People who made a report or complaint about sexual harassment in the workplace

1.5: Workplaces are safe from all forms of gender-based violence and are actively preventing sexual harassment and discrimination.

Increased confidence by people to report sexual harassment and discrimination including racism.

The proportion of people who made a formal report or complaint about workplace sexual harassment that occurred in the last 5 years.

An increase in the proportion of people who report or make formal complaints about workplace sexual harassment will indicate a greater confidence and trust in workplaces to respond to sexual harassment. 
This measure captures only a proportion of formal responses provided by systems and institutions, but it can provide useful context when monitoring how responses are changing across different areas over time. It is intended to complement data from other areas and is not intended to represent all systems and institutions.

2022

People aged 15 years and over.

The number of people who experienced sexual harassment in the workplace in the last 5 years who made a formal report or complaint.

Data element: Person—formal report or complaint made
Data source: AHRC National survey on sexual harassment in Australian workplaces
Data source type: Survey

The number of people who experienced sexual harassment in the last 5 years.

Data element: Person
Data source: AHRC National survey on sexual harassment in Australian workplaces
Data source type: Survey

This measure is expressed as the number of people who made a formal report or complaint about the sexual harassment they experienced, expressed as a percentage of all people who had experienced sexual harassment in the same time period.

100 × (Numerator/Denominator)

Not available.

In 2022, the sample size was 10,157. 
A formal report or complaint involves making an internal report or complaint to a designated person in the workplace, such as management, human resources or a contact officer, as outlined in a workplace’s relevant policy or procedure. It can also involve making a report or complaint to an external agency, such as an anti-discrimination agency, a union, or other agency. A formal report or complaint does not include informally telling other people about the incident or seeking advice and support. 
In the AHRC National survey on sexual harassment in Australian workplaces, sexual harassment is measured by providing a respondent with a legal definition and an extensive list of behaviours. A person is considered to have experienced sexual harassment if they had been sexually harassed according to the legal definition, or if they had experienced any of the behaviours. 
The list of behaviours provided includes acts, such as actual or attempted rape or sexual assault, which would be measured elsewhere as sexual assault. Sexual harassment in this context includes sexual assault.
The survey does not collect data about formal complaints made about violence that occurred in the 12 months prior to the survey, only for 5-year periods. This is due to small sample sizes. 
Estimates are based on information obtained from a sample survey and are therefore subject to sampling variability. Sampling error in survey estimates is calculated using Relative Standard Errors (RSE).

Detailed data about sexual harassment in the workplace are only available for incidents of harassment that occurred within the last 5 years. As a result, these reporting periods may overlap between surveys.
For some population groups, numbers may be too small to be reported on separately.
Where the RSE for numbers and estimates is between 25% and 50%, this will be indicated in the data visualisation and any accompanying data tables. Where the RSE is greater than 50%, the data will not be published.