“I Realized that I couldn’t Act Normal”: a Qualitative Study of Sexual Assault Survivors’ Experiences of Workplace Disclosure

Abstract

Sexual assault results in psychological, physical, and financial consequences for survivors. The distress caused by sexual assault can lead to work-related consequences such as loss of productivity, lost wages, or a decline in job performance. Work-related consequences or other assault-related factors may lead survivors to disclose to someone in their workplace. Research has examined help-seeking, disclosure, and social reactions, but has neglected to study disclosure and social reactions in survivors’ places of employment as well as the impact of workplace social reactions on survivor recovery. Using a community sample of interviews with 28 sexual assault survivors, we explored the experiences of workplace disclosure among a subsample of 6 survivors who disclosed in the workplace. Specifically, we explored survivors’ reasons for disclosure, the social reactions received, and how this affected their recovery using thematic analysis. Results reveal that workplace disclosure is driven by feeling like they had no choice but to disclose or lose their job, akin to the concept of compelled disclosure. Survivors received positive and negative social reactions that affected their recovery and employment status. We conclude with a discussion of implications for research, workplace policy, and employer practices based on our findings. With preliminary findings suggesting that compelled disclosure may apply to the workplace context, we make recommendations for further research on workplace disclosure with a more diverse sample of survivors from a variety of workplaces. Future research should also consider the role of institutional betrayal when examining workplace responses to survivors.