A Moment Employers Must Prevent

Kate 0:38

Picture this. It's this Friday, the 30th of October. Somewhere in your business, a member of your team is being spoken to in a way that makes their stomach drop. Maybe it's a customer who thinks a bit of banter is part of the service. Maybe it's a contractor who's been on site all week and keeps making comments. Maybe it's someone on your own team who's never been told where the line is. And your employee stands there, cheeks hot, not knowing whether to laugh it off or walk away, wondering if anyone would even take it seriously if they said something. Now here's what changes this Friday. From the 30th of October, the law expects you, the employer, to have already been trying to stop that moment from happening. Not to react to it afterwards, to have taken all reasonable steps to prevent it in advance, including when the person doing it doesn't even work for you. This is one of the biggest shifts in this whole run of employment law change, and it lands in three days. So this is a get ready episode, and it's a this week episode. What the harassment duty actually is, and the handful of things to get in place before Friday. Kettle on, let's get into it. The

Why The Harassment Duty Tightens

Kate 1:54

welcome to the Hive. Welcome back to Buzzing About HR, the podcast that makes sense of the world of work, one honeycomb of good advice at a time. I'm Kate, your HR Queen Bee, and Hazel, our well-being officer, is on high alert this week. By which I mean she's guarding the biscuit tin with the fierce dedication of someone who takes a duty seriously. Which funnily enough is exactly the energy this episode needs. We are three days out from the 30th of October when the harassment duty steps up. Employers already had a duty to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment. From Friday, that becomes all reasonable steps. One word, a much higher bar. And a brand new duty arrives alongside it around third-party harassment. So harassment of your team by customers, clients, and contractors becomes something you're expected to try to prevent too. There are union changes landing the same day and a possible uplift on discrimination awards. But the harassment duty is the one I want to make sure you're ready for. Here's my promise for the next 20 minutes or so. No jargon, no doom, no fear. Just what actually changes on Friday. The short list of things to do this week and the safe speak up route that makes the whole thing work. Let's go. The buzz.

The Three Legal Changes To Know

Kate 3:16

Let me set the scene properly because the detail is what makes this manageable. Here's exactly what changes on Friday, the 30th of October. Three things worth knowing. First, the big one. The duty to prevent sexual harassment goes from reasonable steps to all reasonable steps. That sounds like a small edit. It isn't. Under the old wording, you could point to a policy and a bit of good intent and largely be fine. Under all reasonable steps, the bar is higher and more active. It's not did you have a policy? It's did you actually do the things a sensible employer would do to prevent this? Risk assess, train, communicate, provide a reporting route, and act. It's a duty to be proactive and it can be tested. Second, third-party harassment. This is genuinely new. From Friday, you're expected to take steps to protect your team from harassment by people who don't work for you. Customers, clients, contractors, suppliers, the public. So the aggressive customer, the handsy contractor, the client who crosses the line at the Christmas due. All of that is now squarely within your responsibility to try to prevent. For anyone in retail, hospitality, care, any customer-facing world, this is a big deal. Third, worth knowing there's a possible uplift of up to 25% on discrimination awards where an employer hasn't followed the right process. And remember, discrimination awards are uncapped, so the cost of getting this wrong isn't small or fixed. While we're here, the 30th also brings some trade union changes. A new written statement telling staff of their right to join a union. A new union access rights with some exemptions for under 21s. And there's a tipping consultation with changes due by the end of the year. But the harassment duty is the one that needs your attention this week, so that's where we're staying. So that's the buzz. Higher bar, new third party responsibility, real financial teeth, live in three days. The hive check.

Effort Over Perfection Explained

Kate 5:38

Let's do a quick check on the thing that trips employers up because it decides whether this feels frightening or completely doable. The muddle is this. People hear all reasonable steps to prevent harassment and panic, because they think it means guarantee that harassment never happens. And of course you can't guarantee that. You can't control every word a customer says or every joke a new starter makes. So it feels like an impossible standard, and impossible standards make people freeze. But that's not what the law is asking. It is not asking you to promise nothing ever goes wrong. It's asking you to show that you took sensible, active steps to prevent it. The word that matters is reasonable. Reasonable for a five-person cafe looks different to reasonable for a 200-person firm. And the law knows that. Nobody expects a small business to have a compliance department. They expect you to have thought about where the risks are and done the obvious, proportionate things about them. Here's the heart of it. This duty is judged on your effort, not on a perfect outcome. If something does go wrong, the question will be: what had this employer actually done to try to prevent it? A business that risk assessed, trained its people, had a clear policy and a reporting route people trusted, and acted when something came up, is in a completely different position to one that did nothing and hoped. So the honest check is this. You can't promise harassment never happens. You can absolutely show you took it seriously and did the reasonable things in advance. One of those is within your control this week. That's the whole game.

