Katie Shortland co-owns RaRa Ramen restaurants in Sydney’s Redfern and Randwick. Three weeks ago, she sacked a senior male staff member after learning of unsavoury behaviour towards a young female employee.

“It was challenging as owners, but not nearly as challenging as someone being brave enough to tell you about something that had happened to them at work and that they were embarrassed, ashamed and nervous to share,” she says.

“This is why you have robust policies: we were able to deal with it swiftly, with urgency and empathy, and send a message to the whole team that we will care for them and that it’s safe to step forward.”

The past weeks have been a time of deep reflection following a series of stories by The Sydney Morning Herald and Good Food. They found one of Sydney’s top bar and restaurant groups, Swillhouse, pushed female staff out of the company after they reported sexual assaults, encouraged staff to have sex with customers and take drugs while on shift, and discriminated against women.

But the Swillhouse case isn’t isolated – the hospitality industry has a systemic sexual harassment and gender-based violence problem.

Leon Kennedy, chief executive of Mulberry Group, which owns nine venues in Melbourne (including Hazel and Lilac Wine), admits the revelations “haven’t surprised me, and that sucks”.

“On the other hand, it’s good that we are finally calling this shit out and correcting the toxic crap that has been accepted for so long in our industry. I love the fact that society is evolving, and hospitality is part of that, not getting left behind.”

Alexander Kelly, a co-owner of Baba’s Place in Sydney’s Marrickville, which is built on a celebration of migrant culture, is disappointed but also not shocked by recent news. “The hospitality sector as the Wild West of entrepreneurship isn’t working. There’s something seriously awry.”

Fostering and ensuring a safe and respectful work environment as a small business owner can be challenging, he says.

“You’re probably working 60 hours a week, trying to employ, train, market, co-ordinate. It’s not easy to find the time to have an HR system. It’s not an excuse, and we believe we are creating a safer workplace at Baba’s Place, but it’s a challenge to work on the security of employees in a sector that is financially unstable,” Kelly says.

“The hospitality sector as the Wild West of entrepreneurship isn’t working. There’s something seriously awry.”

Alexander Kelly, Baba’s Place

The industry’s reckoning is also its opportunity.

“I believe the hospitality sector can have such a positive impact,” he says. “It’s a heartbreaking waste to succumb to sexist, bigoted, egotistical power plays when we could be collectively speaking to people about [other things that have positive impacts, such as] regenerative farming and fairer immigration policies. It’s a shame to be known for disgusting behaviour when we could be doing so much good.”

Programs, policies and initiatives, including legislation, are all used to counter toxic behaviour in workplaces. Since December 2022, the Sex Discrimination Act has required all Australian businesses to fulfil a positive duty to eliminate sexual discrimination, hostility and harassment.

In June, SafeWork NSW released a Sexual and Gender-Based Harassment code of conduct, with guidance for business owners in managing risks. “There are resources out there, but it’s often not hugely accessible to our industry,” says Caitlin Fraraccio, Workplace Relations Advisor for the Australian Hotels Association in Victoria.

The AHA (Vic) is working with WorkSafe Victoria to create tailored content to assist the hospitality industry in managing and improving workplace culture.

“We’ve had a fantastic response,” says Fraraccio. “Owners and managers want to create a safe workplace, but a lot haven’t known what to do, and they are overwhelmed when there is an incident. We want them to feel equipped and empowered. We know gendered violence is a problem. It would be amazing to see a shift in culture and what we expect in the workplace.”

To aid this, The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guides are introducing a new award to recognise programs that business operators, organisations, not-for-profits, voluntary groups, and networks have created to foster safe and empowering workplace cultures. For every problematic venue, there are many showing leadership and respect, and the Cultural Change Champion Award celebrates that.

For Melbourne bar owner Lyndon Kubis, the responsibility to create a respectful workplace goes beyond that of an employer. “It’s the bare minimum as a human,” says the founder of Diggin’ in the Cellars, a group that includes The Moon in Collingwood and The Alps in Prahran.

He sees hiring as a key factor in creating positive work environments for staff and customers. “You cannot change someone’s character. You just try to make sure they don’t find a footing in an organisation. We stop those people at the gate. They are simply not allowed in the house.”

Kennedy, from the Mulberry Group, says workplace culture is like a garden bed: it needs constant maintenance. Tending the garden means making time to check in properly, he says.

“We might have a week when everyone is really under the pump, but we say we need to get into the private dining room at [our cafe] Liminal for two hours and hang out. Everyone walks in, maybe grumbling about all the things they have to do, but after 10 minutes, we feel supported, connected, we do the perspective stuff.

“That’s where the audit of toxicity happens: when you ask, How are we going? How are we really going? Maybe someone will then talk about a comment that came through on our HR analytics, they’re not feeling good about it, they want to talk about it, and it’s a safe space to discuss it. If the way your team operates is purely transactional, you’ll never get to this stuff.”

Shirley Yeung is co-founder of Mix Haus, a national platform for women in hospitality that offers education, events and support, including a discussion at Sydney’s Hinchcliff House last week about safe workplaces for women.

“We connect, celebrate each other’s successes, share difficult things,” she says. There are also practical outcomes. “A girl might be moving states, and someone would say, ‘we are hiring’, or they may also tell people to beware of certain workplaces.”

She thinks hospitality is changing for the better. “I came up in a generation where you were shouted at if you made one drink wrong,” she says. “There was no empathy. Now, it’s a different generation, and there has been a huge shift in mindset. COVID helped in that we now discuss mental health, and you can call in sick. My experience was that you came into work unless you were in hospital, and you had every weekend free, or your job was at risk. It was much more hostile.”

Katie Shortland from RaRa Ramen says an ongoing awareness of a duty of care is one of the most important things businesses need to remember.

“We haven’t been perfect at this. If something bad at work is not handled correctly for a young woman, it could damage her life. All of us need to be part of the tide that lifts.”