VOICE: Valuing Options, Inspiring Confidence and Empowerment – Coaching Support for Individuals Who Have Experienced Workplace Sexual Harassment
VOICE is a research collaboration between the University of Sheffield and Chichester University exploring how coaching can provide safe, empowering and future-focused voice opportunities for those who have experienced workplace sexual harassment, offering practical guidance for coaches.
Project overview
Workplace sexual harassment remains a pervasive and costly problem, impacting individuals' wellbeing, confidence and career progression. While counselling and HR procedures are common interventions, many affected individuals do not report incidents or access support due to fear, stigma or mistrust systems.
The VOICE (Valuing Options, Inspiring Confidence and Empowerment) project investigates how coaching can address these gaps. Through anonymous surveys and in-depth interviews with individuals who have experienced workplace sexual harassment and the coaches who support them, this study explores what makes coaching helpful in this context, where its limitations lie and how it can complement existing services.
By adopting a trauma-informed lens, VOICE examines how coaching can help individuals gain a sense of agency, rebuild confidence and plan for the future while navigating the personal and professional impacts of sexual harassment. The findings will offer evidence-based guidance for coaches, highlight key ethical and cultural considerations and provide organisations with practical recommendations for integrating coaching into their workplace wellbeing strategies.
Research aims
The ultimate aim of the project is to ensure that individuals affected by workplace sexual harassment have access to support that values their voice, respects their autonomy and helps them move forward with confidence. With this in mind, the project will gather evidence to identify if and how coaching can support those who have experienced sexual harassment and provide guidance for those who wish to use this approach in the future.
The project seeks to identify the perceived impact of coaching practices from both coach and coachee perspectives and understand what makes those coaching practices helpful (or not) for addressing sexual harassment in particular.
By exploring how coaching practices used in this context may reflect principles found in trauma-informed approaches, as well as the ethical dilemmas and boundary considerations that arise, the project aims to inform future conversations about the distinct yet complementary roles of coaching and therapeutic support in workplace recovery.
Some of the questions the project seeks to answer include:
- What skills and approaches do coaches use to support sexual harassment?
- What factors influence how coaching is experienced and delivered by coaches and coachees in relation to workplace sexual harassment?
- What factors influenced their perceived helpfulness or limitations from coaches and coachees’ experiences?
- What are the ethical considerations when using coaching to support sexual harassment?
Key research activity
Throughout the project, the research team will conduct:
- Anonymous online surveys with individuals who have experienced workplace sexual harassment and discussed it in coaching sessions, exploring reasons for seeking coaching, perceived benefits, and any limitations
- Surveys with professional coaches to capture tools, techniques, ethical considerations, and challenges when supporting clients affected by workplace sexual harassment
- In-depth semi-structured interviews with a subset of coaches and coachees to gain deeper insight into experiences, outcomes, and effective practices
- Thematic analysis of qualitative data to identify common themes, helpful and unhelpful approaches, and key ethical issues
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Anticipated research outputs
Through this project, the team hope to produce:
- Guidelines and competencies for coaches who are coaching individuals who have experienced workplace sexual harassment
- Insights on recognising and maintaining ethical boundaries within coaching relationships
- Recommendations on how coaching can complement existing interventions by offering a forward-focused, personalised approach that addresses both emotional and professional challenges
- Academic publications in peer-reviewed coaching psychology, workplace wellbeing or organisational behaviour journals
- Conference presentations to disseminate findings to coaching professionals, HR leaders, and workplace wellbeing specialists
The research team are committed to making their findings open and transparent through the Open Science Framework.
Visit the project's Open Science Framework webpage
Staff involved
Senior Lecturer in Psychology
University of Chichester
01243 816338