The Gap Between Policy And Safety

Kate 7:30

The sting. Here's the part worth sitting with gently. The trap in this duty isn't the dramatic incident. It's the quiet gap between we have a policy and our people actually feel safe and know what to do. Because those two things are miles apart, and it's the gap between them where both the harm and the legal risk live. Let me make it real. Most businesses, if you ask, will tell you they have a harassment policy. It's in the handbook. Good. Now ask a different question. If one of your team was harassed by a customer this Friday, would they know exactly how to report it? Would they trust that something sensible and confidential would happen if they did? Would the manager who received it know what to do? Would there be a record? For a lot of businesses, the honest answer to those questions is I'm not sure. And I'm not sure is precisely the gap that all reasonable steps is designed to close. Here's why it matters so much beyond compliance. A policy nobody trusts doesn't just fail the legal test, it fails the person. Someone being harassed and feeling they can't safely speak up is carrying that alone, at work, every day. They go quiet, they dread the shift, and eventually they leave, and you never even know why. The reporting route isn't paperwork. It's the difference between someone suffering in silence and someone getting help. And this is the reassuring flip side. Closing that gap is one of the most doable things on your list. A genuine, trusted, safe way for people to speak up is a reasonable step. It protects your people. And it's evidence you took the duty seriously all at once. The policy is the intent. The safe reporting route is the proof and the kindness. The Growl.

Hazel’s Reality Check On Reporting

Kate 9:33

Hazel says the quiet part. Before we get to the doing, there is a dog sitting pointedly by the front door, which will make more sense in a moment. Hazel, our well-being officer, is two and a half and has never been wrong about anything, including the things she has been wrong about. She cannot talk, so I read you the subtitles. Subtitles on.

SPEAKER_00 9:56

Got a policy, you have. I have got a lead. Neither of them does a single thing while it is hanging on a hook. Ask her where she would go if it was a customer who said it. Go on. Ask her. You will not, because you are fairly sure you will not like the answer, and not knowing has been working quite well for you so far. Tomorrow it stops working, isn't it?

Kate 10:21

Subtitles off. I would tell her off for that, except I have been saying a longer version of it all month. Let me put it properly. Having a policy is the intent, and intent is where every employer starts. What changes tomorrow is that intent on its own stops being enough. Because the question is no longer, did you have something in place? It is, was there anything more a sensible person would have done? And for most businesses, the honest answer sits in one place. Whether a member of staff being harassed by a colleague or by a customer knows where to go and believes something fair will happen when they get there. That is not paperwork. It is the difference between somebody carrying it alone and somebody getting help, and it happens to be the strongest evidence you have. She is not wrong. She is still by the door. Checking it, I assume, which is more than most of us have done this week. The waggle dance.

