London estate agent Foxtons has urged staff to speak up amid allegations that junior employees were subject to sexual harassment and inappropriate behaviour.
According to an investigation by business news site Bloomberg, employees have reported being groped, being sent suggestive messages by directors, racist comments and drunk driving.
One female employee, who was 21 at the time, told Bloomberg that a manager would comment on her body and say he wanted to have sex with her.
He then began attempts to kiss or grope her in the office and sent explicit messages to this employee and other female colleagues, asking for photos in return.
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The same employee was slapped on the bottom as she walked past another colleague in the pub with a drink in each hand, and complained to HR about the incident.
The HR representative questioned her story, and told her that the man was well-liked. HR would not address the complaint unless she filed a police report, so she retracted her statement, she said.
Bloomberg has spoken to 11 current and former Foxtons employees with stories of unwanted physical contact, requests for sex or offensive comments between 2021 and late 2024.
It interviewed more than 20 former or current employees overall and also had sight of employment records, legal documents and screenshots.
One woman said her weight was discussed in a work WhatsApp chat, and someone told her to start an OnlyFans account.
Eight of the women said they had complained to their manager or to HR, but were told that the behaviour was unexceptional. All of the women said they had held back reporting some behaviour as they felt allegations would not be taken seriously.
Some feared that reporting inappropriate conduct would mean their pipeline of sales leads would be turned off.
Thirteen interviewees said they had heard racist or antisemitic language used by Foxtons employees, and 16 said drunk-driving was commonplace.
One former employee who had a senior role at the company said he had complained directly to CEO Guy Gittins about the culture, but Gittins told him he could not be personally involved. His concerns were referred to HR and discussed, but the inquiry never progressed.
This employee told Bloomberg that he was dismissed for poor performance in the year that followed after being assigned very few leads. He later received a financial settlement from Foxtons after raising a tribunal claim for unfair dismissal.
Some staff told Bloomberg that Foxtons’ heavy drinking culture contributed to an environment where such incidents were overlooked.
The company recently removed alcohol from Friday meetings and asked employees to complete an anti-sexual harassment course before its Christmas party, but it acknowledged that more could be done.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the firm said: “We are concerned that colleagues have told Bloomberg of offensive behaviour and urge them to report it to the independent, confidential whistleblowing process.
“Any matters of sexual harassment or misconduct are taken extremely seriously, thoroughly investigated and in no way tolerated at Foxtons. We don’t recognise allegations that colleagues escalating issues are not taken seriously.”
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