6 out of 10 global firms have no anti-sexual harassment policy: Survey

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Oct 03, 2019 06:00 am

LONDON : Almost six out of 10 global companies do not have an anti-sexual harassment policy two years after #MeToo went viral, a survey found on Tuesday, noting controversies in US tech firms.

With employees at Google, Facebook and Uber demanding action on sexual harassment, including a mass staff walk out at Google, the tech sector had been through a "turbulent" period, said Equileap, which researches corporate gender equality.

"The high costs of sexual harassment are evident not only to individuals in terms of physical and mental stress, but also to businesses in terms of employee turnover, consumer outrage, litigation (and) corporate reputation," it said.

Although more of the 3,500 publicly-listed companies surveyed published sexual harassment guidelines - at 42 per cent up from 37 per cent in 2018 - it showed "a clear margin for improvement in a post-MeToo era", said Equileap.

Eight firms - all US-based - triggered an "alarm bell" for having legal judgements or cases against them linked to gender discrimination or sexual harassment, including CBS, Facebook and JP Morgan. - REUTERS