Blogs, news & views

The launch of the CIISA standards marked a significant moment for the creative industries, signalling growing recognition of the need for stronger protections around bullying, harassment and misconduct across film, television and wider media environments. But in a recent article for Broadcast Now, we highlight that whistleblowing protections alone will not solve the deeper cultural issues that have allowed harmful behaviour to persist for years.

With the CIISA Standards having been in place for a year and with the introduction of the Employment Rights Act, expectations around creating a healthy and effective speak up culture are shifting. Organisations being asked to move beyond policy and demonstrate how they are creating real, effective speak-up cultures.

Workplace misconduct is evolving, and many HR processes are struggling to keep up. At this year’s Culture Shift Annual Conference, one thing was clear: what worked even a year ago isn’t enough anymore. In this webinar join Gemma McCall (CEO) and Charlotte Taylor (Training Manager and ED&I Specialist) as they bring the most important conversations from the conference floor into a practical session for HR, People and Compliance leaders. You’ll hear what industry experts and legal professionals are seeing right now, and what it means for how you design, communicate and manage your approach to misconduct.

For decades, the creative industries have operated under a silent contract. In exchange for the opportunity to work in world-class institutions, staff and freelancers were often expected to tolerate “difficult” environments. Harmful behaviour was frequently excused as a byproduct of creative brilliance or simply accepted as part of the job.

In our recent article for Insurance Post, we explore how insurers can use anonymous reporting data not simply as a record of incidents, but as a valuable source of organisational insight.

Employee safety and wellbeing is still, in many organisations, framed as something separate from “core business”. It sits in wellbeing programmes. It sits in policies, resources, and initiatives that are often well-intentioned but structurally peripheral to how work is actually designed, experienced, and managed.

Bullying, harassment and workplace misconduct remain far more common than many organisations are willing to admit. While businesses continue to invest in wellbeing initiatives and employee engagement, new research into UK workplaces suggests there is still a significant gap between policy and reality.

The legal profession is well positioned to advise organisations on workplace culture, reporting systems and harassment prevention. But new commentary for Practical Law from our CEO and Co-founder, Gemma McCall, questions whether many firms are applying the same standards internally.

New research into workplace bullying and harassment has uncovered a widening confidence gap between junior employees and senior leaders when it comes to speaking up at work.

Bullying, harassment and workplace misconduct remain far more common than many organisations are willing to admit. While businesses continue to invest in wellbeing initiatives and employee engagement, new research into UK workplaces suggests there is still a significant gap between policy and reality.

Bullying and harassment are rife in UK workplaces, but many employees aren’t speaking up about their experiences. We surveyed over 1,000 UK employees – across all levels and business sizes – at the beginning of 2026 about their experiences of workplace bullying and harassment and found a pervasive fear of speaking up.

In this session, Gemma McCall and Charlotte Taylor explored the real barriers to speaking up within NHS Trusts and shared the practical experiences of Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. Discover how they implemented Culture Shift’s Report + Support™ platform to build trust, support managers, and strengthen their Speak Up culture.

From manipulated images to synthetic video, deepfakes are no longer a distant or theoretical risk. They are already beginning to show up in workplace contexts, creating new forms of harassment that are harder to detect, harder to prove, and significantly more damaging for those targeted.

Regulatory compliance in the workplace has traditionally been treated as a legal and procedural discipline. Policies are written to reflect statutory requirements, training is delivered to ensure awareness, reporting lines are established to demonstrate accountability, and evidence is collected to satisfy audits, regulators, and internal governance structures.

For a long time, the team at a busy partner organisation knew that their current way of working was no longer sustainable. Using Report + Support to receive incoming reports, they were providing a secure and accessible way for people to come forward. Yet when the actual casework began, the process moved away from the digital space and into a world of manual administration.

Behind the scenes, the National Theatre has been driving meaningful cultural change – building an environment where people feel safe, respected and heard. In this recorded conversation, Gemma McCall, CEO and Co-Founder of Culture Shift, speaks with Sarah Dean, People Policy and Engagement Partner at the National Theatre, about why the organisation adopted Culture Shift’s Report + Support™ system and what they’ve learned along the way.

Sexual harassment is a problem that affects millions of workers each year in the UK. It is estimated that 40% of women and 18% of men have experienced some form of unwanted sexual behaviour in the workplace, with studies consistently revealing high prevalence levels. It impacts both people and businesses, with significant consequences for employee wellbeing, organisational culture and business performance.

Bullying and harassment remain significant challenges across education and workplace environments, yet reporting levels continue to fall far below actual prevalence. In many cases, people do not stay silent because reporting routes are unavailable, but because they are unsure whether they will be believed, supported, or safe after speaking up.

A practical breakdown of what the Worker Protection Act asks of employers, and how Culture Shift’s platform and Community of Practice support each step.

In a bid to tackle bullying and sexual harassment in the financial industry, the FCA announced in July 2025 that new reporting requirements will be coming into force to tackle instances of non-financial misconduct.

One year on from the Worker Protection Act coming into force, we look at how employers are responding to the new duty and where compliance still falls short.

MasterChef TV presenters Gregg Wallace and John Torode are the latest celebrities to be involved in high-profile sexual harassment and harassment cases at the BBC, revealing deep cultural failings and systemic issues, not just within the BBC but industry wide.

Most organisations don’t have a reporting problem, they have a visibility problem. It’s an uncomfortable distinction, because it challenges a deeply held assumption: that if something serious is happening, it will eventually be reported. That formal systems, policies, and escalation routes will surface issues before they become systemic.

Significant numbers of students are still experiencing harassment and sexual misconduct every year throughout their time at university. A 2022 study in the UK found that 20% of respondents experienced at least one act of attempted or forced sexual touching or rape, whilst 52% experienced at least one act of sexual harassment such as sexist remarks or jokes.