An employee tells her manager that an important customer has been making personal comments and touching her in a way she didn't want. The customer spends a lot with the business. What happens next says more about a workplace's culture than any policy does.
This piece from Make a Difference Media walks through three ways the same situation can go, from quietly moving the employee off the account, which teaches everyone that speaking up isn't safe, to a proper response that protects the person and the business.
There's a legal reason to read it too. From 30 October 2026, employers will have a new duty to protect staff from harassment by customers, clients, patients and other third parties, and the existing duty to prevent sexual harassment goes up to "all reasonable steps".
Whatever your role, it's worth knowing that harassment from outside the organisation counts, and that how the first conversation is handled matters most.
Managers who want to be the person a colleague can come to with something like this may find our Awareness of First Aid for Mental Health (Level 1) course useful:
