Veena Khandke, VP-Service Delivery Head, Ensono India Over the last three years, we’ve witnessed nothing short of a work revolution. But, amid intense hype around the often-invoked “new normal,” it’s easy to forget that, regrettably, some aspects of work remain the same.
Despite improvements in so many facets of how we work, toxic cultures and harassment are ongoing, even growing issues, and women in technology organizations know this all too well.
Ensono’s most recent Speak Up survey (see infographic here) found that over 20 percent of women in technology across the U.S., U.K. and India report experiencing verbal and sexual harassment on the job.1 Workplace toxicity and harassment are not simply people problems, they’re a threat to the health and success of businesses everywhere. In 2023, employers need to evolve their approach to acknowledging, understanding and mitigating these issues (or risk losing talent and damaging their reputations).
1“Speak Up 2022: Women’s voices in the tech workplace,” Ensono, 2022. 2“Experience of violence and harassment at work: A global first survey,” International Labour Organization, 2022. 3“Women @ Work 2022: A global outlook,” Deloitte, 2022.
The numbers don’t lie: Harassment persists across industries and geographies
Ensono’s own Speak Up study reflects one segment of a broader trend in harassment at work. First-of-its-kind research from the International Labour Organization and Gallup found that more than 22 percent of employed people around the world have experienced at least one form of violence and harassment at work.2
And while the reality is that employees of any gender can be workplace aggressors, women are often at the receiving end of these interactions. 59 percent of women have experienced harassment and/or microaggressions at work over the past year, according to Deloitte’s Women at Work 2022 report, up from 52 percent in 2021.3
These statistics aren’t surprising, but they are disappointing. Even with employers’ efforts to make meaningful progress toward inclusivity and greater diversity, there is more work to be done. Some may question how these numbers are rising as more employees work remotely. In fact, hybrid arrangements introduce new challenges to identifying and mitigating bad behaviors. In a video meeting or chat conversation, a microaggression (or worse) is often only seen by the two people involved. Today, unless the harassed employee opens up to a coworker or manager, these aggressions may remain invisible. As we move faster into a world of flexible, decentralized work, the checks and balances we rely on to promote positive cultures need to catch up.
Silence and subpar policies impede needed change
Despite the prevalence of workplace harassment, so many of these interactions go unreported. The ILO/Gallup study found that worldwide, only 54 percent of those who experienced violence and harassment in the last five years disclosed it to another person. Of this group, just 55 percent told their employer or supervisor; most were likely to tell a friend or family member instead. Almost all women surveyed in Deloitte’s Women at Work research reported feeling that their employer will not take action when non-inclusive behaviors are reported.3
4“Women in the Workplace 2022,” McKinsey & Company, 2022.
In India, where I’m based, part of this stems from a culture where women aren’t always empowered to vocalize their own wants and needs (let alone concerns). Universally, this inclination to stay silent indicates another root problem: vague organizational policies. Of employees who haven’t reported a harassment instance, 43 percent say it was because of unclear procedures within their companies. This is another issue that can be exacerbated by hybrid work. Inconsistent communication across distributed teams and channels can dilute the power of processes meant to safeguard employees in the first place.
When it comes to practices meant to stop toxic behavior before it occurs, there’s also room for improvement. Recent McKinsey research found that though most HR professionals expect managers to promote inclusion on their teams, only around half of managers actually take action to encourage respectful team behavior.4
Misconduct and workplace harassment don’t simply happen—they’re the product of a culture that enables (or turns a blind eye to) them. Left unchecked, they can wreak havoc on your entire organization.
What happens when we let toxic behavior slide
Many of us have dealt with stressful jobs, or roles that brought us so little fulfillment that it was hard to look forward to the work week ahead. But a truly toxic work culture does much more than incentivize employees to hit the snooze button.
Toxic behavior erodes morale across your team. Working for a company, or a leadership team, that fails to protect us from microaggressions or harassment can quickly foster distrust, burnout and disengagement. This not only damages relationships and collaboration across your business, but also impacts employee productivity and mental health. The ultimate consequence is losing your most important asset — your people. Toxic corporate cultures were found to be the leading indicator of attrition across industries.5
Toxic behavior places more pressure on managers. As the saying goes, “There are three sides to every story: yours, mine and the truth.” In environments that lack clear protocols, managers shoulder a greater responsibility to decipher the truth when instances of harassment are brought forward. Knowing that plenty of managers struggle to foster an inclusive team atmosphere, we can’t realistically expect them to navigate and arbitrate incidents on their own.
