Signa – increasing awareness and recording of sexual harassment, sexism and misogyny

• To educate and raise awareness within the workforce on sexism, sexual harassment and misogyny in the workplace.
• To empower the workforce to report and stand up to sexual misconduct.
• To prevent or intervene in cases of sexual harassment at an early stage.

• Higher standards and appropriate action taken regarding the reporting of sexual harassment – including sexist and misogynistic behaviour.
• Provision of a new reporting tool for sexism and misogyny to address employees’ lack of confidence in standard reporting methods.
• A better understanding of the internal culture surrounding sexual harassment within the force (measured through staff surveys and listening circles). 
• Increased internal confidence that sexual harassment, sexism and misogyny are being addressed.
• Rebuild trust and transparency with the public by demonstrating action being taken to tackle the issues of sexual harassment within the force.

Through listening circles and other communication methods, views were obtained from female employees across the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) around culture. It was found that sexism and sexual harassment had been experienced widely among the group.

To address these findings, support was gained from the management board to develop a team of champions. The champions formed the Signa team, created from volunteers working with the forces internal women’s network.

Signa project

There are three aspects that make up the Signa project:

1. A tool for recording everyday sexism.
2. Training.
3. A toolkit.

1. Recording everyday sexism tool

This is an anonymised Microsoft form that provides the opportunity to report any concerns relating to sexual harassment. It is available to all employees. Submitted reports are reviewed by supervisors and analysts to decide if they are suitable to publish and share (in line with policy and not subject to a live investigation). If suitable, these anonymised accounts are published on the force intranet, to educate readers and promote associated conversations. Trends in reports are monitored to identify areas requiring further work. For example, action may be required if multiple reports are observed within a particular command. Trends are fed back to the senior leadership teams, so they are aware of the culture within commands and necessary action can be taken.

2. Training

Force-wide training is delivered to all employees, of all ranks and grades. Volunteer officers and staff were identified by the local senior leadership team to be trained in delivering this package. The training addresses sexism and sexual harassment, ensuring that the training champions are passionate allies. They have access to resources and tools to plan and deliver training sessions, including lesson plans, videos, support for frequently asked questions and central support.

Training consists of classroom, app-based interactive sessions. Women’s stories of victimisation and sexual harassment are shared. The aim is to empower colleagues to intervene in similar circumstances by educating them on appropriate methods of intervention. The app provides data around how many people have accessed the content and signposts users to additional material. The app also allows anonymised answers to a survey in response to the training case study. This then prompts discussion points during the training session.

3. Toolkit

Toolkits are provided on the force SharePoint platform. These include step-by-step guides for force supervisors on how to deal with reports of sexual harassment.

There are four component parts to the evaluation of Signa:

• training evaluation
• evaluation of the training pack
• evaluation of the Signa programme
• performance meeting

Training evaluation

The quality of training is being evaluated using a random survey sent to 500 people. This received a return of 100. This survey was aimed at confirming the learning objectives had been retained and the training delivery had been consistent across a large sample group.

Evaluation of the training pack

The training pack was initially trialled with one group of officers. Minor adjustments were made before the training was rolled out across the force. Feedback was gathered from both the students and those champions delivering the training. This was done using a mix of surveys, interviews, focus groups and observations.

Evaluation of the Signa programme

Feedback was gathered through surveys, interviews and focus groups.

Performance meeting

The completion rates of the training package across the MPS are being reviewed.

Further work is ongoing to analyse the data from a number of different sources, including professional standards and the Signa programme.

Tackling sexual harassment requires a cultural change. As cultural changes take time, Signa as a toolkit addresses this by providing a continuous focus and development in this area.

Despite this, early training and reviews on the recording tool do show a positive effect. Additional insight into the impact of Signa will be available as the evaluation progresses.

Internal communications support

It's important to ensure that the initiative has the continued support from the internal communications team. When Signa was on the front page of the intranet, clear increases were observed in the number of views on the intranet pages and of reports being made. When Signa was removed from the intranet, engagement levels decreased. This indicates the importance of internal communications around the project.

Enabling conversations

When publishing the anonymised accounts internally, the function to allow comments on the articles was switched on. This enabled direct responses, which were often emotive. This was beneficial as it encouraged conversation between junior and senior ranking officers.

Delivery of training sessions

Training sessions are now delivered face-to-face, following technology issues when using Microsoft Teams. Given the emotive content of the sessions, facilitating sessions online also did not provide support mechanisms for attendees.

Analytical support

Signa initially did not involve the team of analysts within the MPS. This lack of analytical support meant there was no detailed knowledge around who had received training. The programme now has support from force analysts, which has improved understanding about training.