Sexual harassment is real and does happen more than you would like to think.
Despite the many years of scandals related to assault and harassment, such a thing is still common, especially within the workplace. Therefore, professional sexual harassment lawyers always look at the company first and then at the employees. Why? A company is mostly responsible for its harassment policies and dealing with employees who do not respect these policies and other laws. Here are seven of the most effective steps that you can rely on to prevent workplace sexual harassment!
Employee Sexual Harassment Education
First and foremost, every one of your employees should know what it means to harass someone sexually. Most of the time, they confuse assault for harassment or the other way around.
Teach them that unwanted jokes, unwanted touching, annoying date requests, and suggestive object display makes for a sexual harassment claim.
Sexual Harassment Policies
Not only should you have such policies in place, but you should make your employees aware that they exist and that they come with consequences if broken.
Such policies should also come with details regarding the reporting procedures and how whistleblowers are treated.
Increase Awareness
As mentioned above, most people either confuse assault for harassment or don’t know what behavior can be classified as harassment.
Your best shot at preventing harassment in the workplace as an employer is to raise awareness about improper behavior. If needed, signal it on the spot!
Take Care of Concerns and Allegations
To prevent and/or decrease sexual harassment scenarios, the employer must take care of any allegations or concerns as soon as possible.
If you hear a rumor related to potential workplace sexual harassment, you should not wait for it to become true and damage your company’s image.
Enforce a Zero Tolerance Policy
This is pretty much straightforward – namely, do not offer second chances or turn a blind eye.
An effective anti-sexual harassment strategy means that no employee can bend the rules or escape punishment. If the employee cannot be fired, then the best thing to do is move/transfer them to another department/team, far away from the person they harassed.
Have Someone Review Allegations
If employees are required to contact you to report sexual harassment, they may avoid doing so for obvious reasons.
However, if a certain employee is responsible for reviewing such allegations, their colleagues will be more open and report things when they happen.
Report – Don’t Reconsider!
You or someone you know may have been recently harassed in the workplace. Now it’s the best time to alert your superiors about what happened, and the issue will be dealt with.
Avoid reconsidering such things and tell yourself that you may have misinterpreted a gesture. If you consider something to have been sexual harassment, report it on the spot!
The Bottom Line
Every company should have serious sexual harassment policies and punishment in place. This will make employees trust you as an employer.
Various policies and protection measures ensure that, if certain authorities are checking you, everything is in order, and your company’s operations don’t have to suffer!
short url:
