Combating Sexual Harassment in the Office
Sexual harassment is prevalent in almost every single aspect of our lives. Many reports often get trivialized, with some going unreported, and others get covered up by the amount of stress and paperwork that has to go through in order to file a case.
Our workplaces are no stranger to the issue, and in many cases, it seems to thrive in it as well. Recorded in various literary sources and references, sexual harassment and assault has been a mainstay in many industries and permeates society even beyond the confines of the office walls. Despite the several movements that have taken place in order to ensure safe working spaces, just labor practices and wages, it seems as if sexual harassment in the workplace has not been completely eradicated.
For businesses, the prospect of having an incident occur between employees and third-party actors can severely affect morale, transactions, and put an entire organization to the brink of collapse.
It’s imperative that a business and its stakeholders should implement anti-harassment training for employees to prevent it from happening in the first place. These are some of the tips that can be of great use to you and your business regarding the matter.
Proper Employee Training and Education
A well-informed organization is a strong one, and those that have a hard-time grasping and understanding concepts about the nature of sexual harassment can greatly benefit from a comprehensive set of training and education material about it, which you can look into for more info.
Getting them started early on in the organization and continuously reinforcing what they learn in a workplace setting can help them apply it to their households and in extension, as working members of society.
Encouraging Open-Dialogue
Many victims of sexual assault often choose to keep silent about the incident for a number of reasons.
One could be that they may not realize what had just happened and find themselves incapable of explaining the incident coherently.
Another is that the incident may damage their personal reputation and would choose to not be confronted about it.
In some cases, it could be that they were threatened and they have no one to talk to about the incident that they openly trust.
A company’s culture can greatly contribute to how victims react on events such as this. One way you can address a difficulty in opening up is to encourage a culture of openness and discussion. Not only will this help in your employees to directly report such incidents, but this also improves your company’s trust ratings and morale. When they know that they are backed up by their organization, the percentage of victims reporting and discussing policies and regulations can be boosted greatly.
In worst case scenarios, seeking the help of the best sexual harassment lawyer New York City is highly recommended.
Investing in Security Equipment and Personnel
As sexual harassment is a multi-faceted scenario, your business must be able to counteract it with hard evidence and a physical level of security.
Basically, sexual harassers can be mentally and emotionally destructive towards their victims. This can vastly affect how they conduct daily routine in and out of the office. With this in mind, your company must at least have on-call counselors and psychiatrists in order to ease the burden being put on them.
Being able to present evidence of the incident can also draw up stress with the case. Without it, victims can only offer their word on a case. By creating a strong and reliable system of security in and around your company premises, you’ll be able to back up claims and discourage malicious actions being done inside office buildings.
You can utilize a number of defense systems and programs so as to maximize your business security regarding incidents of sexual harassment. By being able to tackle these problems straight on, your company will see a boost in good engagement rates and morale.
There is still much that needs to be done in order to eradicate incidents of sexual assault and abuse, but by being front and center in combating it right at the office, your business, your employees and stakeholders will be guaranteed a stronger defense and offense in helping reduce the incident.
