There is a massive disconnect between corporate policy on office behaviour and culture and the realities of what is actually occurring in the workplace, according to workplace law firm People + Culture Strategies.

Speaking at a seminar on the future of employment litigation in Sydney last week, managing principal Joydeep Hor said incidents like sexual harassment and workplace bullying could potentially cost companies millions of dollars unless they change their approach to preventing these behaviours.

Hor said it's not enough for employers to have their documentation right, unless it's going to be backed up by appropriate action.

"It's very important that whether it's through a contact officer infrastructure, or a whistle blowing mechanism or an investment in terms of line management response capability, that you have these things in place and that everyone within the organisation understands these roles," he said.

"Line managers need to be upscaling the immediacy of the response. I'm talking about shutting down inappropriate conversations and responding to hearsay and gossip, at least to the point of proper investigation and inquiry. I'm talking about changing the cultural norms that exist in a corporation so that everyone buys into them.

"It's only really when you start doing these things that you can stand in front of a court or a tribunal and say 'we were required to take reasonable steps and we have taken reasonable steps'.'"

Another minefield of potential lawsuits is the ever-growing presence of social media in the workplace and Hor said the majority of employers still do not have a policy on the emerging medium.

"Social media is something that facilitates challenges in the behaviour and culture space rather than being an issue in and of itself," he said. "It changes once again the methods by which people communicate with each other.

It's a further blurring of the questions 'am I really just a colleague of someone I work with when they're a friend of mine on Facebook or when they see all of my tweets?''" Hor said in the future companies will be most challenged in trickier areas, such as out-of-office parties or events and the greyness of employees' relationships with their co-workers.