YCK Laneways, a consortium of 16 independently operated retail, hospitality, corporate and entertainment businesses in Sydney’s CBD, has introduced a new platform to elevate safety for staff.

YCK stands for York, Clarence and Kent streets, with the venues in the district all agreeing to adopt SafeSpace@elevate, Australia’s first independent and trauma-informed reporting and support platform, across its venues.

SafeSpace@elevate, is an independent web-based reporting and support service that is person-centred, trauma-informed, culturally safe and guided by the core principle of psychological safety.

The platform was developed by Prabha Nandagopal, a leading human rights lawyer and Founder of Elevate Consulting Partners. Previously, Prabha was the Senior Legal Advisor on the Respect@Work National Inquiry, Director of Legal for the Independent Review into Commonwealth Parliamentary Workplaces and Consultant on the national review of the Australian Music Industry.

According to a new Our Watch report, in Australian workplaces, only 54% of women were very confident of an appropriate workplace response, and only 39% of employees were aware of new requirements to prevent workplace sexual harassment. By bringing on a purposely designed platform that ensures people from all backgrounds, including those with intersecting identities, YCK Laneways can ensure staff are supported and seen. 

YCK venues hope the investment will allow employees to feel safe at work and confident about the range of reporting pathways and resolution options in place to address harmful behaviour early. The leadership team at YCK Laneways will also gain better visibility over workplace culture to help them mitigate risks early.

YCK Laneways Vice President Karl Schlothauer said: “We are excited to partner with SafeSpace@elevate and offer this initiative to our members, thanks to the ongoing support of our partner, Bacardi Martini Australia.

“As Australia’s first Purple Flag-accredited precinct, it is essential for us to provide a safe, diverse, and inclusive experience for our guests visiting the precinct. Equally important is our commitment to extending this support to the people who work within it. What drew YCK to SafeSpace@elevate is not only its complete independence but also the expert support offered to all users of the platform. This expertise will lead to better outcomes for both staff and the business alike.”

Nandagopal said: “The fast paced, and high pressure nature of the hospitality industry makes it easy for varying forms of harmful workplace behaviour including sexual harassment to slip through the cracks or go unreported.

“In addition, the composition of the workforce, where leadership teams, typically male-dominated, are in charge of managing teams that often include vulnerable groups such as young workers, migrants and refugees makes the industry more susceptible to damaging outcomes due to power imbalances, culturally unsafe practices, discrimination or unconscious bias.

“To address the unique challenges of the industry, we worked collaboratively to ensure venues managed by YCK Laneways successfully and seamlessly implement the right infrastructure for reporting and response mechanisms, and set clear policies and processes around harassment.”

Under the Sex Discrimination Act, all industries have a positive duty to take reasonable and proportionate steps to create cultural change, to protect workers. YCK said proactive measures are crucial when 40% of women report experiencing workplace sexual harassment over the past five years.

Nandagopal said: “Hospitality is known  to be a high-risk industry and there is a legal obligation for employers to reshape workplace culture. It’s a positive sign to see YCK Laneways leading the way on this critical issue by proactively empowering their workers to speak up.

“Now is the time for the rest of the industry to come together to make respect, safety and inclusion  the norm and collectively strive for industry-wide change.”

Learn more about YCK Laneways here.

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