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Just 4% of employers fully prepared for new harassment duty, WorkNest finds

From 30th October, employers will be required to take "all reasonable steps" to prevent sexual harassment under changes introduced by the Employment Rights Act 2025.

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Just 4% of employers fully prepared for new harassment duty, WorkNest finds
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Just 4% of employers have fully embedded and are monitoring measures to prevent sexual harassment ahead of strengthened legal requirements coming into force next month, research from WorkNest found.

From 30th October, employers will be required to take “all reasonable steps” to prevent sexual harassment under changes introduced by the Employment Rights Act 2025.

More than a quarter (26%) of employers said their current approach was either reactive, with action typically taken following a complaint, or that they did not have a formal prevention strategy in place.

While 76% said preparations for the strengthened duty were underway, 14% had yet to start and 8% considered themselves fully prepared.

The changes follow the introduction of the Worker Protection Act in October 2024, which placed a preventative duty on employers to take ‘reasonable steps’ to prevent sexual harassment.

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The Employment Rights Act will strengthen this to ‘all reasonable steps’ and introduce an obligation to prevent third-party harassment.

Tracey Burke, senior HR consultant at WorkNest, said: “There has been a lot for employers to digest in a relatively short period of time.

“Just two years after the first preventative duty came into force, they need to look again at how they prevent harassment.

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“The positive finding is that most organisations recognise there is more to do.

“Many are actively preparing to do more, but there is a big difference between having some measures in place and being able to demonstrate that prevention is fully embedded.”

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Burke added: “Employers need to understand where their risks arise, put proportionate measures in place and keep checking their effectiveness. Without that, they may find it difficult to demonstrate what they did to prevent harassment if an incident occurs.”

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Managers were also identified as a potential barrier to prevention, with 54% of employers citing either a lack of confidence to intervene or fear of getting it wrong as the biggest obstacle to managers addressing inappropriate behaviour early.

Burke said: “Prevention has to translate into what happens day-to-day.

“A policy may set expectations, but managers who are unsure when or how to intervene may miss opportunities to address behaviour early, leaving employees exposed and employers dealing with more serious complaints later.

“The strengthened duty should prompt employers to look beyond whether they have a policy or have delivered training and ask whether the measures they have taken are actually working in practice.”

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The research also found 9% of employers had dealt with harassment by a third party in the past 12 months, while 6% had dealt specifically with the sexual harassment of an employee by a third party.

Burke concluded: “For organisations whose employees deal with customers, clients or other third parties, this risk cannot sit outside their prevention strategy.

“Employers should be clear about how staff can report concerns, what managers will do in response and what steps could reduce the risk of it happening again.”

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