The Effects of Sexual Harassment in work place

It’s almost impossible to understate the effects of sexual harassment. No matter what the exact
circumstances are, there are many effects of sexual harassment.
Individual Impacts
As you can imagine, the person who is sexually harassed in the workplace suffers the most.
Emotional effects include anger, embarrassment, guilt, and fear. Sexual harassment can also
harm the victim’s self-esteem and induce anxiety attacks.
Emotional effects are by no means the only effects if someone is being sexually harassed in the
workplace. Because a person’s physical health is intimately connected with their emotional
health, there are physical reactions to sexual harassment. These include loss of appetite, nausea,
weight loss or weight gain, headaches, migraines, and loss of sleep. Victims also experience high
blood pressure and may begin abusing alcohol or other substances.
The emotional and physical consequences often lead in turn to financial losses. Victims, afraid of
facing harassment, may take unpaid leave. In serious cases, they quit their jobs for other
positions with lower pay or a longer commute just to avoid the ongoing sexual harassment. Such
moves can cause cascading effects that permanently damage a person’s career trajectory.
Company-Wide Consequences
Many people are surprised by the effects of sexual harassment in the workplace on third parties
and the workforce as a whole. The victim of sexual harassment will certainly perform less
effectively because of the physical and emotional effects of harassment. Over time, the number
of harassment victims can multiply as harassers target several successive victims or create a
culture where workplace harassment is accepted. In turn, this effect can cause whole teams and
departments to struggle with higher employee turnover.
On top of that, the companies will almost certainly face productivity losses as employees call in
sick frequently, quit suddenly, or become disgruntled.
Yet another consequence of sexual harassment in the workplace is crashing company morale.
Hostile work environments can demoralize an entire team or department. High turnover causes
extra stress for the employees who choose to remain with the company, while employees who
witness sexual harassment experience “presenteeism” and “check out” of the toxic workplace out
of fear of retaliation.
Finally, companies can have their reputation and profitability destroyed by sexual harassment
lawsuits.
Societal Effects
The effects of sexual harassment in the workplace don’t stop at the company level. The
EEOC reported an average of approximately 13,000 sexual harassment complaints every year
between 1997 and 2011. And those were just the reported claims of sexual harassment!
While, the true number of sexual harassment cases is unknown, a study by Deloitte estimated the
economic effects of sexual harassment in the Australian workplace to be over $2.6 billion in
2018. This figure includes not only lost productivity, but also the cost of healthcare, medical
treatment and psychiatric therapy, the investigation and resolution of sexual harassment
complaints, and the lost wellbeing of victims.
In short, sexual harassment isn’t just an individual problem. It’s a society-wide issue that affects
all of us in some way or another.