“A senior banker assaulted me. This is the advice I give other young women”
You don’t think it will happen to you but as recent cases have made clear, it might. There are still men who feel they can act with impunity in financial services and there are still young women who suffer.
A few years into my career, I was assaulted by a senior man on my team. I will not go into details, but it left me traumatised. Despite this, I have gone on to have a good career.
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My advice to young women in banking who experience anything similar is to get out immediately. At the very least go on sick leave. If you’re in the UK, claim constructive dismissal.
The longer you stay in the firm alongside the perpetrator, the greater the disadvantage you will be at. As the victim, you will not be thinking clearly, and you are in an extremely vulnerable position. Your employer will despatch HR to interview you, but HR are effectively the employment law function of the firm.
When you enter an interview with HR, they will typically record everything you say, and if you are not thinking clearly they will use it against you. They are not impartial but are effectively there to protect the firm. If the man you are up against is a key revenue generator, they are there to protect him. There is an asymmetry of experience and of information: HR will have dealt with this kind of thing before and will know what the man is saying. You are the victim, have no experience, and do not know what HR are being told by the perpetrator.
HR will usually buy time. They will tell you they are conducting an investigation. Then they will come back to you and say they have found nothing. During this time, your working life will have been impossible, and your mental health will have deteriorated. HR will wear you down. Then they will fire you and ask you to sign an NDA which waives your right to sue.
Going up against this is tough and expensive and is why many women don’t bother. If you think you want to fight, don’t stick around to be drained. I fought. I found a new job elsewhere and I am still in the industry now. My career has been affected – I earn less and have been promoted less and have spent a fortune on lawyers. But it’s been worth it. Women need to stand up.
Joanna Griffiths is a pseudonym
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