Harassment Prevention Responses

Sexual and Racial Harassment Prevention Responses

Mark Twain said, “Everybody talks about the weather, but no one does anything about it.” As a workplace issue, it’s the same with sexual and racial harassment; everybody thinks they know about it, what not to do in the workplace, and yet, it’s still near the top of the list of complaints filed with or by both the federal and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Sexual and racial harassment prevention or hostile workplace prevention in any organization is about having a policy, training all employees to follow that policy, and then enforcing the policy, using consequences for the perpetrators and support for the victims.

One concept that has helped many organizations is the “first bite of the apple.” The idea behind this approach is that each employee can provide the first reasonable line of defense against sexual harassment, hostile work environments, and protect all concerned from the threat of discipline, termination, or litigation.

Here’s how the “first bite of the apple” idea works to help all employees take ownership of the sexual harassment issue:

1. An employee who is offended by a first-time, low-level harassment or hostile work environment asks the person to stop the behavior immediately, and not do it again. (This takes courage, but it also illustrates the need for setting appropriate boundaries at work, i.e., “That bothers me. Please stop it.”)
2. If the behavior ends, that should solve the problem.
3. If the behavior persists, then the employee must go to his/her supervisor and report the issue.
4. Depending upon the recency, severity, and history of the problem, the supervisor can intervene, using coaching, counseling, or progressive discipline with the offending employee. Or, the supervisor can immediately contact HR for both guidance and support, and to have HR take over any investigative processes necessary to determine if the agency policy was violated.
5. HR’s involvement can bring in more elements of both progressive discipline (written warning, demotion, suspension, etc.) and resolutions (job transfer, EAP counseling, outside coaching, anger management, etc.).

The point to this process is to ask the employees to manage their workplace behavior at the lowest, least-harmful level, before it escalates into a complex, time-consuming, and detrimental process. In other words, “if we act like ladies and gentlemen at work, this problem is not a problem for us.”

California has mandated at least two hours of sexual harassment training for managers and supervisors working in firms with 50 or more employees. This training will need to be completed by the end of this year, so these sessions can offer a good opportunity to explain the “first bite of the apple” concept.

Dr. Steve Albrecht, PHR, CPP, is a trainer and consultant in San Diego, CA. He can be reached at drsteve@drstevealbrecht.com.