Tech is an alluring bandaid for workplace misconduct but it will leave glaring holes
Like many other graduates fresh out of university, Ashleigh Barnes was excited to start her first job, joining a design construction company. Her male-dominated workplace, however, soon proved to be a toxic environment, where she became the object of sexual innuendos and offensive comments. “Lots of really misogynistic things were said to me. They made me sound stupid, they made me feel like anything I said didn’t matter”, she says. Barnes eventually left the company and started her own business. She tells her story with pride for having overcome the mistreatment, and she helps put a face on misconduct statistics that often go unnoticed.
During the course of the average career, 74 per cent of UK workers experience or witness misconduct; 37 per cent of workers witness or experience inappropriate behaviour once a month. The axe falls unequally on younger workers between the age of 18-34, who are significantly more likely to experience wrongdoing. Part of the problem is the lack of reporting mechanisms, which mean many of these cases go unresolved and the culture is perpetuated.
As a result, third party apps to report misconduct have been mushrooming as an alternative solution to traditional HR practices, which have failed. Each of these apps is different; what many have in common, however, is the provision of anonymity for employees coming forward to denounce offensive behaviour.
Neta Meidav is the founder of Vault Platform, a software made for making misconduct reporting easy and efficient. She decided to launch the project after personally experiencing wrongdoing. Through Vault, people can take safe records of events and can come forward with their names or anonymously. Employees can also “go together”, which means submitting the record of what they’ve experienced only if they’re not the first ones to do so.
“Being ethical and purposeful about the ethics of your business is actually a great talent attraction and retention mechanism. It puts pressure on companies to perform”, says Meidav. Young people entering the job market, especially, tend to favour places that align with their work ethics.
The idea is that these apps can be easily integrated, and with a renewed focus on worker wellbeing, they can be an attractive solution. Barnes wasn’t aware of third party apps when she was suffering from misconduct in 2018, but says she would have been inclined to use one only if it had a direct channel of communication with the HR department.
The pandemic has worsened harassment. As people have been communicating online, it has made it easier to get away with behaviour that might be flagged in an office environment. Ivor Adair, an employment lawyer at Fox & Partners, said it has also made it more difficult to deal with misconduct cases because hybrid working management teams have to respond to whistleblowing remotely.
Third party apps can be a step in the right direction, but they’re not the definitive answer and should be handled with care. When people have experienced misconduct, having a human in front of them to address their problems is part of the resolution process.
Andrew Pepper-Parson is Head of policy at the whistleblowing charity Protect. “There is nothing like the individual speaking to a real person about the concerns they have, and the advice they need”, he says. Pepper-Parson adds that anonymous reporting can be effective where there is a two-way channel of communication that protects the whistleblower’s identity. If this channel is absent and the whistleblower is only reporting misconduct through an app, however, there is a risk of inaction on the part of the employer and it can be harder for the whistleblower to then claim protection under the law.
Companies can pay for a misconduct app for their employees – but that is only a small fraction of the equation. “It’s sticking plaster potentially, there’s a lot more to do”, Adair says.
Bosses need to roll up their sleeves and get to the real work. Fighting workplace misconduct will need every single employer and employee on the frontline.