A new Human Rights Commission report describes New Zealand’s workplace culture as ‘inappropriate’ and ‘ugly’.
A survey of more than 2,500 workers earlier this year, released Monday, found that 30% had experienced sexual harassment at least once in the past five years.
Meanwhile, 39% report experiencing at least one act of racial harassment, including racial jokes, ridicule, or discriminatory treatment, in the past five years.
A further 20% said they had been bullied frequently in the past year.
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Equal Employment Opportunity Commissioner Saunomaalii Karanina Sumeo told Breakfast that the report’s findings were “ugly.”
“Everyone has a basic right to be safe at work and not be discriminated against,” she said.
“Life isn’t perfect, but when you’re at work, your employer has a duty to ensure your safety, a duty of care.”
Sumeo said the numbers were “really, really shocking” for workers with disabilities. Asian, Pacific and Maori workers. and migrant workers.
“For the first time, we’re looking at that level of detail. Often, studies say, ‘Have you ever suffered from bullying or sexual harassment?’ We wanted to hear specifically about sexual harassment, racial harassment, and bullying, and that’s the picture we have.
“It’s really ugly and we have to deal with it.”
Shane Matheson, a top drawer consultant, said the report’s findings were “rarely surprising” and that categorizing specific types of bullying and harassment provides “a good benchmark for people.” added.
However, she said she was “a little offended” by reports that she “calls all harassment violence or creates a dangerous environment.”
“While it may create an uncomfortable environment, not all harassment – for example, unwanted remarks, unwanted jokes, etc. – per se, as a single event, is not considered violent.
“Definitely not appropriate, not polite, not polite, not polite – none of them – but not as a single event, but on that higher level.”
Matheson said the “minimum” employees can expect from employers to create a safe environment is “to hire the right people in the first place.”
“Employers should consider their right to demand both technical and interpersonal competence from their employees in reference checks, for example when hiring people.”
She also said that employers should have “proactive and restorative practices” for “handling formal complaints”, “clear and consistent messages” in their policies, and in particular that the senior management team should have “appropriate He said that it is necessary to “model such behavior by ourselves.”
Matheson also called on employers to take a more hands-on approach to creating safe work environments. more vulnerable.”
Sumeo added that as well as being concerned about employees not reporting harassment, “a significant amount of these behaviors have been witnessed by others.”
She said, “We have to remove the blame from the victim and hold everyone in that workplace accountable.”
“You can say, ‘Yes, we need a policy,’ but sometimes the perpetrator is your boss,” she said.
“Working in a small restaurant or a dairy or a small place is not like HR at TVNZ or the Human Rights Commission. They have nowhere to go.
“It’s really important that we take care of people, but everyone in the place has to take responsibility.”
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