this referral and may simply come down to an employee’s overall assessment of the actions (or non-action) of their employer. The EHRC will investigate alleged failures and will implement enforcement action where necessary. Proactivity is, therefore, an important element in an employer’s approach. Assessing the risks of internal and third-party sexual harassment should be a high priority to feed into an appropriate strategy to prevent those risks. Done correctly, employees will know exactly where they stand and can enjoy Valentine’s Day at work without issue. n
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| Professional in Payroll, Pensions and Reward |
Issue 107 | February 2025
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