Sexism at Work: A Managed Issue or Brushed Under The Carpet?

A new Glassdoor survey suggests that a quarter of the UK’s female workforce have been the victims of sexism or sexist behaviour. There are laws against sexism, so does that solve the problem or are incidents being simply ignored? Sexism can be any kind of discrimination based on one's sex. You might  automatically think it is something only directed at women but it also impacts men. With a range of behaviours from unwanted advances, sexist jokes and rude comments, right through to unequal pay and lack of promotions. Harassment, sexism and bullying are serious issues. Laws are in place to protect employees from such behavior in the workplace. Organisations must have policies to deal with such issues, but how efficiently and how seriously they are taken comes down to the culture and effectiveness of the leadership team. One only has to look at the recent press for examples with Uber dismissing 20 members of staff as a result of claims of discrimination, sexual harassment, bullying and retaliation. Out of 210 claims, 47 were directly related to sexual harassment. In fairness to Uber, it now seems to be proactively changing the way the company is run, with Arianna Huffington on the Uber Board promising major changes. However, this high profile example does raise the question as to what might be happening in other organisations? In early 2017, a 27 year old receptionist for PWC / Portico raised a government petition when she was sent home for wearing flat shoes. Her claim launched an inquiry by the Petitions and Women and Equalities Committee which found that many female workers had been told to ‘look sexy’, constantly reapply makeup and wear high heels. Whilst the law is clear that such things are not acceptable, it would seem that discriminatory dress codes can still be found. The Glassdoor UK Survey A survey conducted by Glassdoor in April 2017(1), shows some worrying statistics. Out of the 2000 people surveyed, 25 percent of women and over 6 percent of men stated they had been the victim of sexism or sexist behavior at work. Not only that, but nearly 27 percent of women and over 20 percent of men said they had been aware of such behaviour towards others. How many of these individuals would have spoken up? I guess we’ll never know. When asked to state if they agreed or disagreed with the question: 'I feel that my company does enough to combat sexism in the workplace', a modest 11 percent of women and 8 percent of men disagreed with the statement. Only 36 percent of women and 39 percent of men felt that if they were to contact their HR representative, their complaint would be dealt with in a satisfactory way. Other surveys support the findings. A survey by Trades Union Congress in 2016 found over half of the women surveyed stated they had suffered sexual harassment in the workplace. Culture is key The culture in an organisation is key. Leadership style is fundamental and to give everyone equal opportunities in the workplace, there has to be zero tolerance on such bad behaviour. Sexism remains a pertinent issue and is one that every Board and organisation should take seriously.

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1. The Glassdoor survey of 2,000 people was conducted within Great Britain by OnePoll on behalf of Glassdoor from 29/03/17-04/04/17. For more, please contact pr@glassdoor.com