Alarming new statistics have revealed a third of Kiwis say they've been sexually harassed at work in the last six months.
Suggestive stories, sexist comments and crude sexual remarks are said to be the most common forms of sexual harassment.
The data reveals 33 percent of respondents said they've had suggestive stories, 25 percent say they've experienced sexist comments and 23 percent experienced crude sexual remarks.
Massey Business School research professor Jarrod Haar conducted the study and told AM on Thursday people can experience something and not really see it as sexual harassment.
"It's actually quite interesting because when we asked people, do you feel like you've been sexually harassed, 6 percent of men say, 'Yes' and 18 percent of women say, 'Yes I have'," he said.
"But when we look at the actual behaviours that we've experienced, it's about 30 percent of men have experienced some type of these sexual harassing behaviours and 36 percent of women, so you can experience something and not really see that as sexual harassment."
The data also showed the frequency of sexual harassment for men was much lower than it was for women.
Haar believes the issue with sexual harassment is people's exposure to it through television and media has hidden the true effect of it.
"I think the trouble with something like sexual harassment is our exposure from television and media, so you know the creepy, 'Your shoulders look tight let me give you a massage' or a pat on the bottom and those are the least reported behaviours," he said.
"So those are really quite rare. It's more those suggestive stories, the consistent repeated invite, 'Let's go out and do lunch' and you are like, 'Well I'm married' but 'Come on you can still do it.'"
The data also revealed managers reported higher levels of harassment compared to employees.
Haar told AM co-host Melissa Chan-Green it was even worse for female managers, with 53.6 percent of them reporting sexual harassment.
"So even when you've got a position of power, there's probably always somebody above you or another manager who might be quite cocky and they're getting exposed to sexual harassment way more than everybody else. I too was quite surprised by that," he said.
With the alarming stats, Haar believes the way to diffuse it in the workplace is to create an open atmosphere so people can have an honest conversation about it.
"I think one way to kind of diffuse some of these things in the workplace or amongst your work team is to maybe have a simple conversation around, hey, that was funny but the other comment was across the line and let's have less of those types of comments," he said.
Watch the full interview with Jarrod Haar in the video above.
