Workplace harassment remains a challenge across industries, despite increased awareness and formal policies. Surveys indicate that over half of employees have witnessed or experienced misconduct or harassment at work. This persistent problem comes at a high cost: the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) received roughly 98,000 harassment complaints from 2018-2021, and organizations suffer decreased morale, productivity losses, higher turnover, and reputational damage as a result.
Clearly, having written anti-harassment policies and mandatory training modules is not enough on their own. Leadership involvement is the linchpin that determines whether these measures truly take root in an organization’s culture or remain a mere formality. When enterprise leaders, executives, and managers actively enforce anti-harassment training and policies, they set a powerful example that resonates through all levels of the organization. This article explores how leadership can champion anti-harassment initiatives, from setting the cultural tone and crafting clear policies to ensuring effective training, encouraging reporting, and upholding accountability.
Workplace culture begins at the top. Leaders who model respect and inclusivity create a ripple effect throughout the organization. Employees take their cues from management’s behavior. If the CEO and other senior leaders demonstrate zero tolerance for harassment, employees are far more likely to uphold those standards. Conversely, if bad behavior is ignored or excused by leadership (especially when high performers are involved), a culture of permissiveness can take hold. In short, “tone at the top” defines whether anti-harassment efforts will be taken seriously or dismissed as lip service.
Setting the right tone involves clear and visible commitment. Leaders should openly communicate that harassment is prohibited and will not be tolerated. This message needs to be conveyed not once a year, but frequently and unequivocally in company communications, team meetings, and one-on-one interactions. For example, a CEO or department head might periodically remind staff of the organization’s core values of respect and dignity, reinforcing that any harassing behavior contradicts those values. Backing up words with actions is crucial. Top leaders must abide by the same rules and standards, and even go beyond the legal minimum, to foster a truly respectful environment. In practice, this could mean an executive promptly addressing an inappropriate remark they overhear, or a manager intervening when they see an employee being belittled, even if no formal complaint has been made. When employees observe leaders consistently acting on the organization’s anti-harassment principles, it empowers them to follow suit.
Leadership’s influence on culture also extends to what behaviors get rewarded or punished. If employees see that promotions and praise only go to those who “get results” while flouting respectful conduct, they receive the message that the ends justify the means. But if leadership recognizes and rewards collaboration, professionalism, and empathy, it reinforces a culture where harassment and bullying have no place. Leaders should integrate anti-harassment and respect as key components of performance expectations. In many organizations, senior management now includes culture and conduct metrics in manager evaluations. By holding leaders at every level accountable for the work environment they create, companies make a respectful, safe workplace a core leadership responsibility, not an optional initiative.
A clear, well-crafted anti-harassment policy is the backbone of any prevention strategy. However, that policy must be championed and enforced by leadership to be truly effective. HR teams may coordinate policy drafting, but enterprise leaders and business owners are responsible for ensuring the policy is comprehensive, well-communicated, and consistently upheld.
Developing the policy: Leaders should work with HR to craft a policy that leaves no ambiguity about what constitutes harassment and what the consequences are. Comprehensive policies define various forms of unacceptable behavior (e.g. sexual harassment, bullying, discrimination) with concrete examples. They apply to everyone at every level (employees, managers, executives, and even third parties like clients or contractors). A strong policy also explicitly prohibits retaliation against anyone who reports concerns. Leadership’s input is important to align the policy with the organization’s values and to cover industry-specific scenarios. When leaders take an active role in defining these standards, it signals that preventing harassment is a top priority rather than just a legal formality.
Communicating the policy: Simply having a written policy in the employee handbook is not enough. Leaders must ensure it is widely communicated and understood by all. This means introducing the policy to all employees (such as during onboarding) and recirculating it regularly, especially if updates occur. A best practice is for a high-ranking leader (CEO, VP, or HR director) to accompany any policy distribution with a personal message. In this message, the leader can underscore why the policy exists, to protect employees and maintain a respectful workplace, and affirm their full support. For instance, management might hold a town hall or send a company-wide email in which a senior executive explains the policy in plain terms and emphasizes that leadership stands behind it. By putting leadership’s voice behind the rules, employees see that this is a living policy backed by those in charge. Regular communication also provides opportunities to remind staff about reporting channels and resources for help.
Enforcing the policy consistently: Most critically, leadership must enforce anti-harassment policies impartially and promptly. Nothing undermines trust faster than a policy that exists on paper but is ignored in practice, especially if exceptions are made for high performers or senior individuals. Leaders at all levels need to hold themselves and others accountable to the stated standards of behavior. Every complaint or report should be taken seriously and investigated thoroughly, with appropriate consequences for misconduct, regardless of the offender’s rank or results. Consistent enforcement sends a clear message that no one is above the rules. For example, if a star salesperson or a top executive violates the harassment policy, leadership should respond just as decisively as they would for any other employee. That might involve disciplinary action, mandatory counseling, or even termination for serious offenses. When employees see that harassers (and those who enable harassment) face real consequences, it reinforces the credibility of the policy. On the other hand, if people observe that a high-ranking offender is quietly let off the hook, it erodes confidence in leadership’s commitment.
