CIPD Branch in Devon & Cornwall annual meeting

About this event

Devon and Cornwall CIPD Branch are delighted to be joined by Diane Wills for a session on Managing Sexual Misconduct

Managing Sexual Misconduct: Risk, Responsibility and Workplace Culture

With increasing scrutiny on workplace culture and evolving legislative expectations, organisations face growing responsibility to respond effectively to sexual misconduct. This session is intended to spark some initial thinking to explore why proactive management matters and how organisations can address sexual misconduct in a way that protects individuals, mitigates risk and supports a healthy workplace culture.

The session is designed to encourage thoughtful discussion and challenge participants to start to reflect on how their organisations influence the management of sexual misconduct—and what more can be done to respond confidently, fairly and responsibly.

While investigations and HR processes are essential, they rarely address the underlying behaviours, thinking patterns and emotional regulation challenges that often sit beneath these issues. This is the critical gap Diane’s work is designed to address.

Why This Matters

Early, specialist intervention delivers clear organisational benefits:

Reduces the risk of repeat complaints, grievances and employment tribunal claims

Helps mitigate legal, financial and reputational risk

Reduces absenteeism linked to psychological safety concerns

Demonstrates a proactive and responsible response to misconduct

Supports culture change by promoting psychological safety, trust in leadership and staff retention

Employees are far more likely to remain in organisations where concerns are addressed decisively, fairly and professionally.

Diane works collaboratively with HR, legal teams and senior leaders to ensure interventions align with internal processes, safeguarding obligations and organisational strategy. In a climate of heightened accountability around equality, diversity and inclusion, organisations can no longer afford reactive or superficial responses to sexual misconduct.

What You’ll Gain

In this session, Diane will initiate some early thinking around:

Practical approaches to managing sexual misconduct risk

How to protect workplace culture while meeting legal and employer responsibilities

Strategies that support accountability, integrity and respectful workplaces

This session is ideal for HR professionals, senior leaders, managers and anyone with responsibility for people, culture or risk management

Speaker's bio

Diane Wills, Workplace conflict and sexual harassment coach, who is a forensic expert specialising in trauma, risk and behavior change.

Please note:

1. Webinar joining instructions will be sent to you again 1 day before the event, with a further reminder, 30 minutes prior to the event starting.

2. The session may be recorded and shared with people afterwards. Please bear this in mind and have your camera off if you do not wish for your image to be shared.

3. The chat function will be used for participants to engage with the webinar, so just be mindful of the login name you use and ensure you are happy for other people to see this.

4. For security reasons, it is requested that participants join the live session 10 minutes prior to the scheduled start time and with the same name as registered on Eventbrite as not doing so may cause a delay or non-admittance to the event.

5. This event may include an external speaker who has prepared their own presentation. Any views or opinions expressed by the speaker are their own and do not reflect those of the CIPD.

6. If you require any reasonable adjustments to enhance your experience, please get in contact with us by responding to this email and we will do our best to accommodate.