Business Man Subtly Sexual Harrasing The Business Woman
Business Man Subtly Sexual Harrasing The Business Woman.
On a bitterly cold January morning at Clark Material Handling Company, some 50 employees convened for a presentation of some urgency. The guest speaker clicked the first PowerPoint slide. Up flashed familiar people:
Harvey Weinstein. Roger Ailes. Bill O’Reilly. Matt Lauer. Kevin Spacey.
The poster boys of workplace sexual harassment flashed across the screen. Men regarded as among the best in their industries are now held up as examples of the very worst behaviors in the business world.
So begins 2018.
“At Clark, we don’t play. We have zero tolerance for sexual harassment,” said Sherry Myers, human resources manager.
As a deluge of high-profile sexual harassment cases have scrolled across TV screens and splashed across front pages since last October, sexual harassment and inappropriate workplace behavior have become hot topics of conversation. Nationally and locally, many employers are taking a critical look at their own workplace culture and taking measures to communicate those systems and standards through stepped-up awareness and training.
Clark launched its training sessions in December.
“The news definitely makes this training relevant,” Myers said. “We have 200 people in our workplaces here and in Louisville, and everyone needs to be clear about what sexual harassment is and how to respond appropriately.”
Sexual harassment is a form of discrimination that violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which states that it is unlawful to harass a person (an applicant or employee) because of the person’s sex. Harassment can include “sexual harassment” or unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors and other verbal or physical harassment of a sexual nature.
Many instances of sexual harassment are easily identified as such, but in the workplace there’s also the potential for a more subtle and pervasive form of harassment, especially between two people with an existing personal relationship.
“Here, about 90 percent of sexual harassment complaints stem from co-worker dating relationships ending badly. We can help people resolve those,” Myers said. “The big red flag is when a manager dates an employee. Whenever there’s an imbalance of power, there’s potential for problems.”
Clark’s proactive, in-house approach highlights a number of best practices that can help protect both employees and companies. These include maintaining an up-to-date employee manual detailing workplace policies and programs that are clearly communicated and applied consistently and fairly across the board. There should also be a system of recourse in the event issues do arise. Clark, for example, maintains a third-party helpline for employee inquiries, as well as offering free counseling services to help address issues as they arise.
Managing change
While most larger employers already have formalized policies and standards in place, the recent media attention and cultural reactions like the #MeToo and Time’s Up movements have many smaller employers wondering what they need to do.
“Since the Hollywood scandals emerged, I’ve had more calls from our clients
Guthrie
with 15 to 20 employees than I’ve had from them in at least a year,” said Tim Guthrie, president of OnTrack Management Group, a Lexington company that offers both financial and human resources guidance for businesses. “Most of it is around things that are normal, but it’s that their awareness had been raised around how risky some this stuff can be, and they’re asking ‘what should I do?’”
Guthrie said OnTrack’s approach starts out with a comprehensive assessment to examine the current company culture and set priorities, and then defining actionable steps toward formally defining and communicating those policies.
“A lot of time its’s hard because their culture is such that everyone knows each other well and are considered to be family,” Guthrie said. “But you need to get some formality instituted because they’re not family. It’s a definitely a different environment right now.”
Lisa Haneberg, executive director of human capital services with OnTrack Management Group, echoes this advice.
Haneberg
“There are a lot of questions and people are nervous,” she said. “Senior executives with good intentions wonder if complimenting employees is OK. Others worry if their flirtatious style or past behavior will catch up to them.
“It’s good they’re looking at their work culture and asking if there are ways to improve it.”
Haneberg noted that while news headlines give companies a good reason to bring up harassment issues, there are potential negative consequences, as well. People can become resistant or frustrated and dismiss it as media hype, for example. Or some people may develop a “gotcha” mentality, fearing anything he or she says or does might be misconstrued as harassment.
Some people blurt things out without realizing how it sounds or that it crosses a line. There’s a skill to tactfully pulling someone aside and saying, “I don’t think they’re hearing you as you intend,” or “When you said X it made me feel uncomfortable and here’s why.” Haneberg said that employers can help foster those communications skills among employees so that they might also help coach one another.
Haneberg suggests a starting point for owners and managers to begin a critical assessment of workplace culture:
• Think in terms of a critical path: Are there any current situations we should be addressing? Reflect on potential problems. Do we have any complaints that require follow up?
• Look from a leadership standpoint: Have we done a good job articulating our behavior standards? Are there gaps? Have we been on auto-pilot, assuming everybody knows our behavior standards? How do we make it clearer?
Culture shift
“We’re watching a moment in history,” said Brian Simmons, senior human resources advisor with CMI Consulting, a Lexington-based human resource provider. “In training, I tell people this moment has magnitude; it’s bigger than the Anita Hill hearing or the Clinton–Broaddrick scandal.”
Beverly Clemons, CMI’s president, says it’s never too late to affect change or put new policies in place.
“Too many workplaces tolerate behavior that should’ve stopped years ago,” she said. “Overly familiar hugs or flirty comments that we wave off as ‘that’s just the way he is’ are harassment. In Lexington, our Southern charm can sometimes get us in trouble.”
David Baumgartner, president of the Bluegrass Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM), underscores the need for both large and small companies to have formalized policies in place and to consistently enforce those policies.
“In my perspective, Kentucky businesses and organizations that have strong HR policies and program in place are in good shape,” he said. “Entrepreneurial start-ups and small businesses without HR policies are at the highest risk of complaints that could become lawsuits.”
A new survey of Bluegrass SHRM’s membership found that the majority of its members have not seen an increase in sexual harassment complaints. Studies also show that the majority of sexual harassment cases are never reported.
A 2015 Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) study estimates that 75 percent of all workplace harassment incidents go unreported, mostly because victims feel shame or fear. Those fears appear to be valid. Another EEOC study from 2003 found 75 percent of employees who spoke out against sexual harassment experienced retaliation.
And, according to the EEOC, in the past seven years U.S. companies paid out more than $295 million in public penalties over sexual harassment claims. That doesn’t account for cases settled privately. Another study estimates that it costs a business an average of $160,000 to settle a case.
Many victims of sexual harassment feel that if they expose the inequality they are likely to be labeled as complainers or otherwise blamed. If the victim chooses to leave, his or her career will likely suffer.
“People need to know it’s a no-win situation for victims,” said Haneberg. “We need to be honest. We need to steel our resolve to deal with sexual harassment endemically, systemically and culturally.”