Speak Out Revolution

Aim

Our mission is to cancel the culture of silence around harassment and bullying in our workplaces by driving transparency of these issues.

OUR STORY

My name is Marie Hemingway and I’m a strategy consultant helping businesses transform their people, processes and technology to drive positive business outcomes. I’m passionate about inclusive workplaces, diverse teams and equality of opportunity in anyone’s chosen professional field. 

I’m looking to crowdfund the start-up of the Not-For-Profit Speak Out Revolution which will provide a voice to victims of workplace harassment and bullying with the aim of driving cultural change for the benefit of individuals, organisations, partners and investors.

If you believe in fair and safe working environments for all, then I’d love to share with you our story...

Find out more about Speak Out Revolution and our team by following us on social media today. Join the Speak Out Revolution.

OUR BACKGROUND

The Speak Out Revolution team have a passion for supporting organisations and causes that advocate for a more diverse and inclusive world based on our own experiences and the experience of those within our networks. Although there has been increasing focus on efforts to improve diversity within our organisations, there is still a long way to go....

What we have come to appreciate through our voluntary work is that there are numerous unseen barriers to achieving fair and safe workplaces for all; increasingly common within our professional networks are reports of unresolved harassment and bullying complaints which are dismissed, diminished or ignored. We believe harassment and bullying is a significant cultural concern in our workplaces which heavily impacts the individual employee and observers within the organisation subsequently compromising company performance. 

THE PROBLEM WE WANT TO SOLVE

Our independent research has shown that for victims of harassment and bullying:

1. Speaking up is exhausting - The journey a victim of harassment and bullying must undertake to attempt to improve their situation is incredibly taxing both emotionally and (depending on how far they choose to escalate it) financially. Oftentimes, the mental and physical price of pursuing a complaint to resolution is too high. 

2. Speaking up does not work - It is twice as likely that your situation becomes worse, than is fully resolved, by reporting to your organisation and only 3% of people experiencing harassment and bullying will ever realise a satisfactory resolution.

3. Speaking up is ‘career limiting’ - Victims, unlike alleged perpetrators, were routinely transferred teams as a consequence of their complaint often negatively impacting their reputation and career progression.

This likely drives the fact that 66% of people will not report their harassment and bullying to their organisations.

The pervasive nature and lack of transparency around this problem means that organisations are unable to achieve a truly diverse and inclusive working environment, to the detriment of everyone.

THE SPEAK OUT REVOLUTION

We believe that unresolved harassment and bullying complaints are one of the major unseen barriers to advancement for marginalised groups in the workplace. And we know that this is an issue that has much wider reach so we’re determined to impact change; and provide a voice to those who have been, and will be, silenced for the benefit of those that follow. 

Speak Out Revolution is a Not-For-Profit disrupting the status quo to cancel the culture of silence on harassment and bullying in our workplaces. 

Our VISION is a world where every employer provides a fair and safe working environment for all.

Our MISSION is to cancel the culture of silence around harassment and bullying in our workplaces. We will empower the disempowered to speak out, challenge the status quo and advocate for organisational change.

We’re harnessing the anonymous experiences of victims of harassment and bullying in workplaces across the UK using a nationwide survey to drive an open source, independent, Speak Out dashboard. 

The Speak Out dashboard will deliver unique insight into organisational harassment and bullying culture; providing transparency to individuals, organisations, partners and investors. 

HOW WE’LL INVEST THE MONEY RAISED

We believe that equality can’t wait, and transparency drives change... We’ll use the money raised through crowdfunding to:

1. Create our website www.speakoutrevolution.co.uk

2. Launch an anonymous nationwide survey to capture employee experience

3. Develop and host an independent, open source dashboard to provide insight into harassment and bullying culture within organisations for the benefit of everyone

We hope that you’ll support us by Joining the Speak Out Revolution! Support our crowdfunder today and help us cancel the culture of silence on harassment and bullying for a fairer and safer workplace for all.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this - it would be amazing if you could support us! Please pledge whatever you can afford, from £5 to £50 to £500 - every penny is appreciated and if we reach our target Natwest BackHerBusiness will match fund 50% of our total. 

If you have been impacted by harassment and bullying, or know someone who has, please follow and share to show your support.

This project successfully funded on 5th November 2020