02. Physical safety and inclusive workspace design

How does this Building Block manifest in the workplace and supply chain?

Workplace harassment and violence can be physical, psychological or sexual and includes verbal abuse, bullying, threats and intimidation. According to the ILO, globally, 17.9 per cent of employed men and women said they had experienced psychological violence and harassment in their working life, and 8.5 per cent had faced physical violence and harassment, with more men than women experiencing this. 6.3 per cent reported facing sexual violence and harassment, with women being particularly exposed. However, harassment and violence at work can be difficult to measure as not everyone reports it, out of fear for retaliation, shame, guilt, lack of trust in institutions or because these behaviours are seen as “normal”. Particularly, young women and migrant women are affected by harassment and violence at work. One of the ways in which companies can create a safe working environment for women is to ensure access to a violence-free workplace.

In addition, a safe workplace is not just about creating a safe, violence free environment but also must protect the employees from other occupational hazards that they might be exposed to, due to the nature of their jobs. This can include ensuring proper protective gears and uniforms are available for all employees to prevent exposure to chemical hazards. Here it is also important to consider what are certain assumptions that are made whilst designing such an environment since these physical spaces also have social consequences. These social consequences may form barriers to women´s full participation in the workforce. Think, for example, about women spending more time in the queue for the bathroom. Or about industrial machinery that is often designed for the male worker and might be awkward to use for women.

03. Skills and Leadership Development

How could your organization guarantee safety and an inclusive workplace for women?

  • Strive to have a zero tolerance policy against sexual harassment

  • Establish a set of policies and procedures that not only prevents sexual harassment at the workplace, but also provides safe and secure grievance redressal mechanisms that eliminates the threat of retaliation

  • Regular and robust collecting of gender-disaggregated data on violence and harassment at work, to inform prevention and remediation policies and mechanisms. Preferably, the data is also disaggregated to other aspects of identity such as, migrant status, employment status, age and ethnicity

  • Extend and update mechanisms to effectively prevent and manage violence and harassment in the world of work, such as grievance mechanisms, gender-based violence and whistle blowing policies. This includes ensuring that handlers of complaints are gender-diverse and are equipped to deal with trauma. Monitor the effectiveness of the mechanisms.

  • Increase awareness of violence and harassment at work in all its manifestations

  • Provide security measures, such as adequate lighting, security cameras, private sanitation facilities and accommodation or by establishing safeguarding supervisors

  • Ensure safety policies and procedures include a gender lens and women are consulted in the formulation of them; as safety issues in the workplace might impact women differently or disproportionately

  • Create an enabling, accessible environment for women of all ages, sizes, abilities and disabilities and working styles to overcome barriers to participation in the workforce. This also ensures that workers experience a feeling of safety and belonging within the workplace

  • Creation of different kinds of work set-ups within the workplace to address the different working styles of employees allows for worker flexibility within the workplace

  • Ensure that women and people with other identities (people with a disability, people of various faiths, parents, the elderly) are included in the design of the workplace

What questions can we ask within the organization to guarantee a safe and inclusive working environment and workspace?

  • Is there anything we can do to create an environment that is more inclusive?
  • Are the processes that we have relating to equity, inclusion, trauma-informed or culturally sensitive? How have they been working so far? Is there anything that we should change?