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One in five managers have no training on sexual harassment – VinciWorks

Only 30% of businesses gave managers dedicated training on how to handle sexual harassment reports. 

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One in five managers have no training on sexual harassment – VinciWorks
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One in five UK managers have had no training on how to deal with sexual harassment, research from VinciWorks found. 

Only 30% of businesses gave managers dedicated training on how to handle sexual harassment reports. 

Nearly a third rolled manager training into general staff sessions, and 21% gave no specific manager training at all. 

Nick Henderson-Mayo, head of compliance at VinciWorks, said: “The first hour after someone discloses harassment to a manager is where trust is built or lost. 

“If that manager is not equipped for the moment, then neither is the business standing behind them. 

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“A lack of proper, role-specific training is one of the clearest risks.”

More than half of employers had not reviewed their sexual harassment risks in the past year. 

A third said they had never carried out a risk assessment, and 17% said their last one was over a year ago. 

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Ruth Mittelmann-Cohen, head of legal compliance at VinciWorks, said: “A risk assessment is the evidence that an employer looked at where harassment could happen in their business and did something about it. 

“Without one, there’s no paper trail, and no paper trail is very hard to defend in front of a tribunal.”

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The research also found nearly half of respondents rated their training as needing improvement, and 14% said they provided no sexual harassment training at all. 

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Only 7% said their training was excellent.

Bystander intervention training was rare, with just 12% saying they had it as part of yearly training, while 41% had no plans to introduce it or were unsure if they did.

Lorna Gemmell, employment law and HR training manager at WorkNest, said: “Employers can’t afford to treat this as a tick-box exercise. 

“The duty is about taking ‘all reasonable steps’ to prevent sexual harassment before it happens, and that means being able to demonstrate meaningful action, not just having a policy sitting on the intranet.

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“The findings suggest that too many organisations are still relying on good intentions rather than proactive measures.”

Gemmell added: “If employers haven’t reviewed the risks in their workplace, trained their people and kept those measures under regular review, they may find it difficult to show they have met their legal obligations.”

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