Everyone deserves to feel safe and welcome when they go to work. That’s why it’s important to know how to identify harassment and what to do when you experience or witness it. 

Harassment can happen anywhere, in the workplace, during work-related travel, or even at an event for work. Illegal workplace harassment can happen between coworkers, an employee and a client or customer, or an employee and their supervisor.

And harassment in the workplace can take many forms, including:

• Inappropriate jokes or derogatory comments 
• Physical harassment, like violence or unwanted touching
• Verbal threats or implied threats 
• Visual harassment, like images or videos
• Aggressive or repeated requests for sexual favors
• Showing favoritism based on a protected characteristic such as sex, race, nationality, age

If you experience workplace harassment, the best thing to do is to let the harasser know that  their actions are unwelcome and will not be tolerated. However, that can be intimidating to do, so it always helps to have someone else with you as a witness.

If you see someone being harassed, you might be able to step in and stop it from happening, if it feels safe to do so. But, either way, here are 5 ways you play an important role as a witness by supporting the person targeted.

1. Speak Up

If you feel comfortable, speak up, and let the harasser know you find their behavior inappropriate, intimidating or hostile, and ask them to stop. Try to do so in a calm but direct way that will not escalate the situation further. Many harassers don’t even understand their behavior is inappropriate, so speaking up can sometimes put a stop to the behavior. Be specific about the behavior, that it is making people uncomfortable, and that it needs to stop.

2. Distract

Sometimes, the best strategy is to interrupt  the harassment by engaging the person being targeted through a distraction. You can ask a question, start an unrelated conversation, physically interrupt the incident, or find a reason to call the person out of that space.

3. Get Help

Sometimes if you are witnessing physical or verbal harassment as it is happening, it can be necessary to find an appropriate third party to intervene, such as a supervisor, human resources officer, security officer or another colleague.

4. Take Notes

If you realize you are witnessing harassment, it is important to take mental notes so you can accurately report it later. If you are able to, jot down details immediately afterwards while they are still fresh in your memory. You should make a written record of when and where the harassment occurred, who the harasser was, what happened, how the victim responded, and if there were witnesses. This documentation could be extremely important later if the victim of the harassment decides to file a formal complaint.

5. Report

And lastly, whether you are a witness to harassment or a victim of harassment, reporting the incident immediately is important so that your employer can take action and prevent that type of behavior from happening in your workplace again. If you make a complaint to your employer, put it in writing and keep a copy for yourself.

Read your company policy on harassment. Both victims and witnesses of harassment are protected from workplace retaliation by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act and cannot be retaliated against by their employers.

Harassment isn’t just harmful to victims. Witnessing harassment or working in a hostile work environment can be psychologically and emotionally damaging too. But if you know how to respond when you witness it, you can prevent workplace harassment and collaborate in building a safe and welcoming work environment.