Consense: Designing a Compassionate System Against Workplace Sexual Harassment in Australian Law Firms

This paper addresses the widespread issue of sexual harassment in large Australian law firms, focusing on the challenges of underreporting and ineffective response mechanisms. Despite recent legislative reforms like the Anti-Discrimination and Human Rights Legislation Amendment Act 2022, which introduced a 'positive duty' for employers to proactively prevent sexual harassment, many organisations struggle with practical implementation. We propose a sociotechnical solution, Consense, designed to improve sexual harassment reporting and management systems through a compassionate approach. Consense emphasizes user privacy, transparency, and emotional support, aiming to foster a safer workplace environment. Our research applies a Design Science Research (DSR) methodology, using scenario-based design and theoretical stakeholder analysis to create a more empowering and effective reporting process. This paper contributes to Information Systems (IS) literature by demonstrating how sociotechnical systems can address complex workplace incivilities and legal challenges while supporting victim-survivors of harassment.