Welcome to the sixth WE’RE EQUAL member resource update.

As a registered member of WE’RE EQUAL, you receive email alerts from Equal Opportunity SA with direct links to practical resources. These resources are designed to support you and your business as you continue your commitment to anti-discrimination in your workplace.

This update provides you with information on Bystander Intervention and downloadable resources to help your managers, team leaders, and workers know how to respond when they see someone being harassed, bullied, or discriminated against in your workplace.

Discrimination and sexual harassment can happen so quickly that you or your staff might not realise what’s going on until it’s over, or it may be a situation that develops slowly and with increasing aggression. The downloadable PDFs provided with this update offer helpful tips that may help stop an incident happening, and may reduce the trauma to the person being targeted.

As an employer, you also need to be aware that changes to the federal Sex Discrimination Act in 2022 mean that you now have a positive duty to prevent sexual harassment, not just to stop it after you’ve heard about it happening.

Downloadable Poster Series ‘IT’S NOT OK’
We provide 4 types of posters for you to download:

These posters are specifically designed for your workers to help them respond to incidents as they are happening.

We know that situations can get out of hand, so it’s important that your workers only intervene if it’s safe to do so.

The online Welcome Pack (external site) you received when you joined WE’RE EQUAL contains other Bystander Intervention posters designed for customers. They can be used in back-of-house areas where your customers can read them - back of bathroom doors, corridors etc.

Our posters are based on the ‘5 D's of Bystander Intervention’ developed by Hollaback! (external site)

When bystanders see someone being harassed, they can make a choice. They can actively and visibly take a stand to stop the incident, or they can do nothing – which has the effect of endorsing it. Hollaback's "5 D’s" (Direct, Distract, Delay, Delegate, Document) offer a range of different methods that bystanders can use to intervene and support someone who is being harassed. They emphasize that harassment is not okay, and demonstrate to people in your business that they too have the power to make our communities and workplaces safer. 

Stopping harassment, discrimination and bullying should not just be up to managers and team leaders. Every worker has the power to help create a safe workplace for colleagues and customer alike to enjoy. We hope that these tools help you create a safer environment for everyone – because we’re all different, but we all deserve equal respect.

Additional resources to help your business or your organisation

Previous editions in the Member Resource Updates series are available at Resource Updates (external site)

https://www.equalopportunity.sa.gov.au/equal/member-resource-updates (external site)

Information on training and education programs is available at: https://www.equalopportunity.sa.gov.au/training-resources/training (external site)

Additional information and resources on Equal Opportunity are available on www.equalopportunity.sa.gov.au (external site)

For more information on how WE’RE EQUAL can support your business or organisation, contact us at equal@sa.gov.au