“It was only a bit of fun”. How many times have you heard that as justification in the workplace? An Asian journalist in a national newspaper told me once he was called “Gunga Din” by his news editor. Muslim workers will tell you how often they’ve been referenced as Taliban or Bin Laden. And over 40% of women have experienced sexual harassment in the workplace, the number rising even higher for disabled women and BME women.

According to the TUC, 79% of women don’t report harassment in the workplace. Instead, the process of quiet firing takes place and people resign rather than report/make a complaint.

A survey of 2200 people conducted by law firm Irwin Mitchell found that 32% of employees had been victim of bullying being disguised as banter, the figure rising to 40% for those in hospitality. When it goes unchecked and unreported, it only gives licence to those doing the harassing to continue.

A Bill is making its way through Parliament that will amend The Equality Act to make companies liable for third party harassment – whether that’s from colleagues, clients or customers. It’s a bold initiative and MeToo and Black Lives Matter campaigners are among those whose efforts have brought the initiative close to being passed.

But there’s a worry that opposition to it might see it watered down at the last minute, as often happens with radical bills. And it’s been criticised by Toby Young of the Free Speech Union for supposedly “turning business owners into banter police”. Part of the problem with Toby’s message is the messenger – an able-bodied straight white man from a privileged background will have no clue what it’s like to be black, female, gay or disabled in a workforce. He has influence in sections of The Conservative Party but let’s hope Equalities Minister Kemi Badenoch does the right thing and tells him to sling his hook.

Interestingly, businesses themselves and the trade bodies that represent us have been largely quiet on the matter. Many will be worried that they are not capable of monitoring what happens in their organisations, that there will be people doing and saying things that could lead to lawsuits which they were unaware of. Will they dare articulate their worries? Only at the risk of alienating swathes of their workforces and their customers.

Will they implement organisational change to stamp out harassment and bullying? The statistics I’ve quoted are a major indictment on us. Let’s hope this brings a step change in how dignity comes as standard in how we conduct ourselves going forward.