Small Business Hub

A Resource for Small Business 

An explainer guide to help small businesses understand the positive duty and take action.

Free eLearning courses

A series of eLearning courses, to help small businesses understand the positive duty.

Explainer videos

A series of animations about the positive duty, and the unlawful behaviours that it covers.

Workplace sexual harassment resources for employers

Guidance to help employers address workplace sexual harassment.

Positive Duty Form

Anyone can tell us about any concerns about any organisation or business not complying with the positive duty by completing our online Positive Duty Form

Factsheet for workers

This fact sheet briefly summarises what sexual harassment or sexist behaviour may look like at work and how the Commission can help.

Free support and counselling services

This fact sheet provides a list of free and confidential counselling and other support services.

Explainer videos

A series of animations about the positive duty, and the unlawful behaviours that it covers.

Positive duty poster

A poster about the positive duty in the Sex Discrimination Act.

Sexual harassment resources for workers

The resources for workers focus on how to identify sexual harassment, and what help is available.

Do you understand your obligations under the Sex Discrimination Act?

Do you have up-to-date knowledge about workplace sexual harassment, sex discrimination and other unlawful behaviours?

Do you know about the causes and impacts of unlawful behaviour; how to identify and respond to it; and where to go for advice, information and support?

Have you put in place measures to prevent and respond to these unlawful behaviours and put them in a plan?

Do you check whether these measures are working and update them?

Are you a role model for respectful behaviour in your business?

Have you made it clear that you are committed to creating a safe, respectful, diverse and inclusive workplace?

Have you set clear expectations about what behaviour is acceptable in your business?

“[Leaders] having open and honest conversations about sexual harassment and what it looks like is extremely important in building a safe and inclusive workplace.”

- Written submission (Safe workplaces are inclusive workplaces)

Is the culture at your business safe and respectful?

Is your workforce diverse and inclusive?

Are you paying attention to gender balance when recruiting or promoting people?

Are all workers supported to report unlawful behaviours when they occur?

Are reports of unlawful behaviours handled in a way that minimises harm?

Are people who engage in unlawful behaviour held accountable for their actions?

“Co-design and co-create with the people who are the most affected… if you don’t have the lived experience, it’s so easy to just prescribe. Hearing from all the diverse lived experiences, perspectives, backgrounds, nuances … that’s important. Because that’s the culture and culture is, again, made up of people in there.”

- Culturally and racially marginalised worker (Speaking From Experience Report)

What do your staff know about unlawful behaviour?

Do they know about their rights and responsibilities in relation to creating a safe, respectful and inclusive workplace and working relationships?

Are you including this information in staff inductions and training?

Does your training and education include focus on the kind of respectful workplace you want to create?

Do you have a policy about unlawful behaviours and is it consistently enforced?

“In grocery stores I had to repeat modules about bananas every other month, but did the sexual assault one only once. That’s a really interesting message though, isn’t it? Because bananas aren’t that important, but sexual harassment is.”

- Young supermarket worker (Speaking From Experience Report)

Do you understand that unlawful behaviour is both an equality risk and a health and safety risk?

Are you taking a risk-based approach to preventing unlawful behaviour?

Have you identified the risks in your business and taken steps to manage these risks?

Are you checking to see if your approach is working?

“In terms of situations where you feel unsafe, it’s hard to know if a customer is making you uncomfortable, can you leave? Can you say, ‘I don’t feel safe here’... If you are a member of the public in that cafe ... you could just leave, but the workers are stuck there.”

- Young hospitality worker (Speaking From Experience Report)

What supports do you have for workers who have experienced or witnessed unlawful behaviour?

Who can your workers speak to inside your business about these experiences?

What support services outside your business can your workers access?

Do your managers and workers know about these supports?

Can your workers access support without talking to you?

“[My supervisor asked me], ‘What do you need? Do you want time away? Do you want to work from home?”

- First Nations Worker, Canberra (Helpful responses to workplace sexual harassment)

If your workers experience or witness unlawful behaviour, how can they report it?

Have you told your workers how they can report unlawful behaviour?

How will you respond to a report from your workers?

Will your response be consistent, timely and prioritise workers’ safety and wellbeing?

Will the consequences for people who engage in unlawful behaviour be consistent and appropriate in the circumstances?

“The response should be, ‘are you okay?’ Rather than, ‘are you sure?”

- Culturally and racially marginalised worker, Brisbane (Helpful responses to workplace sexual harassment)

Do you know what unlawful behaviours your workers experience or are at risk of experiencing?

What are you doing to prevent and respond to these risks and incidents of unlawful behaviour if/when they occur?