Leaders should also ensure the organization has fair procedures to handle complaints. This includes a well-resourced investigation process and clear protocols for escalating issues. Senior leadership might designate an executive sponsor or committee to regularly review harassment incidents and responses, looking for any patterns or areas for improvement. By treating anti-harassment enforcement as an ongoing leadership duty, discussed in management meetings and tracked through reports, companies demonstrate that preventing harassment is integral to “how we do business.”
Anti-harassment training is a common requirement, but its impact varies greatly depending on leadership engagement. Too often, training sessions are treated as perfunctory annual check-the-box exercises. Leadership can transform training from a mere compliance task into a meaningful learning experience by actively participating and championing it.
One of the most powerful ways leaders can enforce the importance of training is by attending and participating fully themselves. If employees are required to complete a workshop or e-learning module on harassment prevention, managers and executives should go through the same training alongside their teams. When a senior leader sits in a training session, pays attention, and contributes to discussions or Q&A, it sends a strong signal that “this matters.” It shows that leadership isn’t “too important” to invest time in the topic. On the flip side, if leaders visibly skip or dismiss the training, employees will conclude it’s not a priority. For example, an employee will take a training less seriously if they notice none of the executives bothered to attend or if their manager is multitasking and not really listening. Consistent leadership presence and interest can elevate training from a tedious obligation to a shared company value.
Leaders should also support high-quality training, opting for interactive sessions over passive online modules to ensure employees engage fully. This might involve investing in live workshops, engaging expert facilitators, or tailoring examples to the company’s real-world scenarios. When leadership allocates time and resources for robust training (rather than just the cheapest, fastest option), employees recognize that the company is committed to truly educating everyone, not just fulfilling a requirement.
Research has shown that leader support greatly enhances training impact. Employees may learn definitions and policies during a seminar, but whether they apply that knowledge on the job (what trainers call “transfer of training”) depends heavily on the environment their leaders create afterward. Leaders need to reiterate and reinforce key lessons from the training in daily work life. For instance, after a training session on bystander intervention, a manager might open their next team meeting by saying, “Remember, if you witness something inappropriate, we want you to speak up, our door is always open.” If managers actively encourage use of the reporting procedures covered in training (and they themselves follow those procedures), employees are far more likely to put their training into practice. In contrast, if an employee learns in training how to report harassment but then sees their supervisor dismiss a complaint or joke about “PC culture,” that training quickly loses effect. Leaders must bridge the gap between training and day-to-day behavior. Simple actions, like including a review of respectful workplace tips in a newsletter, or leaders sharing examples of how they handled an issue consistent with the training, can go a long way to solidify the training concepts. In summary, leadership involvement before, during, and after training is key to turning knowledge into action across the organization.
Even with strong policies and training in place, harassment often stays hidden if employees are afraid to speak up. It’s an unfortunate reality that many workers do not report harassment or problematic behavior. Studies consistently find that fear of retaliation and skepticism about leadership’s response keep a large number of employees silent. For instance, one survey found that 46% of employees fear retaliation for reporting and 39% aren’t confident their issues will be addressed fairly. This underreporting allows toxic behavior to fester unchecked.
Leaders must therefore focus on creating an atmosphere where employees feel safe to report concerns, confident that they will be heard, protected, and taken seriously. Leadership plays a direct role in encouraging (or discouraging) reporting. One key step is establishing a trusted, accessible complaint process. Employees should know exactly how and where to report harassment, whether it’s to HR, a manager, an anonymous hotline, or an online system, and they should have multiple avenues in case one channel is uncomfortable. However, even the best-designed system will fail if people fear the repercussions of coming forward. That’s why leaders need to actively promote a speak-up culture. This means regularly encouraging employees to voice concerns and explicitly assuring protection against retaliation. Top executives might say in communications, “If you see something wrong, we want to know about it, and we will protect anyone who comes forward,” reinforcing that message with action. It’s critical that workers believe those words.
A practical way to build trust is for leadership to respond visibly and supportively when issues are raised. If an employee reports harassment (or even just mentions something seems “off”), managers and HR should thank them for speaking up and affirm the company will look into it. Leaders should treat every complaint as both important and confidential, sharing details only with those who need to know. Swift and fair action on complaints demonstrates to employees that reporting leads to results, not retaliation. For example, if a complaint leads to an investigation, leadership might announce (without naming names) that “an issue was reported, investigated, and appropriate action was taken.” While specifics often can’t be disclosed, letting employees know that reports are handled and resolved sends a powerful signal.
Leadership must also ensure zero tolerance for retaliation. Retaliation can be subtle, a reporter might suddenly get excluded from projects or receive poor performance reviews as punishment. Leaders should be vigilant against this. This may involve monitoring the treatment of employees who come forward for some time after a complaint, and holding accountable anyone who mistreats a reporter. The EEOC emphasizes that a robust anti-harassment strategy includes trusted reporting processes and anti-retaliation measures. Employees who report should feel, and see, that the organization values their courage in speaking up.
