This is what safe really looks like

WORDS ° Sylvia Yamanaka-Mead

Irecently spoke out about my own experience of sexual assault in connection with the hospitality industry. Even before my own MeToo I had stopped being surprised by stories of sexual harassment and abuse in the industry. These stories of violence and humiliation have always jarred painfully with my love of hospitality, which I recently wrote on.

Sexual harassment and assault are illegal and damaging. It disproportionately affects women, people of colour and LGBTQI people. Under Australian law, employers have a duty to eliminate discrimination, sexual harassment and victimisation against workers. This duty is not a passive suggestion; it is a compulsory obligation to preserve the safety and dignity of workers. This duty extends to salary staff, as well as casual and ‘off the book’ workers. Employers can also be held vicariously liable for sexual harassment and assault that occurs in workplaces by employees.

Not all behaviour between colleagues, guests and staff, is inappropriate. So how do managers know when to step in? Is the responsibility on workers to raise the red flag when a line has been crossed? What does a ‘zero tolerance on sexual harassment’ mean?

In venues where alcohol is served – which is often the centre around which business revolves – the social constraints on behaviour can appear to change. But in reality, the same standards and rules of social interaction and decency must prevail after dark.

Protecting the safety and dignity of workers isn’t a contra-indicator to a successful, profitable business.

In hospitality, feeling safe is in the details. Safe feels like working with colleagues who respect our pronouns and our boundaries. Safe feels like being heard and being believed. The humiliation of not believing victims, of minimising abuse and gaslighting, is retraumatising and can easily lead to further harm. Sexual harassment and abuse, of any kind, is not a joke. As renowned food writer and critic Larissa Dubecki has described in a 2016 interview: “There was a waitress I worked with who was followed into the coolroom by two chefs. They turned off the lights and then casually talked about how easy it would be to rape her. They claimed it was a joke.”

Hospitality is an environment where ‘locker room talk’ is often allowed (or encouraged). The law recognises this and specifically notes that the motive behind discrimination is irrelevant. It doesn’t matter if an abuser was ‘just having a laugh’ the behaviour is still abuse. Safe workplaces must stamp out the ‘culture’ of sexually exploitative joking, as well as reductionist simperings of ‘boys will be boys.’

For those who overstep, does it always have to escalate to throwing a guest out or firing a staff member? Of course not, there is a sliding scale of action that managers and employers can take. In an industry that exists in the enchanted hours between day and night, we must train flexible, confident managers who can think quickly and creatively to minimise harm and keep our businesses moving.

The solutions aren’t complicated. Best Bartenders’ Bar 2019 winners and late-night venue Hatts & Tatts use techniques similar to Drinkaware’s Bystander Intervention Project where staff will regularly check in with staff and guests throughout the night, asking if they are ok. Mel Musu, owner and operations manager at The Rooks Return says that often the simple act of telling staff they have support can make all the difference.

Musu describes a conversation with a staff member: “[I said] I was always available to step in or back her up, she needn’t ever feel obliged to come and get me as soon as problems arose. This act in itself made her feel strong and capable.”

High-risk environments need specialised tactics. A manager of strip clubs in Melbourne interviewed for this article described initiatives such as a house Uber account and chaperoning between venue and workers’ cars at the end of shift keep sex workers and other staff safe. Jemima McDonald, manager at Earl’s, also highlights the need to hire more women in venues. McDonald’s advice: “Hire more women and promote more women. Women find it easier to confide in other women when they’re feeling uncomfortable.”

The City of Melbourne, in conjunction with Good Night Out and Rape & Domestic Violence Services Australia, recently ran a pilot program training M elbourne venues on how to spot and deal with sexual harassment. 170 Russell, Cookie, The Toff in Town, Mesa Verde and Rooftop Bar participated, and the feedback was overwhelmingly positive. One participant said they “learnt how to respond to an incident in a way that is respectful, understanding, and appropriate. What I took from this [training] was the importance of the first response.”

Hospitality is an industry that brings people together – our greatest ambition is to create joyful, unforgettable experiences for our guests. To continue to do this, we must be brave enough to face past and present s and build better workplaces in which we can all thrive. We must all stand as allies beside our colleagues, friends and staff to create the zero-tolerance policies we want to see become the standard in our venues. As the industry continues to change and evolve – and weather storms along the way – we must protect each other and ourselves.

Thank you to Alex Ross and Harriet Leigh. The following venues did not respond to requests for comment: Speakeasy Group, Sandhill Road Group, Andrew McConnell Group, CLG, Merivale Group, MoVida Group, Rockpool Group, TYCA and Vue de Monde. The Lucas Group declined to comment directly for this article. HospoVoice declined to comment directly for this article.