Are you up-front with your workers about the presence or risk of unlawful behaviour?

Have you told your workers about what steps you have taken to address incidents and risks of unlawful behaviours?

Are you checking to see that what you are doing is working and updating/changing your approach if necessary?

“There needs to be mechanisms [for] people to give feedback on policies and processes so there can be continual improvement … Co-design resources with [workers] and recognise intersectionality—not just women, but people with disability, First Nations people, the queer community, people of colour, and culturally and linguistically diverse people.”

- Neurodivergent worker (Speaking From Experience Report)

As a boss, the way you respond matters. It’s your job to take steps to make sure your workers are safe at work.

We asked over 300 people who have been sexually harassed at work what a helpful response to workplace sexual harassment looks like.

They told us that helpful responses are person-centred, trauma informed, and intersectional. This means putting people first, prioritising their safety and wellbeing, and adjusting responses to suit the many barriers, challenges, and risks to safety that different people experience.

A range of case studies were developed based on a range of experiences and what we heard a ‘helpful’ response looks like.

Samar owns a small construction company. He employs eight men. The team moves to a new worksite every few months. They usually work alongside tradespeople from other companies, including women. The men often make loud sexual jokes about the women on site, whistle at them, and try to show them pornographic videos. They joke to each other about the women painters they work with, laughing about their ‘handling of their tools’. They find out that one of the women is married to another woman and they target her daily with jokes about her sex life.

Samar’s workers’ behaviour is likely to create a workplace environment that is hostile on the ground of sex. The jokes and pornographic materials are likely to be sexual harassment in connection with work. Samar has a positive duty to eliminate relevant unlawful behaviours, as far as possible, from his work environments.

Samar realises his workplace culture needs to change. He has a talk with his team on-site and makes it clear that their behaviour is against the law and that it will not be tolerated. He states that he has a duty to create a safe and respectful work environment for everyone on the worksite. Samar creates a simple Respectful Behaviour Policy and asks his employees to read and sign copies. He approaches the women on-site and says that he wants to run a respectful worksite and asks them to report any inappropriate comments or banter to him. He provides them with his mobile number and asks them to text him with any concerns, if they don’t feel comfortable approaching him directly. He tells them he will keep any reports confidential if they wish. Samar puts up a Respect@Work poster at each new worksite and adds a discussion about unlawful behaviours to future team meetings.

Paula is the owner of a real estate agency with 15 employees. Aside from Paula, all senior staff members are male. Paula’s staff members are based at the same office location, although they also work from home and visit tenants and landlords in their homes. 

Aisha, a young staff member and the only woman of colour at the agency, speaks privately with Paula. Aisha shares that she feels uncomfortable with some things that her direct supervisor, Luke, has done. She says that Luke doesn’t let the women in his team run high-profile sales because he thinks ‘they can’t handle the pressure’. Aisha tells Paula that Luke requires his female colleagues to wear high heels and short skirts to property inspections ‘to make a good impression’ on their clients. She says that Luke has suggested that she straighten her hair to look more ‘professional’ and that he said that he likes the way bright colours look against her skin tone. Aisha also tells Paula that Luke has told her that he finds ‘exotic women very sexy’, and that he often thinks about what Aisha would look like naked. When Aisha asked Luke to please stop making such comments, Luke told her she should take it as a compliment. Paula is concerned about the impact of this conduct on Aisha and asks if she would like assistance to access support. Aisha declines, saying she just wants to be able to do her job.

Luke’s behaviour is likely to create a workplace environment that is hostile on the ground of sex. The rigid gender roles he enforces may be sex discrimination, and the comments around Aisha’s appearance may be sexual harassment in connection with work. Paula has a positive duty to eliminate relevant unlawful behaviours, as far as possible, from the organisation.

Paula organises training for all staff about understanding and addressing sex discrimination, sexual harassment and other unlawful behaviours. She reiterates the company dress code, which is ‘smart business attire’ and stresses that the dress code expectations are the same for everyone, regardless of gender.

Paula reviews the portfolios of all senior staff and directs Luke to allocate certain high-profile sales to women staff. Paula creates a Respectful Behaviour Policy. The policy sets out the definitions of unlawful behaviour, the options for reporting it and the consequences for engaging in it. Paula prints out the policy and displays it in the office and tells her employees about the policy during a team meeting. Paula includes conversations about it at quarterly team meetings and monitors the allocation of work within the sales teams. She regularly checks in with Aisha, and other workers to see if they feel they are treated fairly at work and to ask them how the agency can do better.