69% of people said that they would be bothered if they heard a friend telling a sexist joke. (NCAS Survey, ANROWS, 2021)
Have you ever been in a room and felt the air being sucked out as someone says something that’s… just not right? Maybe it’s of a sexual nature, belittling, or makes a bunch of unnecessary assumptions about someone’s private life that just isn’t appropriate at work (or anywhere, really).
These comments are often followed by a gnawing silence, awkward laughter, or furtive glances at the target of the comment, but the behaviour remains unchecked. And you sit with the discomfort that silence signals acceptance. So, what can you do about it? How can you signal that the behaviour is unacceptable, and stop it happening again? And importantly, what can workplaces do to support active bystander action?
What is an active bystander?
An active bystander is someone who acts after witnessing or hearing about an incident of sexual harassment or discrimination. Being an active bystander can involve acting in the moment through your words or body language, but it isn’t only about responding to an incident when it happens. Being an active bystander can also include making a report afterwards or changing the culture or environment that enabled the discrimination. There are many things you can do that don’t compromise your comfort or safety.
Why should workplaces support effective bystander action?
"The standard you walk past is the standard you accept" (coined by Lieutenant General David Morrison, 2013)
We all want (and deserve) to feel safe in our workplaces. Whilst physical safety is often deeply embedded in workplace cultures (especially in construction, operations, mining, and emergency services or health contexts), psychosocial hazards (things at work that impact mental and emotional wellbeing) are only recently being recognised for the risks that they pose to employee health, workplace culture, staff retention, and flow-on effects to physical safety.
When harassment, bullying, or unwanted behaviour is ignored at work, people stop speaking up, productivity drops, and staff leave. Allowing these behaviours can cause them to escalate or, in some cases, even become unlawful. The positive duty on Australian workplaces is “a legal obligation for employers and PCBUs (Person Conducting a Business or Undertaking) to proactively prevent sexual harassment, sex-based harassment, and hostile work environments, rather than just reacting to complaints. It requires taking reasonable, proportionate measures to eliminate these behaviours.” (Safe Work Australia, 2025). This means putting clear policies and everyday practices in place that create a safe, respectful, and inclusive workplace.
How can workplaces support active bystander action?
Effective bystander actions cannot happen in an environment that doesn’t support them. Instead, we need an ‘enabling environment’ for people to feel safe stepping up, speaking up, and intervening.
There are three key levers workplaces can use to do that.
1. Workplace culture starts with the leadership team
People are unlikely to speak up if they believe leaders won’t support them. Visible leadership support is critical; leaders must clearly communicate what is and isn’t acceptable, hold people accountable, and apply consequences for unlawful or harmful conduct. Through regular messaging in meetings, emails, and safety discussions (including psychosocial safety), leaders signal that speaking up is expected and supported.
Most importantly, leaders must model these behaviours themselves. When leaders consistently “walk the talk,” they give workers the confidence that acting as an active bystander is safe, supported, and valued in the workplace.
2. Strategies and policies
There needs to be clear (and accessible) policies and procedures in place which define what is acceptable and what is not in the workplace (a Code of Conduct for example) as well as clear directions on what to do if there is a breach. Reporting mechanisms should be trauma-informed (supportive of the target/victim and giving them agency over the process), allow for an anonymous reporting option wherever possible, and ensure confidentiality for all parties as far as possible. You may consider engaging a third-party reporting tool to ensure consistency in experience and that there is truly independent oversight.
You may also choose to have an Active Bystander Policy which clearly defines what bystander behaviours and interventions your workplace supports, and those which you do not find acceptable or find harmful.
3. Everyday operations
Promoting active bystander behaviour in everyday operations means making it clear that noticing, speaking up and intervening is accepted and expected. Staff need a shared understanding of what constitutes respectful and unacceptable behaviour in real situations, and of actions they can take when they witness concerning conduct.
Workplaces should provide clear guidance on the rights and responsibilities of bystanders in routine activities such as onboarding, team meetings, supervision and performance conversations, and equip managers, health and safety representatives and HR partners with practical skills to intervene early and appropriately. Multiple safe options for action should be normalised, recognising that intervention may involve direct action, support, escalation or reporting. Clear, confidential and trauma-informed reporting pathways, combined with consistent and visible responses, build trust and reinforce that speaking up is supported.
Everyone deserves to feel safe where they work, and that means feeling respected and knowing that any concerns you have will be taken seriously. It takes all of us to create safe, respectful, and equal places to work.
You can find out more about creating safe-to-speak workplace cultures here: Our Watch: Creating safe-to-speak cultures.
Alisha Taylor-Jones is the Workplace Implementation Lead at Our Watch, running programs to prevent violence against women in workplaces settings, with a current focus on small business. Alisha has led projects with large Australian organisations across the construction, telecommunications, and retail sectors, and managed mentoring and leadership programs for women across male-oriented sectors. Alisha has a Master’s in Gender and Development, and over 15 years of experience working with government, universities, TAFEs, NGOs, and corporate businesses to foster gender equality, and inclusive leadership.
Index Insights: Sexual harassment
From insights to action, this Index Insights explores the current state of sexual harassment at work, including common types of behaviour, high-risk environments and common perpetrators of sexual harassment at work.
How you can be an active bystander
Being an Active Bystander is DCA and Our Watch’s resource on how to interrupt, de-escalate and prevent sexual harassment at work, and how to support targets of sexual harassment.