Unacceptable | Shocking number of sexual harassment cases go uninvestigated, and HR needs to do better

With many thousands of employees no longer attending the office, or working part of the time at home, part of the time on-site, it would be understandable but unfortunately wrong to conclude that the physical distance between colleagues must lessen the prevalence of sexual harassment at work.

Shockingly, according to a new TUC survey of 1,000 female professionals, a disgraceful two-thirds of young women say they have endured bullying, sexual harassment or verbal abuse in the workplace.

Around three in five of those polled actually reported experiencing such mistreatment at work to a manager, rising to 62 per cent among women aged between 25 and 34. Sadly, this means that a high volume of harassment cases simply aren’t even being investigated.

As for why so many go unreported, most victims noted that they don’t report incidents because they fear they won’t be believed or it could damage their career. In short, this is a huge failing on the part of HR.