INTHEBLACK August 2021 - Magazine - Page 45
Above: Annika Freyer, Champions of Change Coalition
LEADING FROM THE TOP
Annika Freyer, CEO of the Champions of Change
Coalition, has worked with leaders across many
industries to challenge gender inequality. She argues
there is an urgent need to shift from the current
reactive, complaints-based approach to one that
requires positive actions from employers and a focus
on prevention. This can be achieved by employing a
whole-of-organisation approach to raise awareness
about the impacts of sexual harassment at work.
“We consulted widely to determine what a better
approach could look like. We listened to the issues
to understand why sexual harassment occurs, how it
occurs in different settings and how the dynamics of
power and gender inequality play out to make certain
people more impacted by the behaviour,” says Freyer.
“What we found was, the system in and of itself
is clearly not working. What organisations have
been doing for the past decades has not solved
the problem of sexual harassment, and we need
to rethink the system.”
The result is Disrupting the System, a report and
resource that clearly outlines the steps organisations
can take to prevent sexual harassment at work. It
includes sample policies, frameworks, communications
Above: Emily Jaksch, HR Gurus
P R A C T I C A L WAY S
TO ADDRESS SEXUAL
H A R AS S M E N T I N
THE WORKPLACE
Elevate the prevention of
sexual harassment and
early intervention as a
leadership priority.
messaging and templates to help businesses – and,
in particular, smaller businesses that may not have a
dedicated HR function.
“The resource in the first instance is targeted at
leaders, who should be responsible for driving change,
because if they’re not, then at the end of the day, HR
really does have an uphill battle to fight,” says Freyer.
“It also has very practical resources and guidelines
that can be useful to HR practitioners to elevate
the issue of sexual harassment to leadership and
implement change.”
Jaksch has felt this particularly acutely, both as an
HR professional and through her personal experience
with her company’s senior leadership.
“Often the executive heads want to pretend like
it doesn’t exist,” says Jaksch, “and so when we bring
Address sexual
harassment as a
workplace health
and safety issue.
Introduce new principles
on confidentiality and
transparency for sexual
harassment cases.
Inform, empower and
expect everyone to speak
up on sexual harassment
in the workplace.
Listen to, respect,
empower and support
Source: Champions of Change’s
Disrupting the System report
intheblack.com August 2021 45
