Sexual harassment has been an issue in the workplace for decades. The majority of instances involve women being harassed by their male counterparts or superiors. As the battle against sexual harassment continues, there are plenty of things you can do as a company to prevent it from rearing its ugly head.
Your company needs to track and monitor all reports of sexual harassment. An annual survey should be administered to all employees. They should be required to complete the survey. The survey should find out how employees feel the issue is being handled, what more could be done and if they feel comfortable when at work.
Training needs to occur regularly, even before an incident occurs. The more often you offer training on sexual harassment prevention, the less likely it is that an issue will occur in your office.
Employees should have access to multiple reporting avenues. They should be able to choose which way to report the incident makes them the most comfortable. One of those avenues should be the ability to make an anonymous report, either by the victim or the witness.
You need to hold your human resources department accountable in some form for how it handles or doesn’t handle claims of sexual harassment. This can include the use of performance reviews of HR employees.
Have you noticed signs of sexual harassment at your company? If so, report it immediately and put the tips outlined in this post to work immediately. The sooner you enact policies and change the culture, the more comfortable your employees will feel.