Opinion: As work has moved home, so has harassment

A worker works on his laptop in his kitchen at home in Danbury, UK. Working out of our kitchens and living rooms can lead people to let their guard down and be more informal or in some cases inappropriate. A comment about a nice bookcase in the background can all too easily be followed by unsolicited remarks about a person’s appearance or by an improper joke. — Bloomberg

Working from home should have liberated employees from toxic workplace behaviour such as bullying and harassment. Amid the lockdowns, gone are undesired office encounters, business trips, round-the-clock conferences and much after-hours socialising. Yet, far from ending misconduct, the pandemic lockdowns have displaced it at best and fueled it at worst.

Early anecdotal evidence in the financial services industry – which has all too often silenced victims of harassment – does not paint a pretty picture. SteelEye, which makes surveillance tools for securities trading and communications in banking, told me its clients have witnessed a notable increase in potential impropriety amid a surge in activity and heightened stress in financial markets. While the alerts mostly flag potential insider-trading and market abuse, offensive or hostile language that points to bullying and harassment has shown up too, according to SteelEye’s chief executive officer Matt Smith.