McDonald’s claims to be one of the biggest job providers in the United Kingdom. Boasting to be employing 170,000 people, most of them first-time workers. It is an organization with a workforce of employees ranging from the age group of late teens to early twenties.
The Bakers Food and Allied Workers Union had reported 1000 reports of registered cases of sexual harassment coming out of McDonald’s. Further reports and investigations uncovered by BBC suggest that employees as young as 18 years of age were reportedly getting groped and assaulted in the workplace.
Responsibility of employers to create a safe workplace
The Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Act 2023 states a legal duty on employers in the UK to take “reasonable steps” to prevent sexual harassment of their employees.
The “reasonable steps” requirement test establishes protocols to be adopted by the employer to create an environment of safety by requiring employees to complete internal sexual harassment training, and introducing (or strengthening) anti-harassment policies within the workplace.
The law expects workplaces to have open communication and a robust mechanism for handling complaints of sexual harassment. This is paramount to establish and communicate safety standards regularly in workforces with a large number of employees.
A hostile workplace for employees at McDonald’s
The workplace environment that McDonald’s had built was toxic to its innate ability, the BBC investigation further elaborates that employees reported racism, inappropriate behavior, bullying and sexism as components of the workplace culture. The cases that were reported were never seriously acted on resulting in other victims fearing retaliation and further harassment even if they thought to report the same. Victims who have come forward have testified to being fired when they had raised a complaint. This resulted in these employees quitting the workplace. When escalated, managers reportedly asked them to ignore the experience and get back to work.
The United Kingdom equality watchdog had serious concerns about the news that was coming out of McDonald’s. A billion-dollar business is expected to safeguard the integrity and security of its employees. The experiences of these employees during the investigation were quite disturbing as they all ranged from serious to very serious forms of sexual misconduct and harassment.
The findings also indicated that most of these situations happened through the managers and the senior managers at UK branches. Indicative of this being an issue where the power that the managers held over the employees was used to exploit them.
Building a safe culture to ensure zero tolerance for sexual harassment
Creating a culture that is safe and one that makes people feel included would help establish norms and behaviors that are acceptable within the organization. The communication of these values within the workplace would allow for more accountability.
In the case of McDonald’s, there was a lack of establishing safety protocols and a lack of communication on what is acceptable and unacceptable. The UK law puts the legal duty on the employer to create a culture that prioritizes safety and respect and creates an environment where employees feel secure. These reasonable steps become pivotal in preventing sexual harassment and ensuring that all staff members, especially vulnerable groups such as young or part-time workers, feel protected.
The cases of sexual harassment became prominent at McDonald’s because of the lack of a supportive culture that would empower employees to report instances of sexual harassment. Instead, the management would turn a blind eye and retaliate against the complainant. Thus setting up a culture of fear to report such behavior.
- Reporting mechanisms: Having robust structures that encourage employees to report incidents of harassment without fear of retaliation is important.
- Transparency: Open lines of communication are essential for addressing and resolving issues promptly. This process will further encourage employees to come forward and ensure that incidents are handled appropriately.
- Lead by example: Leaders play a crucial role in shaping and maintaining the culture of an organization. Their commitment to addressing sexual harassment sets the tone for the entire company.
- Building culture:This means transparency, open communication and protocols help to create cultures that are safe for employees.