Sexual Harassment Awareness and Prevention
Building safer, respectful and more accountable workplaces.
Sexual Harassment Awareness and Prevention is a practical, sensitive and engaging workplace training programme designed to help employees recognise inappropriate conduct, understand its impact and contribute to a culture in which concerns are taken seriously.
The course moves beyond definitions and compliance to explore the realities of workplace behaviour, including conduct that may be dismissed as humour, banter or harmless intent.
Participants develop the confidence to recognise potential sexual harassment, consider the importance of boundaries and consent, respond appropriately as a colleague or active bystander, and understand how concerns can be raised within their organisation.
Recommended course length: Half Day
Delivery: Available face-to-face or online, depending on organisational requirements.
Overview
Sexual harassment can affect people of any sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, role or level of seniority. It may happen in person or through email, messaging platforms, social media and other digital communications.
It can include overtly sexual conduct, but it can also involve less obvious behaviours such as sexualised comments, repeated personal questions, inappropriate jokes, unwanted attention, intrusive messages or displaying sexual material.
This course helps employees understand what sexual harassment is, how workplace culture and power dynamics can influence behaviour, and why impact cannot be judged solely by someone’s intention.
The programme uses facilitated discussion, realistic workplace scenarios and reflective activities to help participants translate awareness into safer everyday behaviour.
The learning is delivered sensitively and without requiring participants to disclose personal experiences.
Topics Covered
- What sexual harassment is and how it can occur
- Relevant workplace protections and organisational responsibilities
- The difference between intention and impact
- Consent, personal boundaries and unwanted conduct
- Sexualised language, humour and workplace “banter”
- Power, status and vulnerability within workplace relationships
- Harassment through email, messaging platforms and social media
- Workplace events, social occasions and conduct outside the usual workplace
- Recognising less obvious or normalised behaviours
- Responding as a recipient, witness, colleague or active bystander
- Raising concerns and accessing appropriate support
- Creating a respectful and accountable workplace culture
Course Outcomes
By the end of the session, participants will be able to:
- Explain what constitutes workplace sexual harassment
- Recognise a range of overt and less obvious inappropriate behaviours
- Understand the difference between someone’s intention and the impact of their conduct
- Reflect on consent, boundaries, language and professional behaviour
- Recognise how power dynamics can affect workplace experiences
- Respond more confidently when witnessing potentially inappropriate conduct
- Understand appropriate reporting and support routes
- Identify practical actions that contribute to a safer and more respectful workplace
Ready to Create a Safer Workplace?
Build awareness, strengthen confidence and help your employees understand the role everyone plays in preventing sexual harassment.
Every programme can be contextualised around your organisation, sector, working environment and internal reporting arrangements.
What this course is – and isn’t
This course is:
- An awareness and prevention programme for employees
- Focused on respectful conduct, boundaries and workplace culture
- Practical, discussion-based and grounded in realistic workplace situations
- Designed to strengthen confidence in recognising and responding to inappropriate behaviour
- Delivered sensitively, without expecting participants to share personal experiences
- An important component of a wider organisational approach to preventing sexual harassment
This course is not:
- A substitute for legal advice
- A formal investigation or case-management programme
- Training on conducting disciplinary or grievance investigations
- A forum for discussing identifiable individual cases
- A standalone guarantee of organisational compliance
- Designed to place responsibility for preventing harassment on those who experience it
This ensures that participants gain meaningful understanding while personal boundaries, confidentiality and organisational responsibilities remain clear.
Get in Touch
Every organisation has a different culture, workforce and risk profile.
Speak to us about adapting the programme to reflect your policies, reporting routes, workplace environments and organisational priorities.
Who is this course for?
This course is particularly relevant for:
- Employees at all levels – building shared understanding of appropriate workplace conduct
- Office-based, operational, remote and hybrid teams
- Customer-facing and public-facing employees
- Volunteers, trustees and board members
- People working in environments involving regular contact with customers, clients, patients, residents or service users
- Organisations seeking to strengthen their preventative approach to sexual harassment
- Teams requiring refreshed learning following policy or legislative changes
No prior knowledge or experience is required.
