A wide-scale survey of entertainment-industry workers released Thursday found that more of them are aware of what constitutes workplace misconduct and how it should be reported, but many workers still express little confidence that powerful executives will be held accountable for harassing behavior.
The Hollywood Commission, founded by attorney Anita Hill, prepared the 2022-23 Entertainment Industry Survey report, which was based on feedback from more than 5,000 industry workers.
According to the commission, the report found that thanks to the #metoo movement and years of headlines about powerful Hollywood figures publicly facing allegations of harassment, more workers are aware of workplace misconduct and how they should respond to it.
However, the survey respondents also said they believe there has been little change overall in the entertainment industry’s “workplace culture,” with the vast majority expressing a “lack of confidence that powerful harassers will face accountability.”
“The dramatic upswing in awareness of the types of behavior that do not belong in the workplace is a key step forward,” Hill said in a statement. “Shifts in attitudes and values of workers and leadership pave the way for institutional and systemic changes that will ultimately lead to eliminating workplace misconduct.
“Our focus is to root out the harmful conduct that workers reported in our survey by bridging gaps in existing industry systems that leave industry workplaces vulnerable to abusive and discriminatory behaviors,” Hill said. “This is why everyone at the Hollywood Commission remains so dedicated to our cause. Early this new year, we will launch new programs that we believe will make an impact. We are hitting the ground running and look forward to engaging our partner organizations to support safe and productive workplaces for all industry workers.”
According to the report, rates of sexually harassing behaviors, bias, discrimination and bullying are still mostly unchanged since the commission’s first survey in 2019-20. The report also found that workers continue to fear retaliation, such as loss of advancement opportunities by being labeled “difficult to work with.” That fear continued to act as a deterrent for many to actually report harassing behavior, the report found.
The report made several recommendations aimed at ensuring accountability and enhancing prevention of harassment.
The full report is available online at www.hollywoodcommission.org.