By Fiona Ho

He was the CEO of David Jones, one of Australia's largest department stores and earned AU$6 million (S$7.3 million) a year, when Mark McInnes found himself amid sexual harassment allegations.

He eventually quit in June after admitting that he was guilty of "inappropriate" behaviour towards a married female staff who he hugged and tried to kiss.

While some employees claimed that they "have been waiting for this day," others bemoaned that political correctness had gone haywire and he should have just apologised and moved on.

Terry, a Malaysian who is a manager of an IT company offers a more compassionate view towards the disgraced CEO.

"People are generally more sympathetic towards women when it comes to sexual harassment. But it isn't always the man's fault," he said.

"Girls use sex to their advantage too. The female worker could have been trying to get her boss' attention," Terry explained.

"Flirting in the office is also relatively normal. It happens everywhere. Girls enjoy it, but guys may take it the wrong way when certain signals are sent."

The witty 27-year-old also thinks that the office is actually a good place to look for romantic partners:

"It's where you really get to know someone as you see him or her every (working) day."

He added: "About 40 percent of my colleagues at my ex-workplace found romance in their previous jobs. A number of my colleagues now also found their partners from their last jobs."

Terry himself was attracted to his female colleagues and was not afraid to act on it.

"I wouldn't say that I harassed them, but I did ask them out for dates. I had to make a move. It's normal. It's what guys do," he said.

"I also tried to get their attention by trying to outperform my colleagues or speaking out more at meetings. It was kind of a major turn-off for the guys," he added with a shrug.

However, Terry thinks that guys should know when to back off.

"I stopped pursuing them when I know it's not going to happen. You can just tell from how a girl reacts," he said.

Terry also claimed that his female colleagues had also shown interest in him.

"This one girl wore revealing, low-cut tops to work every day and she called me all the time," he said, adding that nothing resulted from the dalliance.

But whether it is the case of salacious employers or an attention-hungry employee, Terry feels that victims should talk to the Human Resource (HR) department when sexual harassment happens.

"If the HR does stupid things like cover up the case, raise it to the Ministry of HR or an NGO," he said.

"People need to be treated fairly. Both sides have to be heard - you need to get the facts right."

As a manager, Terry said he would also assess how serious the case was and if those involved could still work together.

He added: "Whatever it is, victims should never keep quiet, unless they're fine with being sexually harassed."