The Four Things To Do This Week

Kate 11:20

So what do you actually do this week before Friday? Here's the honest practical list. Four things, and none of them need a big budget or a compliance team. One, do a quick risk assessment. Sit down for half an hour and ask, honestly, where could harassment happen in our business? Which roles deal with the public or with contractors or work alone or work late? Where are the pinch points, the Christmas party season that's coming, the difficult regular customer, the site with outside workers on it? Writing that down is itself a reasonable step, and it tells you where to focus everything else. This is the single most important thing to do this week because all reasonable steps really starts with did you assess the risk? 2. Refresh the policy so it's current and real. Make sure it explicitly covers sexual harassment and third-party harassment, names customers, clients, and contractors, and is written in plain English a human being would actually read. Then, crucially, tell people it exists. A policy nobody's seen is intent without practice. 3. Train your people. Your team need to know what harassment is and how to report it. Your managers need to know how to receive a report properly, calmly, confidentially, and act on it. This doesn't have to be a huge production, but we trained our people is one of the strongest pieces of evidence there is that you took all reasonable steps. If harassment by customers or contractors is a live risk in your world, make sure staff know they're entitled to be protected and how to raise it. Four, and this is the one I'd most want you to sort: put in a safe, trusted reporting route. Not just tell your manager, because sometimes the manager is the problem, or the person is too frightened to. People need a way to speak up that feels genuinely safe and confidential. This is exactly what Safe Voice is for. It's a confidential, independent speakup route that gives your team a safe way to report harassment and concerns and gives you a proper record that you're taking it seriously. It's one of the clearest, all reasonable steps you can point to. Have a look at safevoice.co.uk. And if you're seeing this on our socials this week, comment whistle and we'll send you the details on setting up a safe reporting route. And to find out where you stand overall before Friday, take our free HR health check. Five to seven minutes, instant red, amber, green, and a report in your inbox, including whether your harassment foundations are solid. It's at kateunderwoodhr.co.uk slash hr dash health dash check. The swarm.

Four Myths That Will Catch You Out

Kate 14:22

Let's clear up four things. I know I'll hear this week. Myth one. We've got a harassment policy in the handbook, so we're covered. A policy is the starting line, not the finish. All reasonable steps ask what you actively did. Risk assess, train, communicate, provide a safe reporting route, and act. A policy nobody's read or been trained on won't carry you on its own. Myth two. I can't be responsible for what a customer says. From Friday, in a real sense, you're responsible for taking reasonable steps to protect your team from it. You can't control the customer, but you can assess the risk, back your staff, put up expectations, and give people a way to report it. That's what's expected, and it's doable. Myth three. We're too small for this to apply to us. There's no small business exemption here. The duty applies, but reasonable scales to your size. A small business isn't expected to do what a corporation does, just the sensible, proportionate things for a business your size. Doing nothing because you're small is the one option that isn't safe. Myth four. A reporting route is just admin, people can always talk to me. Lovely if true. But the whole point is the person who can't talk to you because they're frightened or because the problem is close to home. A safe, independent, confidential route is what catches the cases your open door misses, and it's some of the strongest evidence you took the duty seriously. That's why Safe Voice exists. Comment, whistle on our socials, and we'll show you how. The

The Six Step Action List

Kate 16:09

honeycomb, your quick action list. Here's your list of six things to do this week before Friday in order. One, spend half an hour on a harassment risk assessment. Where could it happen? Which roles are most exposed? Where are the pinch points? Write it down. Two, pull your harassment policy. Make sure it covers sexual harassment and third-party harassment in plain English and actually put it in front of your team. 3. Brief your managers on how to receive and act on a report calmly, confidentially, and properly. Make sure staff know what harassment is and that they're entitled to be protected. 4. Put in a safe, trusted, confidential reporting route so people can speak up even when they can't face telling their manager. Take a look at SafeVice at safevoice.co.uk and comment whistle on our socials for the details. 5. Take the free HR Health Check at kateunderwoodhr.co.uk slash HR-health-check to see where your harassment foundations stand before Friday. 6. Diarise the wider October changes you touched on. The union written statement and access rights. So nothing slips through while you're focused on harassment. Flying the hive.

Final Recap And Where To Start

Kate 17:34

Close. So that's the harassment duty. And it goes live this Friday, the 30th of October. All reasonable steps and a brand new responsibility to protect your team from customers, clients, and contractors too. It sounds heavy written down, but it comes back to something simple and human. Take it seriously, do the sensible things in advance, and give your people a safe way to speak up. That's the legal test and the right thing to do. In one. Remember the standard is your effort, not a perfect outcome. You can't promise harassment never happens. You can absolutely show you saw the risk, trained your people, had a real policy and a trusted reporting route, and would act. Get those in place this week and you meet Friday standing up, and your team is genuinely safer for it. If you'd like a hand getting ready before Friday, that's exactly what we're here for. Start with the free health check, look at Safe Voice for your safe reporting route, or drop us a line at buzz at kateunderwoodhaar.co.uk. No pressure, no jargon, just a proper conversation about keeping your people safe and your business sound. Until next time, keep buzzing, look after your people, and get this one sorted before the weekend. Kettle on.