Where managers have responsibility for receiving concerns or responding to disclosures, we recommend additional manager-specific learning.
Business benefits
Investing in this training supports:
- Greater awareness of sexual harassment and inappropriate conduct
- Clearer understanding of professional boundaries
- Increased confidence in challenging or reporting concerns
- More effective active-bystander responses
- Reduced normalisation of inappropriate language and behaviour
- Stronger psychological safety and employee trust
- Greater consistency between organisational policies and everyday conduct
- A more respectful, inclusive and accountable workplace culture
- Evidence of proactive organisational learning and prevention activity
Certification and materials
Participants will receive:
- Certification of completion, available on request
- A practical learner resource for ongoing reference
- Guidance on recognising and responding to inappropriate behaviour
- Information about appropriate reporting and support routes
Face-to-face training
- Delivered over one half day
- Available at your workplace or chosen venue
Facilitated through discussion, realistic scenarios and reflective activities
Typically delivered to groups of up to 15 participants
Online / remote delivery
- Typically delivered as one three-hour interactive session
- Suitable for remote and geographically dispersed teams
- Includes facilitated discussion, scenarios, polls and reflective activities
- Typically delivered to groups of up to 15 participants
Group size:
- Up to 15 participants per session as standard
- Alternative cohort arrangements can be discussed for larger organisational programmes
Smaller cohort sizes help create an appropriate environment for discussion and enable participants to engage meaningfully with workplace scenarios.
A Trauma-Aware Approach
We recognise that sexual harassment is a sensitive subject and that some participants may have personal experience of the issues being discussed.
Our facilitators establish clear expectations at the beginning of the session and ensure that nobody is required to disclose personal experiences.
Participants are encouraged to look after their wellbeing, step away temporarily if needed and access appropriate organisational or external support.
The programme focuses on learning, prevention and safer workplace behaviour rather than asking individuals to revisit personal experiences.
Contextualising the Programme
- Your organisation’s sexual harassment, dignity at work or anti-harassment policy
- Internal reporting and escalation routes
- Employee assistance and wellbeing support
- Sector-specific working environments
- Risks associated with lone working, travel, social events or customer contact
- Remote working and digital communication
- Relevant anonymised workplace scenarios
- Existing organisational values and expected behaviours
Any contextualisation is agreed in advance, and identifiable employee cases should not be used as training scenarios.
Part of a Wider Sexual Harassment Prevention Pathway
Awareness training is an important element of prevention, but it should form part of a wider organisational approach.
Alongside this employee-level programme, Diversiti UK can also provide:
- Sexual Harassment Prevention for Managers – supporting managers to receive concerns, respond appropriately and understand their responsibilities
- Active Bystander Training – building confidence to challenge and interrupt inappropriate behaviour
- Inclusive Leadership – strengthening leadership accountability and workplace culture
- Policy and Procedure Review – reviewing clarity, accessibility and alignment across organisational documentation
- Organisational Risk and Readiness Assessment – identifying workplace risks, barriers to reporting and areas for improvement
- Facilitated Action Planning – supporting leaders to translate learning into practical organisational action
Together, these services can support a consistent and joined-up approach to prevention, reporting, response and cultural change.
Why choose Diversiti UK?
Diversiti UK delivers practical, engaging and sensitive workplace learning across equality, diversity and inclusion, leadership, workplace culture, mental health and wellbeing.
Our training moves beyond passive awareness, giving participants the opportunity to reflect on realistic situations, explore different perspectives and identify actions they can apply in their everyday working lives.
As a Community Interest Company, we have a strong social purpose and reinvest our profits into initiatives that support marginalised people and communities.
Find out more or book a course
Let us help you strengthen awareness, encourage respectful workplace behaviour and develop a more proactive approach to preventing sexual harassment.
We will work with you to understand your organisation, workforce and priorities before confirming the most appropriate delivery approach.
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