SH.22.05
Evaluation of the Respect@Work Council
May 2024
The Australian Human Rights Commission’s Respect@Work: National Inquiry into Sexual Harassment in Australian Workplaces identified the need for greater coordination and collaboration among agencies tasked with preventing or responding to sexual harassment in the workplace. As part of the Australian Government’s response, the Respect@Work Council was established in 2020.
The Respect@Work Council (“the Council”) brings together government regulators and policymakers responsible for sexual harassment policies and complaint handling, together with employer groups, worker representatives and community organisations.
The Council was established to improve coordination, consistency and clarity across key legal and regulatory frameworks, to strengthen prevention of and response to sexual harassment in the workplace. For more information on the membership and aims of the Council, visit the Respect@Work Council website.
Research aim/s
In February 2022, ANROWS was funded by the Department of Social Services under the 2021–2024 ANROWS Sexual Harassment Research Program to conduct an evaluation of the Council.
The purposes of the evaluation, as established in consultation with the former Council Chair and Secretariat, were:
- to explore the extent to which the Council is operating in accordance with its terms of reference, and whether there are any opportunities to improve processes, including its structure, membership and ways of working
- to understand whether the Council is achieving its objectives, as set out in its terms of reference, and the extent to which there is evidence of broader impacts as a result of the Council fulfilling its responsibilities
- to explore whether the Council is an appropriate mechanism for achieving its objectives, and possible alternative models or structures.
Methods
The evaluation took a mixed methods approach, drawing on qualitative and quantitative data collected through:
- a review of publicly available documents and unpublished documents provided by the Council Secretariat
- a survey of Council members
- semi-structured interviews with both Council members and a small number of stakeholders external to the Council.
Significance
The evaluation provides learnings for organisations who are seeking to establish or improve collaborative governance mechanisms to better prevent and respond to workplace sexual harassment, or in other relevant policy and legislative contexts. The Evaluation of the Respect@Work Council: Key findings fact sheet summarises learnings from this evaluation, including the key achievements of the Council, enablers of success and challenges experienced.
For more research on workplace sexual harassment, please see the 2021–2024 ANROWS Sexual Harassment Research Program.
Researchers
Researchers
Dr Rieko Fukushima Byrom, ANROWS
Callum Sandison, ANROWS
Lauren Hamilton, ANROWS
Chloe Jacob, ANROWS
Dr Peter Ninnes, ANROWS
Downloads
Budget
$100,396 (excluding GST)
This project was funded by the Australian Government Department of Social Services.
See also
RESEARCH REPORT
Workplace technology-facilitated sexual harassment: Perpetration, responses and prevention
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Migrant and refugee women in Australia: A study of sexual harassment in the workplace
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