I’ve asked this anonymously as this is a sensitive issue and colleagues use this site for advice.

I have recently joined the organisation as a line manager with a team of 6 individuals. One of whom resigned last week. The business is a partnership and one of the partners has responsibility for staffing matters. The resignation therefore went to them, but my member of staff told me before hand what they were about to do.

She has been with the firm a long time and I was shocked when she first told me she was resigning. I spoke to her again yesterday as I didn’t feel her reasons for resigning were genuine and as I am new I was somewhat worried that my appointment might be at the bottom of it. But what she said really shocked me.

One of the partners has been sexually harassing her for quite some time, even at out of hours social events attended by his wife present. She has said ‘no’ to him very firmly. At one point, I’m not sure how long ago, she told one of the other partners, who basically said ‘what do you expect me to do about it’. She therefore began looking for other employment.

What do I do now? I don’t feel that I can ignore it, her notice period is 3 months so she is going to be around for a while. We don’t do exit interviews but I think this would be a good time to start.

I didn’t sleep last night so would appreciate any help or advice anyone is willing to share.

Anonymous