Workplace Harassment Prevention: A Tale of Two Sectors
What industry-specific evidence reveals about prevention in construction and the parallels with the financial services sector
Since October 2024, UK employers have been under a legal duty to actively prevent sexual harassment. The Worker Protection Act applies equally across all sectors, but recent evidence shows the scale of the problem and the barriers to prevention differ sharply depending on workplace environment.
In this article, we look at two contrasting workplace environments. The office-based settings within financial services and the high-risk site-based environments in construction are very different. However, whilst these are two industries where work patterns, power dynamics and reporting realities differ sharply, the underlying responsibility of employers remains the same.
The underlying barriers to successful action are similar – fear of retaliation, lack of trust, belief that nothing will happen – but the structural reality shapes how these barriers manifest.
In construction, the issue is getting reports made at all. In financial services, it’s often what happens after they’re made.
What the data shows
Unite’s July 2025 survey of construction workers found that 31% of women had been sexually assaulted at work and 76% of those who experienced harassment didn’t report it. Only 8% said management addressed issues when raised.
In financial services, the FCA’s October 2024 survey recorded 2,347 non-financial misconduct allegations in 2023 – a 40% increase from 2021. However, 47% of bullying and harassment complaints were not upheld following investigation.
Cross‑sector data shows that 40% of women experience unwanted sexual behaviour at work. In construction, the career impact appears even more severe: 45% of women say harassment has affected their progression, compared with 32% across all industries. The issue is widespread, but its scale and consequences vary significantly by sector.
Why reporting fails differently
In construction, workers don’t report incidents because they fear they won’t be believed or will lose their jobs. Women make up less than 15% of the workforce, meaning speaking up means standing out. The sector’s reliance on subcontracted and transient workforces makes formal complaints particularly risky – future employment can depend on reputation.
One woman in the Unite survey described being sexually harassed by her manager for months. When she finally told the company owner, he reassured her she’d done the right thing – then sacked her the next morning. Despite the Worker Protection Act, only 25% of women in construction felt their employer promoted a zero-tolerance culture.
In financial services, firms receive and investigate complaints, but struggle with proof. The 47% non-upheld rate doesn’t necessarily mean complaints are false – it may reflect the difficulty of proving misconduct involving senior individuals or behaviour that occurs without witnesses. The FCA has made clear that non-financial misconduct signals weak culture and poor risk management, linking harassment directly to regulatory concerns about governance.
Different regulatory pressures
The regulatory environment now differs substantially between sectors.
Financial services faces active FCA oversight. The regulator’s 2024 survey was designed to help firms benchmark their practices, and December 2025 guidance (which comes into effect from September 2026) directly links harassment to individual fitness assessments. In this sector, harassment isn’t just an employment law issue – it can call into question regulatory approval.
Construction is subject to the Worker Protection Act like all employers, but lacks sector-specific oversight. Industry frameworks like CITB’s Fairness, Inclusion and Respect programme exist, but adoption is inconsistent. Legal commentators note that multi-contractor sites, transient workforces, and informal hierarchies make it harder to identify and challenge inappropriate behaviour.
Both sectors operate under the same underlying legal duty, but face very different enforcement mechanisms and scrutiny levels.
Understanding what effective prevention requires
The number of sexual harassment awareness course completions increased by over 1,200% after the new ledgislataion came into force in October 2024. But sector evidence shows awareness alone doesn’t prevent harassment.
Effective prevention starts with understanding where the real risks sit.In construction, that’s multi-contractor sites with unclear responsibilities, transient workforces, and isolated locations with limited oversight. In financial services, it’s seniority dynamics, high-performing individuals, and proving misconduct in witness-free contexts.
Building intervention confidence means equipping people to act in the moments that matter. Construction supervisors and workers need to challenge behaviour in front of peers, on site, across contractor boundaries. Financial services managers and employees need to act when alleged perpetrators are senior or revenue-generating.
Generic e-learning that explains policy doesn’t address or explore the significant barriers to intervention.
The core truth
The fundamental challenge is the same across sectors: prevention fails when organisations treat harassment as a policy problem rather than a behavioural one.
Organisations relying on generic awareness training remain exposed. Those investing in context-specific learning that reflects real power dynamics – on construction sites or trading floors, in crew hierarchies or client relationships – are better positioned to demonstrate reasonable steps and build cultures where intervention actually happens.
At Active Training Team, our work across high-risk and regulated environments shows that harassment prevention succeeds when treated as a behavioural risk, not a compliance exercise.
A worker on a construction site needs the confidence to challenge behaviour in front of peers. An employee in financial services needs the confidence to act when the perpetrator is senior, revenue-generating or both. Neither gets that from knowing what the policy says. They get it from training that reflects real power dynamics, real decision-making pressure, and real consequences.
Our approach combines evidence-based insight with interactive, scenario-led learning that mirrors how people actually work.
Explore our sexual harassment prevention training.
