Statistics Canada says that in 2020, one in four women and one in six men reported having experienced inappropriate sexualized behaviours at work in the previous year.
That includes inappropriate verbal or non-verbal communication, sexually explicit materials, and unwanted physical contact or suggested sexual relations.
All workplaces in Canada must comply with anti-harassment and discrimination laws, and many employers have policies in place to address inappropriate sexualized behaviours in their workplaces—including procedures for reporting incidents to the appropriate people.

Nevertheless, 32 per cent of women and 26 per cent of men said that they had not received any information from their employer on how to report sexual harassment and sexual assault.

The Survey on Sexual Misconduct at Work was conducted just prior to the onset of COVID-19 public health measures, including the closure of many workplaces. The results of the survey therefore reflect experiences of workers prior to the pandemic, when workplaces were fully open.

One in ten women personally experienced workplace discrimination based on gender, gender identity or sexual orientation in the year prior to the pandemic, compared with less than one in twenty men.
Women, young employees, those with disabilities or those belonging to the LGBTQ2+ community were most likely to experience inappropriate sexualized behaviours and discrimination based on gender, gender identity or sexual orientation at work. For example, almost half of LGBTQ2+ workers had personally experienced this kind of behaviour or discrimination, compared with just over one-fifth of non-LGBTQ2+ workers.
Workers belonging to a visible minority population were less likely than non-visible minority workers to report having experienced gender-based discrimination at work.

Reports of inappropriate sexualized behaviours at work were as common among Indigenous women as they were among non-Indigenous women, and proportions were similar between Indigenous men and non-Indigenous men. Indigenous women were also as likely as non-Indigenous women to report having experienced gender-based discrimination at work (10 per cent respectively).
Inappropriate sexualized behaviour more common for women in occupations historically held by men
For women, experiences of inappropriate sexualized behaviour were most common for those working in certain occupations where men have historically outnumbered women. For example, almost half of women working in trades, transportation, equipment operation and related occupations said that they experienced inappropriate sexualized behaviour at work in the year leading up to the pandemic―compared with 19 per cent of men.
Women and men in health, sales and service jobs experience high rates of inappropriate sexualized behaviours
Women working in some occupations where they historically outnumbered men also experienced high rates of inappropriate sexualized behaviours in the year leading up the pandemic. For example, almost one in three women working in sales and service and health-related occupations said that they had been targeted with inappropriate sexualized behaviours at work in the previous year.
By way of comparison, about one in five men in sales and service and health care occupations had personally experienced inappropriate behaviours in the previous year.
Over half of women in sales and service occupations who had experienced these behaviours said that a customer or client had been responsible for at least one incident, compared with just over one-fifth of men. Conversely, men who experienced these behaviours were much more likely to be targeted by a co-worker than women.
One in three women targeted with sexually explicit materials at work says someone in authority was responsible
People with formal authority in the workplace―such as supervisors and bosses―were often the perpetrators of inappropriate sexualized behaviours in the year prior to the pandemic. For example, about three in ten women who were targeted with sexually explicit materials at work identified someone in authority as responsible, as did 30 per cent of men who experienced unwanted physical contact or suggested sexual relations.
In terms of gender-based discrimination in the workplace, 44 per cent of women and 36 per cent of men who had been targeted said that it had been perpetrated by someone in authority.
Women most often identified a man as the perpetrator of all three types of inappropriate sexualized behaviour. While this was also true for men targeted with sexually explicit materials (66 per cent), about half of men who experienced unwanted physical contact or suggested sexual relations said that the perpetrator was a woman.