Online & technology facilitated abuse
Sexual harassment
New resources from eSafety address workplace technology-facilitated abuse
Estimated read time: 4 minutes
As technology evolves and transforms workplace dynamics, it also opens up new avenues to perpetrate harmful behaviours, such as intimidation, harassment and abuse. To continue to drive proactive systemic change, eSafety has bolstered its online safety advice and resources to assist organisations in identifying and combating technology-facilitated abuse in the workplace.
These new materials provide much-needed guidance for employers navigating the complexities of preventing and addressing online abuse at work – an increasingly complex task due to the intersection with workplace safety, gender-based violence, and digital rights. The updated advice cites ANROWS research as foundational evidence underpinning this national response.
A persistent and gendered problem
In recent years, ANROWS has drawn attention to the alarming prevalence of tech-facilitated sexual harassment across Australian workplaces. Our national research revealed that 1 in 7 Australian adults surveyed admitted to engaging in this form of harassment – a sobering statistic that underscores the urgent need for prevention and accountability.
The research also exposed clear gendered patterns in perpetration, with 24% of men surveyed said to have engaged in tech-facilitated workplace sexual harassment, and only 7% of women.
The behaviour was also more prevalent in male-dominated industries, and most likely to occur among those who hold sexist or gender-discriminatory attitudes. Participants who strongly endorsed sexist and gender-discriminatory attitudes were over 15 times more likely to report engaging in workplace technology-facilitated sexual harassment than those with low endorsement of these attitudes.
These insights – published in ANROWS’ Workplace technology-facilitated sexual harassment: Perpetration, responses and prevention – have since informed policy and practice across the country. eSafety’s workplace guidance represents an important step in translating this research into concrete, actionable strategies.
Practical tools for safer digital workplaces
The newly released advice and resources – developed with support from Safe Work Australia – are designed to support employers to prevent, identify and respond to the harms of technology-facilitated abuse, and to help them meet their obligations under Australian work health and safety laws. Under these laws, workplaces are required to proactively manage psychosocial hazards, including those that arise in digital contexts.
Key features include support to:
- integrate online abuse into workplace psychosocial risk assessments and risk assessment and management plans
- establish clear policies and reporting pathways to prevent and respond to technology-facilitated abuse
- build capability among managers and staff to identify, address and support workers impacted by digital abuse
- promote workplaces with a culture of inclusion and respect, both online and offline.
This holistic approach recognises that a safe workplace must extend beyond the physical to the digital – and that gender-based abuse in online environments is a serious work health and safety concern.
Sharing the responsibility
ANROWS is committed to supporting workplaces, policymakers and practitioners to embed evidence-informed approaches to violence prevention. We encourage organisations across all sectors to share the new eSafety resources within their networks, and to take proactive steps in preventing technology-facilitated abuse.
By drawing on the evidence, engaging with expert advice, and fostering cultures grounded in respect and safety, we can create connected and innovative-workplaces that are free from harm.
Explore eSafety resources
ANROWS has produced a summary resource, What the evidence tells us, which brings together key insights form across our sexual harassment projects, highlighting what needs to change at both organisational and policy levels:
Download resource