If your sexual harassment prevention strategy begins and ends with “we have a policy,” you’re not compliant-and you’re definitely not protected.
I’ve had dozens of conversations with business owners and HR leaders over the past year, and the same pattern keeps emerging:
“We’ve got a policy. We do training. Isn’t that enough?”
The short answer? No. Not anymore.
With the introduction of the positive duty under Australian law, the bar has been raised significantly. And many businesses are still operating like it’s 2019.
Access your free Checklist here 👉 https://lnkd.in/gQJqNfGM
What Changed? The Positive Duty Explained
The positive duty isn’t just a new buzzword-it’s a fundamental shift in how we approach workplace sexual harassment.
Old approach: React when something happens. Have a policy in place. Investigate complaints.
New approach: Proactively prevent sexual harassment, sex-based harassment, and related unlawful conduct from occurring in the first place.
The difference is massive.
You can’t just wait for a complaint and then respond. You need to demonstrate that you’ve taken reasonable and proportionate measures to eliminate harassment risks before they materialize.
The Problem with “Policy-Only” Prevention
Here’s the uncomfortable truth: most sexual harassment policies are compliance theater.
They exist to satisfy a legal requirement. They get filed away during onboarding. They’re written in language employees don’t understand. And they certainly don’t reflect the actual risks in your specific workplace.
A policy sitting in a folder (or buried in an intranet) is not a prevention strategy.
Under the positive duty, you need to go deeper. You need to ask:
✅ What are the actual risks in OUR workplace?
- Is it after-work drinks where boundaries get blurred?
- Client-facing roles where workers deal with external harassment?
- Power imbalances in specific teams or departments?
- Isolated work environments with limited oversight?
✅ How do our managers actually respond when issues arise?
- Are they trained to recognize harassment—including subtle forms?
- Do they know what to do in the first 24 hours after a concern is raised?
- Are they held accountable for the culture of their teams?
✅ Are workers genuinely consulted about safety and prevention?
- Do employees have input into risk assessments?
- Are they comfortable raising concerns before they become complaints?
- Is there psychological safety to speak up?
✅ What happens when customers, clients, or third parties are part of the risk?
- Do you have protocols for worker protection from external harassment?
- Are there consequences for clients who harass staff?
- Is “the customer is always right” putting your team at risk?
If you can’t answer these questions confidently, you’ve got gaps.
Moving from Compliance to Culture
The positive duty isn’t about making your compliance burden heavier—it’s about making your workplace genuinely safer.
But that requires a mindset shift:
From: “Do we have the right documents?” To: “Are our people actually protected?”
From: “Have we done the training?” To: “Do our people know what to do in real situations?”
From: “Is our policy up to date?” To: “Is our culture one where harassment can’t take root?”
This isn’t just good ethics—it’s good risk management. Courts and regulators are now looking at whether organizations took proactive, context-specific steps to prevent harm.
Generic policies won’t cut it.
Where to Start: Identify Your Gaps
If you’re reading this and feeling overwhelmed, I get it. The positive duty can feel like a massive undertaking.
But you don’t need to rebuild everything from scratch. You need to know where your gaps are so you can prioritize action.
That’s why we created a free Sexual Harassment Prevention Checklist.
It’s designed to help you:
- ✅ Assess your current prevention measures against the positive duty requirements
- ✅ Identify specific risks in your workplace
- ✅ Pinpoint gaps in manager capability, worker consultation, and response systems
- ✅ Get practical next steps based on where you are now
It takes less than 10 minutes to work through and gives you a clear picture of where you stand.
The Question Every Leader Should Be Asking
Here it is:
“If we had to prove tomorrow that we’d taken all reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment in our workplace, what evidence could we show?”
Not just policies. Not just training completion rates.
Real evidence:
- Risk assessments specific to your workplace
- Consultation records with workers
- Manager capability and accountability measures
- Protocols for high-risk situations (events, client interactions, isolated work)
- Regular reviews and updates based on what you’re learning
If you’re struggling to answer that question, you’re not alone—but you do need to act.
Get Your Free Checklist
The positive duty is here. It’s not going away. And organizations that treat it as a checkbox exercise are setting themselves up for trouble.
The good news? Most of the gaps are fixable. You just need to know where they are.
Download the free Sexual Harassment Prevention Checklist here:
It’ll take you less than 10 minutes, and you’ll walk away with clarity on:
- What’s working
- What’s missing
- Where to focus your efforts next
How confident are you that your business has moved beyond the policy?
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#HRLeadership
#EmploymentLaw
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DISCLAIMER
This article provides general information about workplace sexual harassment prevention obligations in Australia. It is not legal advice and should not be relied upon as such. Organisations should seek advice from qualified legal professionals regarding their specific circumstances and obligations under the Sex Discrimination Act 1984 (Cth), Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth), and relevant state/territory legislation.
