Thousands of Australian workplaces are dropping the ball on tracking instances of sexual harassment and discrimination.
Data collected by the Workplace Gender Equality Agency, for its 2023/24 employer census, reveals almost 99 per cent have a formal policy on work-related sexual harassment and discrimination.
But more than one in four (or 28 per cent) of the more than 7000 medium and large employers, covering 5.2 million workers, aren't monitoring how prevalent it is.
Of those that collected incident data (72 per cent), 64 per cent recorded the number of formal complaints made in a year, 31 per cent noted the gender of the complainant, aggrieved person or victim, while 30 per cent documented the alleged perpetrator's gender.
A "positive duty" requiring employers to take steps to eliminate work-related sexual harassment and sex discrimination became enforceable at the end of 2023.
Mary Wooldridge, chief executive officer of the federal statutory agency, their duty to take effective action should begin with high-quality workplace policy.
"While we are seeing comprehensive policy coverage, this is only a critical first step," she said.
"Long-term culture change within organisations also requires employees and company leaders to know the policy, understand what's in it and the part they play in its implementation."
The landmark Respect@Work report, handed down by former sex discrimination commissioner Kate Jenkins in 2020, identified strong leadership as a key to preventing workplace sexual harassment.
The census results indicated 85 per cent of chief executive officers reviewed, signed off on and then communicated their policies, compared to just 55 per cent of their boards.
One in four chief executives communicated the organisation's expectations to new staff at induction and nine per cent ahead of big events such as Christmas parties.
Most employers (95 per cent) had a process to disclose, investigate and manage incidents, but just 49 per cent articulated policies on the use of non-disclosure or confidentiality agreements.
About 68 per cent of businesses had anonymous disclosure processes for staff.
Employers had a responsibility to stop sexual harassment before it started, not just training staff to respond to complaints, Ms Wooldridge said.
"Our results indicate CEOs and boards can play more of a role in proactively enabling a safe and respectful culture by communicating the employer's expectations more regularly to all employees," she added.
"Overall, we are seeing positive progress in relation to the prevention and responses to sexual harassment but there's more to be done."
Future reporting will monitor progress on the issue.
WHAT TYPES OF TRAINING ARE WORKPLACES OFFERING?
* 88 per cent of employers offer training to their workforce
* 99 per cent of training programs covered respectful workplace conduct and behaviours expected of workers and leaders
* 70 per cent covered the drivers and contributing factors of sexual harassment
* 62 per cent covered bystander training
* 45 per cent covered the diverse experiences and needs of different people
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