We believed this topic required a longer post than normal. Workplace sexual harassment is not new and efforts to stamp it out have not made much of an impact. One analysis indicates “much of the training done over the last 30 years has not worked as a prevention tool—it’s been too focused on simply avoiding legal liability.”
Human Resource Executive® reached out to five of the 100 Most Powerful Employment Attorneys for 2018 to get their perspective on how HR leaders can harness the #MeToo movement to help stem the tide of workplace sexual harassment. Their comments apply to small employers as well as large corporations.
Source: Human Resource Executive, June 16, 2018. Page18. Link. Comments are offered in the following contexts.
Accountability: Reporting systems are broken
Mario Barrera says a prime reason that workplace sexual harassment remains prevalent is because employees have very little faith in most sexual harassment reporting systems and processes.
Time for new thinking on training
Jonathan Stoler says, today’s training must be truly interactive. It should be conducted in relatively small groups and in a live session, as opposed to the ineffective web-based, mouse-click training modules in which participants just go through the motions. Training should offer an experience that brings real workplace situations to life, allowing employees to say, “Hey, you know, I’ve seen that situation before,” or “I recall somebody making a comment like that,” he says.
Best Practices: Ways to make change
Employees should be educated about concrete consequences for the accused if the accusations are substantiated. Anti-retaliation guarantees, Juan Enjamio adds, should not only be written into formal policies, but also clearly communicated in anti-harassment training.
INSIGHTS: Berrera’s comments about his experiences since starting legal practice reveal the challenges we have as a culture to adjust our social behaviors, secure a safe working environment for all and move toward a culture of accountability.
“It’s mind-boggling,” he says. “I’ve been doing this for 34 years and, if you would’ve told me when I started practicing law in 1984 that we would still be talking about sexual harassment at the extent and level that we’re talking about in 2018, I would have thought you were crazy. Yet, here we are, almost starting fresh.”