A new study has highlighted how prevalent sexual harassment is in the West Australian mines. One in five women reported that they were touched in an uncomfortable way while two in five reported condescending or insulting comments being made to them. Unfortunately, this situation isn’t only present in the West Australian mines. Between 2021 and 2022, about 1.7 million people in Australia experienced some form of sexual harassment in the past 12 months. That could include inappropriate texts, indecent exposure, graphic images or videos or unwanted touching and kissing. While companies have taken many steps to prevent sexual harassment, the reality is that this risk may not be eliminated for a long amount of time. 

Is there a solution? 

The effectiveness of the solution will depend on how well-suited it is for the organisation. The culture that has been created has a big influence on whether sexual harassment is reported in the first place. If you are dealing with sexual harassment in your organisation, you aren’t alone. Many companies come to us with the goal of handling complaints quickly so they can look into incidents as efficiently as possible. Why do businesses rely on us? 

Anonymity and confidentiality 

From the moment a complaint is made, to the moment an investigation ends, Polonious ensures that confidentiality is maintained at every stage of the process. We allow employees to submit their complaints anonymously, which takes the hesitancy away when it comes to reporting an incident. The employee completes a web form that records all the relevant details and the responsible parties can then look at the complaint and decide on the next course of action. Our clients have found that it is easier to report incidents to Polonious this way as our system operates 24/7. The complainants don’t have to wait for a human to be available and they don’t have to worry about retaliation either. 

They are able to report an incident in their own words rather than have their situation paraphrased by another colleague who is receiving the complaint. 

Quick response 

When individuals lodge a complaint through Polonious, all relevant employees are notified by email or SMS. This means that the complaint won’t go unnoticed and the team will have a lot of time to respond as they didn’t have to wait for a “middle-mean” to write down what happened. Quicker responses are also possible as managers will have all the information in one place and won’t have to look through different folders or ask different people for any missing information. The system will be able to connect them with escalation procedures and let them carry out any necessary reporting before they start working on the case. 

As internal employees can record all details in one system, the investigation team that may need to take over will have everything that they need which prevents ambiguity and confusion. 

sexual harassment

Saving time and other resources 

Once a sexual harassment complaint has been lodged, the goal is to understand what happened, to who, when and how. Encouraging employees to come forward is a very important part of preventing sexual harassment. However, another element involves saving time and ensuring that employees have the capacity to handle the complaint. Polonious takes away the admin pain as our system aims to reduce paperwork, automate the majority of repetitive manual tasks and set reminders based on the information provided. This not only reduces errors in handling a sexual harassment incident but it can save up to 38% of admin time per case. 

When certain parameters have been set, Polonious can automatically allocate tasks to the right people. This allows the correct number of resources to be given to a case and helps investigators and the HR team manage their workload. 

Simplicity and accuracy 

At Polonious our software has handled many sexual harassment cases over the years. This means that we understand how important accuracy is as well as simplicity in those situations. Through the click of a button, investigators can add new cases, perform case updates and change the allocation of resources. Our system can also be integrated with a range of different software and cloud-based systems, enabling smooth information sharing across different areas and platforms. We can restrict security to allow only those directly involved in the case to have access to progress updates and they can only access evidence relevant to them. Our system makes it simple for investigators to decide who sees what. 

Preventing sexual harassment and responding to incidents can be a complicated issue. That is why we try to make every step of the process easier. A more organised response can lead to a better investigation which can: 

-Show employees that the company has a zero-tolerance policy against sexual harassment 

-Highlight that all complaints are taken seriously 

-Share that quick action will be taken and every incident has consequences 

-Build a better workplace as employees will feel valued and taken care of 

Security 

Sexual harassment evidence may be sensitive in nature. This means that they need to be treated and stored with extra care. When using Polonious, investigators have access to an ISO 9001 and ISO 27001 certified system. We have been certified consistently for many years, as our focus has remained on operating a secure system that can be used for evidence storing and sensitive information handling. It’s easy for investigators to upload images, documents or video into Polonious but non-authorised parties won’t be able to access it. 

Looking to prevent sexual harassment?

A case management system like Polonious will be one of the best addition to your fight against sexual harassment. We can help you monitor incidents of sexual harassment and keep track of all actions taken in response to past incidents, to help you prevent future cases. If you want a more organised and proactive approach, reach out and book a demo!