Research Finds Number of People Experiencing Sexual Harassment in Adland has Dropped

The newly released All In 2023 census data has revealed an overall decrease in people experiencing sexual harassment in the workplace. 

However, despite the decrease in numbers timeTo says that the job is far from over if the industry is going to eradicate sexual harassment altogether. 

In the 2021 All In census, it was reported that 3% of women and 2% of men had experienced sexual harassment. However, 2023’s data shows 1% of women and 1% of men have said they experienced it. Almost 19,000 people responded to the 2023 All In census (60% of respondents being women) , a huge increase from the 16,000 responses (59% of responses from women) received in the 2021 All In census.

The data has brought to light that although people had concerns of sexual harassment increasing once businesses returned to the office (timeTo’s 2020 research showed 49% of people thought it would be an issue), the number of people experiencing it has actually reduced.

To date, more than 80 companies have completed the interactive Timeto training, which aims to educate senior leaders and staff about sexual harassment within the workplace and stamp it out altogether. Although these figures indicate a step in the right direction, there is more work to be done and the job is not over until sexual harassment no longer exists in the industry. 

Kerry Glazer, chair at timeTo is urging companies and people to get involved and to take the training as the work is not done and 2% overall is still 2% too many. 

Kerry said, “There is no doubt that we should be proud we are moving in the right direction; the Census results show the power of what we can do if we work together and we have every right to celebrate what has been achieved. My heartfelt thanks goes to the timeTo Steering Committee, and all the companies who have endorsed timeTo, particularly those who have completed the training, for getting us to this pivotal place. But we need to be mindful that the job isn’t yet done. timeTo’s goal is to see zero people experiencing sexual harassment in the workplace. The way to do this is to get more people experiencing our training to drive and maintain awareness and behaviour change. If we keep up the momentum and don’t get complacent, we’ll not only end sexual harassment in the advertising industry, we’ll trailblaze a path and set a standard for other industries and sectors to emulate.”