Compass Group Australia is taking an innovative and collaborative approach to stamp out workplace sexual harassment, with its comprehensive strategy leading the way to highlight that such abhorrent behaviour is not inevitable, and it is preventable.
And while workplace sexual harassment has always been a headline topic for employers, it’s an issue under increased scrutiny in 2021 through increased media attention, the Human Rights Commission’s Respect@Work report and the government response.
For Compass Group Australia, it was a reminder that a fresh, and different approach was needed to effect serious, long-lasting change.
“As industry leaders, we have a responsibility to work with clients, industry bodies and other leaders to continue our focus to eliminate sexual harassment and discrimination in the workplace and broader communities in which we operate. Sexual harassment and discrimination will never be tolerated or accepted in any sector that we are part of,” Vanessa Martin, General Manager of Diversity and Inclusion at Compass Group Australia (pictured), said.
Compass Group Australia is a global company, based in Australia, with more than 10,000 employees, operating out of more than 600 locations with a large suite of work across numerous clients within the resources and energy sector, providing hospitality, village services and facilities management services.
With resources sector-specific expertise and deep understanding of remote mine sites, combined with extensive work in other sectors such as defence, hospitals and aged care, schools and universities, the company was well-placed to generate a broader discussion for society.
Recognising it was time for a comprehensive and collaborative approach to stamping out workplace sexual harassment, Compass Group Australia has spent the past 18 months taking steps to progress, and experiencing what does and does not work.
As part of its continued focus to eliminate sexual harassment and discrimination in the workplace and broader communities in which it operates, the company’s learnings and experiences have also been shared more broadly.
This approach to collaborate with others in the resources industry has been vital to address the collective community in residential environments, such as FIFO camps.
“Workplace sexual harassment is not inevitable, and it is preventable. We see our role as being an advocate in the industry,” Ms Martin said.
“We are a company innovating and sharing that innovation into our community – then broadly across the industry through collaborative avenues.
“By sharing our content openly and creating interventions and processes for the whole industry to use, we know we can make a shift and have an impact on eliminating sexual harassment and discrimination.”
Along with potential risky behaviour increasing during the stresses and uncertainties of COVID-19, Ms Martin noted the issue of workplace sexual harassment was a critical focal point for the business.
“We decided that we wanted to look at some of the incidents that were occurring around more of a human performance / improvement approach, rather than a standard HR / risk assessment approach,” she said.
“So, it was more ‘why’ is sexual harassment occurring as opposed to ‘why’ did the incident occur?”
Ms Martin also pointed to the Respect@Work report which identified cohort groups at most risk of experiencing sexual harassment in the workplace matched the company’s workforce demographics.
Females make up about 55% of its workforce, with many young women aged between 18 to 26 using the company as a stepping-stone into the mining industry.
Additionally, 10.1% of its resource sector staff are indigenous; a high number identify as LBGTIQ+; and many are from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.
“When we look at those trends and some of the incidents that were occurring, it drew our attention to it and we felt it was time to take a deep-dive and have a different approach,” Ms Martin said.
In December 2020 Compass Group’s mining and resources sector brand, ESS, undertook a detailed Incident Cause Analysis Method (ICAM) investigation of a sexual assault incident that occurred at one of our mining client’s sites.
“This helped us identify broader corrective actions and uncover the root causes and ‘why’ that lead to incidents – enabling us to provide better support and take action to make real cultural and sustainable change,” Ms Martin said.
Key learnings from the ICAM resulted in a number of recommendations to create innovative resources, actions and solutions, which have since been shared and collaborated with clients and leaders such as BHP, Gold Fields, Anglo Ashanti, Byrnecut Australia, BOAB and BIS Industries.
The initiatives are also shared in webinars, industry events and presentations to reach the broader community and drive further collaboration.
Some of the initiatives we have implemented and advocated for are:
- Personal Safety Plans
- Ensuring at least one female leadership role on site
- Ensuring multi-cultural support on Speak Up lines and Employee Assistant Programs
- Ask for Angela poster in taverns
- Conduct risk profile of site – is there CCTV and adequate lighting, room allocation
- Increase security at night and transport/security for females working late
- Monitoring alcohol being delivered to rooms and empowering housekeepers to report hoarding in resident rooms
- A Respect Starts with You telephone and email hotline and accompanying communication
- Allies & Bystanders training
- Respect Starts with You sexual harassment in the workplace training
- Got Your Back peer support program
- Campaigns/messages/videos of team members who have experienced harassment and discrimination in the workplace and how it affected them
The Compass Group initiatives in action at INPEX.
“To date, we have seen a shift in the industry, with many leaders looking to collaborate with us and participate in initiatives to eliminate sexual harassment and discrimination in the resources sector,” Ms Martin said.
“The feedback certainly has been welcoming of positive change.
“We understand that eliminating sexual harassment and discrimination is an ongoing focus. True success for us is when this is achieved not only in our workforce but industry wide.”
Compass Group Australia is the recipient of the 2021 AREEA Mental Health and Wellbeing Award.
The judges recognised Compass for its tackling of workplace sexual harassment, with the company leaving no stone unturned to uncover the fundamental underlying cause of incidents. This enabled Compass to provide better support through a wide range of initiatives and actions to achieve sustainable cultural change.
Resource People Podcast – Vanessa Martin, Compass Group Australia
You can also check out an in-depth interview to learn more about Compass Group Australia’s award-winning mental health and wellbeing programs and initiatives.