In sum, leaders create a safe environment by making reporting simple, protecting those who speak up, and following through with meaningful action. When employees trust their leaders to handle harassment issues properly, they are far more likely to report problems early, before those problems escalate and poison the workplace. A workplace where people can raise concerns without fear is one where harassment cannot easily take root.
A truly harassment-free workplace requires accountability at every level, starting with the highest echelons of leadership. Accountability from the top down means that everyone, including senior executives and star performers, is held to the same standards of conduct, and that leaders hold themselves responsible for maintaining a safe environment. It’s not enough for leadership to endorse policies; they must also be willing to police compliance, even when it’s uncomfortable or costly.
For leaders, holding themselves accountable might include setting specific goals for culture and behavior. Just as they have targets for revenue or growth, leaders can have objectives related to employee well-being (e.g. improving survey scores on respect, ensuring 100% training completion in their division, promptly addressing any complaints received). By treating these as key performance indicators, leaders signal that promoting a respectful workplace is a fundamental part of their job. Some organizations even tie executive evaluations or bonuses to culture and conduct metrics. This approach reinforces that the company genuinely values a harassment-free workplace. When the C-suite and board are watching harassment metrics with the same attention as financial metrics, it creates pressure throughout management to take compliance seriously.
Top-down accountability also requires the willingness to impose discipline for violations no matter who is involved. Leaders must demonstrate that the anti-harassment rules apply equally to a line employee, a top salesperson, or a vice president. In high-profile harassment cases in the media, companies often faced criticism not only for the misconduct itself but for initially protecting powerful harassers. The lesson for leadership is clear: failing to act is a choice that can damage the organization. A strong example of accountability is when a company, after a thorough investigation, terminates or publicly reprimands a high-level individual found to have violated harassment policies. While difficult, these decisions show employees and outsiders that leadership is serious about its principles. Consistent consequences help build a culture where people believe “nobody is above the law here,” which in turn deters would-be harassers at all levels.
Leaders should also encourage peer accountability among managers and supervisors. Senior leaders can set the expectation that every manager is responsible for addressing harassment issues in their team, and that ignoring problems is itself a performance failure. For instance, if a mid-level manager routinely brushes off complaints or fails to report incidents upward, upper management should view that as unacceptable and take corrective action. By making it known that managers will be evaluated on how well they uphold company values (including respect and safety), leadership creates a chain of accountability. Each layer of management then has incentive to enforce the rules with their subordinates, creating a cascading effect of compliance.
Finally, accountability from the top means continuously evaluating and improving anti-harassment efforts. Leaders should not assume that “no news is good news.” Instead, they should proactively seek feedback. This could include regular anonymous surveys asking employees if they feel safe and respected, or if they’ve observed problematic behavior. It could also involve periodic audits of how complaints were handled, to ensure consistency and quality. Leaders might even engage external experts to assess the company’s culture and suggest improvements. By being willing to shine a light on their own organization and accept criticism, leadership shows humility and genuine commitment. It also enables them to address issues before they become crises.
When accountability is woven into the fabric of leadership, the result is a more ethical and transparent workplace. Employees see that leaders mean what they say, policies are enforced, training is supported, reports are welcomed, and bad behavior is punished. This builds trust in leadership. It also empowers everyone in the company to uphold the standards, because they know leadership will back them up. In such an environment, harassment has little room to thrive.
Enforcing anti-harassment training and policies is not just about avoiding lawsuits, it’s about cultivating a culture of respect. Leaders have a central role in this mission. When they lead by example, communicate openly, and hold everyone accountable, they create a workplace where all employees can feel safe and valued. The benefits of such a culture are significant: higher morale, better teamwork, increased productivity, and the ability to attract and retain top talent. Conversely, when leadership neglects these issues, the entire organization pays the price through internal turmoil and a damaged public reputation.
For HR professionals and business leaders, the insights are clear. Anti-harassment efforts cannot be delegated to HR alone or treated as a one-time training event. They require ongoing leadership engagement. By setting the tone from the top, leaders define what is acceptable. By investing in training and communication, they give employees tools to act appropriately. By supporting those who speak up and disciplining those who violate standards, they build trust that the system works. All these actions work together to shift the organizational culture to one of mutual respect.
Creating a harassment-free workplace is an evolving journey, not a one-off project. It demands vigilance, courage, and consistency from those in charge. But the rewards are well worth it. As the saying goes, “culture is shaped by the worst behavior leadership is willing to tolerate.” By refusing to tolerate harassment in any form, leaders set a standard of civility and care that permeates the entire organization. Ultimately, leadership’s active role in enforcing anti-harassment training and policies paves the way for a healthier, more inclusive workplace where everyone can thrive.
Leadership sets the tone at the top, models respectful behavior, and ensures policies are taken seriously and consistently enforced.
By actively participating, supporting high-quality, interactive training, and reinforcing lessons in daily interactions and communications.
Create accessible reporting channels, promote a speak-up culture, respond supportively to concerns, and protect against retaliation.
Leaders must uphold standards, enforce consequences equally, and regularly evaluate efforts to maintain a culture of respect and compliance.
Frequent, clear messaging from leaders about policies, expectations, and support fosters trust and reinforces zero tolerance for harassment.