5Donald Sull, Charles Sull and Ben Zweig, “Toxic Culture Is Driving the Great Resignation,” MIT Sloan Management Review, 2022. 6“Women in the tech industry: Gaining ground, but facing new headwinds,” Deloitte, 2021. 7Dr. Katy Ring, “Women in Tech: India Leads the Way,” 451 Research.
Toxic behavior undermines our investments to improve diversity. We already know that, despite some strides, women are underrepresented in technology companies and technical roles.6 Slow progress is still progress, but perpetuating environments that aren’t conducive to helping women grow will reverse this forward momentum. In India, more than 30 percent of the IT workforce is female, but we often see women leave the workforce in their late 20s and early 30s as they get married and have children.7 With these cultural gender dynamics already at play, employers must work even harder to create safe spaces where women can thrive and innovate. In today’s competitive economic climate, employers can’t afford to suffer these consequences. But what does real change look like?
As a Gen Xer, I’ve witnessed a clear shift throughout my own career in how employers handle toxicity. Policies and programs exist today that did not exist years ago. Mandatory corporate anti-bias and harassment trainings have increased overall awareness of these issues and their impacts. But, if those on the receiving end of harmful interactions are still hesitant to speak up, and if the perpetrators still don’t understand the gravity of their behavior, there is more work to do. Here are four ways employers can do better at combating harassment and other aggressions:
#1) Zero in on flawed practices – Hours of education and reinforcement will not always undo a personality problem (i.e., someone’s own deep-seated biases). Instead, employers need to take an objective look at their operations, reflecting on how gaps in certain policies or communication standards may contribute to a toxic environment. If parts of your corporate infrastructure enable the wrong actions from employees, it’s time to knock down that load-bearing wall.
#2) Model diversity and inclusion at the highest level – For female employees especially, the best support is other women. When women don’t hold roles with decision-making power, it’s impossible to change the experiences of those on the ground floor. When more women inhabit leadership teams, C-suites and boards, there are more voices advocating for them throughout your ranks. Many female leaders, myself included, take it upon themselves to proactively ask their employees, “How are you?” and “What do you need?” These simple gestures generate trust, making employees comfortable and willing to raise important concerns when necessary.
#3) Create space – Clear incident protocols are only part of the solution. Leaders must also create safe forums for reporting issues, channels that allow people to candidly share their experiences without fear. People managers must also be equipped with the resources to play different roles depending on the situation. This likely means going beyond boilerplate, self-guided corporate training. Consider how more interactive, participant-led education can better prepare your teams for a variety of potential issues. This may mean role playing ways to effectively listen to an employee’s account. It could also mean discussing what specific avenues are available for escalating an incident. A one-size-fits-all approach cannot accommodate the nuance of individual scenarios.
#4) Nail the follow-through – The International Labour Organization survey found the top reason employees didn’t disclose harassment was that it, “felt like a waste of time.” Leaders at all levels should be communicating the consequencesfor violating workplace codes of conduct, whether that means termination, temporary suspension or being put on a performance improvement plan.
When incidents are raised, employers need to demonstrate that they will be dealt with swiftly and investigated thoroughly and the rights and reputations of all parties protected until the investigation runs its course, or else risk more employees suffering in silence. Make your company’s response and investigation protocol public on an intranet or internal wiki so that everyone understands the process and can be confident their feedback won’t disappear into a void.
We’re entering a new era in how we work. Organizations can no longer rely on the same decades-old playbook for mitigating misconduct and expect positive results. In 2023, no company should be new to a documented harassment and discrimination policy. Now is the time for leaders to revisit the status quo and ask, “Are we doing enough?” And if the data has taught us anything, the answer is probably, “No.”
To effect significant change, employers will need to commit to redlining existing policies, patching the holes and testing creative solutions. Not all will choose to make this investment, but those that do will be more resilient and productive for it.
