Violence against women does not stop at the workplace door.
Training, professional workshops, sessions. For leaders, HR and employees — and when the organisation goes further, backed by a documented procedure and a reporting channel.
What isn’t seen is still there.
Most cases are never reported.
They stay hidden because those affected don’t trust that the organisation will act.
The organisation doesn’t know:
- which team it happens in
- who is affected
- what causes it
- how to respond
Why do we speak primarily about harassment affecting women?
Harassment can affect anyone, and the employer’s duty is gender-neutral. We still name women explicitly. For three reasons.
The data is asymmetric
Workplace harassment does not affect women only — men can be victims too. Yet in sexual and gender-based harassment, women remain disproportionately affected.
In Hungary, 40.1% of women who have ever worked experienced sexual harassment at work during adulthood. The EU average is 30.8%.
A system has to be built for the most frequent and most serious case. If that isn’t named, the organisation prepares for the wrong risk.
The mechanism is different
Violence against women typically rests on a power imbalance and repeats. It works as a pattern: it builds gradually, tests boundaries, and generally targets whoever has less protection.
A gender-neutral frame reads this as an isolated clash. “They had an argument.” “They misunderstood each other.”
What is in fact a pattern becomes a personal matter — and the organisation does nothing, because it sees nothing.
Intimate partner violence doesn’t stay behind the front door
It shows up at work too: in performance, in absences, in how safe people feel, and in colleagues’ daily lives.
More than half of affected women tell someone about the violence. Only 15.7% turn to an institution or the police.
So they do speak — just not to the system. And the workplace is often the only institution they are in regular contact with.
And still: the system protects everyone.
What we build is gender-neutral. The procedure, the reporting channel and the leadership training work the same way when the person reporting is a man, and when the case involves people of the same gender. Nor does the employer’s duty distinguish: the requirement of equal treatment applies to everyone (Hungarian Labour Code, Section 12; Equal Treatment Act, Sections 5 and 21).
Naming things precisely excludes no one. A system designed for the hardest case will hold for every other case. The reverse is not true.
Source: Eurostat, EU survey on gender-based violence (EU-GBV), gbv_shw_occ and gbv_shw_age data tables, 2021 data collection. EU-level figures are estimates.
What people believe — and what is actually true.
Flip the cards: every answer is backed by research data.
“This doesn’t happen here.”
40.1% of Hungarian women who have ever worked experienced sexual harassment at work — above the EU average. Where it “doesn’t happen”, it usually just isn’t visible.
“If there were a problem, someone would have said so.”
Only 15.7% of Hungarian women who experienced intimate partner violence turned to any institution. Silence does not mean absence of a problem.
“This isn’t the employer’s responsibility.”
It is. Several laws place duties on the employer: equal treatment, a safe working environment, cooperation. Failing to act can carry legal and financial consequences.
“A policy document is enough.”
A piece of paper is not protection. What’s needed is a working system: procedure, training, reporting channel, a responsible person.
Not a policy. Preparedness.
The Ethical Workplace Program maps the points where an organisation is vulnerable.
It doesn’t just show that a problem exists. It shows why — and how it can be prevented.
More importantly: the organisation will know what to do if a report does come in.
Two programs. One goal: a safe workplace.
Workplace harassment prevention
What it’s for: Preventing and handling sexual harassment, abuse and misuse of power.
- Prepared leaders, HR and staff
- Training with scenario practice and concrete wording
- A harassment procedure compliant with Hungarian law
- A safe, transparent reporting process
- Documented procedures
Supportive workplace — intimate partner violence
What it’s for: Recognising and handling the workplace effects of intimate partner violence.
- Prepared leaders, HR and staff
- A recognition and response procedure
- Safe internal channels
- A protocol for flexible working arrangements
- Links to specialist support services
The employer does not investigate intimate partner violence and does not look into anyone’s private life.
It prepares to recognise the signs that appear at work, to support the person with the tools it has, and to refer them to appropriate professional help when needed. A manager doesn’t have to be a psychologist to respond well.
How the program is built.
You don’t need all four steps. You can start with a single training session or workshop and build from there.
Risk assessment
We map where the organisation stands today.
A tailored program
Built around the actual gaps.
Training and procedure
Training for leaders, HR and employees; documented processes.
Rollout and review
The organisation uses it, and we review it periodically.
A well-prepared organisation doesn’t just protect. It retains.
An estimate for your organisation, in 30 seconds.
An indicative estimate, not the result of an assessment of your organisation. It applies international average costs to Hungarian data — actual exposure may differ substantially in either direction.
Estimated exposure by organisation size
Enter the number of employees. The estimate uses the Hungarian average for female employment and Hungarian data from the EU-GBV survey.
These figures are indicative. Prevalence is based on Hungarian data from the Eurostat EU-GBV survey (gbv_shw_occ, 2021), reporting rates on the same survey, and per-case cost on an international estimate (HRacuity, 2023). Actual risk assessment is carried out through an expert audit.
What happens when someone reports?
Two scenarios. One problem. Here’s the difference.
Reporting process comparison
A trusted channel
The employee reports safely and anonymously.
A responsible person
A trained contact receives it and records it.
The procedure starts
A predefined sequence takes effect, with deadlines.
Protecting the person
They are protected, with no retaliation.
Action and learning
A documented decision and systemic improvement.
If any of these apply, it’s time to act.
HR leaders
who see the problem but have no system behind them
Senior leaders
who don’t want to carry legal risk
ESG and sustainability officers
for whom this is part of the portfolio
Employers
who want to retain their people
OD consultants
looking for a partner in this field
This isn’t an HR topic. It’s a business question.
The impact shows up directly in how the organisation operates and how it is seen.
Consequences of an unhandled case
- Legal proceedings and fines
- Losing good people
- Reputational damage
- Reduced performance and trust
- Turnover
The Ethical Workplace Program helps you
- reduce legal exposure
- retain your people
- strengthen a safe organisational culture
- meet legal requirements
- prepare for upcoming deadlines (ESG, due diligence)
Safer workplaces.
Stronger organisations.
Ethical Workplace
Make yours an organisation where safety is by design, not by chance.
A case like this can happen in any organisation. The difference is what happens next.