More than 200 senior hospitality staff from the Sydney City Liquor Accord (SCLA) have taken part in a new sexual harassment, awareness and prevention program designed for the liquor industry, hosted by The Establishment Hotel.
The SCLA engaged Smart Culture – a company owned by leading trainer and business advisor Karen Maher to help senior hospitality managers get the most up-to-date, face-to-face training.
SCLA Chair and Fortune of War Hotel licensee Steven Speed said the program, held on 2 September was an extra add-on to the sexual harassment material now included in the NSW Government’s RSA training.
“We want to make members aware of what the guidelines are and what the boundaries are with practical face-to-face facilitation rather than seeing snippets on TV or reading it on a computer screen,” said Speed.
The training program presented a detailed range of issues relating to workplace sexual harassment designed to support senior leaders in understanding what is deemed sexual harassment and risk management of sexual harassment.
In addition, the program detailed the law and duty of care, the Fair Work Act and key legal duties.
Speed explained that understanding the law in regard to sexual assault is essential to providing timely and relevant education to hospitality leaders.
“Standards and legal obligations are always changing, and education and awareness is critical. We don’t want our staff to end up in front of the tribunal to answer for what they thought was acceptable behaviour. People think it’s all ok until it’s not,” he said.
“We want them to know the ground rules and we want them to know how to deal with a complaint or incident when it happens. The motherhood statements are out there but we need to train our people on how, when, who and what to do.”
Other topics that were covered in the course included leadership skills in the prevention of harassment; the consequences and impact of disrespectful behaviours; and developing skills in responding to and managing complaints.
The training day was endorsed, supported and attended by all stakeholders including NSW Police Superintendent Marty Fileman, who is the Commander of Sydney City; NSW Police – Senior Licensing; and Ivan Odonnel and Sean Morrissey from AHA NSW.