Jonathan Segal, Partner, Duane Morris
17 Tips for Harassment Training
This article originally appeared in HRMagazine and is reprinted with permission of the Society for Human Resource Management.
The 2016 Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) report on sexual harassment contains the seeds for great ideas to fight harassment of all stripes, including that based on race, gender,
national origin, and religion. That year was the 30th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s recognition that sexual harassment is a form of sex discrimination. One key aspect of the study is the importance of training supervisors and management. The following 17 tips for upgrading your training are based not only on specific recommendations from EEOC commissioners but also on my own advice Note: While I served on the task force, I speak for neither the EEOC nor the task force. 1. Ensure that the training is interactive and facilitated by a qualified trainer. If your employees are passive participants, the training will not achieve its full potential. Ideally, the training should be live. If that is not feasible for cost reasons or because employees are geographically dispersed, you can consider an online alternative, but it should have an interactive component. 2. Confirm that support comes from the highest levels. Without the endorsement of senior leaders, the training likely will be seen as a “check-the-box”
exercise. Executives should attend and ideally provide opening or closing comments. Leaders must make it clear that everyone will be held accountable for complying with requirements covered in the training. 3. Clarify that the training should be taken seriously. The purpose of this exercise is not simply to sensitize supervisors; it is to help them keep their jobs. Make it clear that the employer, like the courts, holds supervisors to a higher standard than other employees. 4. Emphasize the business risks of engaging in or tolerating harassing behaviors. Such risks include lost productivity, lower employee retention, and the employer’s tarnished reputation. Simply put, harassment is bad for business. 5. Provide specific examples of unacceptable behaviors as opposed to making general statements. Examples must be customized so that they resonate in your workplace. Canned training is a waste of everyone’s time. 6. Focus on risk factors that increase the likelihood that harassment will occur. These include a homogeneous workforce and workers who are dependent on customers’ tips and may be afraid to speak up. Supervisor training must focus on how these risk factors may increase the potential for harassment so that managers can address problems before they occur. 7. Emphasize what is unacceptable vs. what is illegal. Employers don’t want to suggest that behavior is
The Magazine 28 Forecast | 2018
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