New report on sexual harassment in the workplace

A new report conducted by RA2 Research and the Workers’ Resource Centre has been released that sheds an unfortunate light on sexual harassment in the workplace.

It says 49 per cent of workers in Alberta have experienced workplace sexual harassment while 61 per cent have observed instances of it happening.

It went on to say that sexual harassment is going largely unreported in our province, with just ten per cent reporting an incident to a manager along with only seven per cent going to Human Resources.

Carolyn Krahn, the executive director of the Workers’ Resource Centre says a new resource hub has been launched that people can access if they have been a victim of workplace sexual harassment.

“I’d encourage everybody to check out hereforhelp.ca it contains a guided pathway that asks a series of questions to help you really drill down on maybe what some of the issues are you’re experiencing or what sort of supports you require because we felt like we couldn’t give this survey and have these research results and not provide a solution. So really what’s important here is that the website is a solution to what we see as a very important issue that needs to be addressed for all Albertans, including anyone in Lethbridge and other rural centres.”

Krahn says workers in rural areas of Alberta are just as likely to report instances of sexual harassment at 40 per cent compared to those in Calgary and Edmonton, which are 42 and 38 per cent respectively.