Preventing harassment in the workplace starts with respect. In a respectful workplace, employees value each other, practice kindness and honesty, and treat each other as they wish to be treated. Conflict is addressed positively, and disrespectful behavior is addressed by those who experience or witness it. Sounds good, right? What’s better is that if respect is the guiding principle in your workplace, harassment and other toxic behaviors will have a difficult time manifesting.
If respect is the guiding principle in your workplace, harassment and other toxic behaviors will have a difficult time manifesting.
In our last blog, we discussed what respect in the workplace looks like (see http://pfautzconsulting.com/news-resources/). Now let’s discuss some of the behaviors that you might be able to prevent by cultivating a respectful workplace.
Bullying
We often think of bullying as a school issue, but bullying is happening in the workplace and is becoming a much broader issue. In fact, many states have proposed anti-bullying workplace legislation. Bullying is repeated, less favorable treatment and takes on many forms, including personal insults, uninvited physical contact, threats and intimidation. It is behavior intended to humiliate. Bullying can create a physical and/or emotional risk to the health and safety of employees and has a negative effect on the entire workplace. Bullying is a form of disrespect and has the potential to turn into harassment.
Harassment
Harassment, a form of discrimination, is unwelcome conduct based on a protected class, such as race or color, religious creed, national origin or ancestry, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, gender identity, age, disability, active military status or genetics.
Generally, harassment is behavior that persists over time, but a serious one-time incident can also rise to the level. Harassment occurs when someone makes unwelcome remarks, jokes or behaviors based on a protected characteristic. It is unlawful when putting up with or accepting the offensive conduct becomes a requirement for continued employment, or the conduct is severe or pervasive enough that it creates a work environment that a reasonable person would consider intimidating, hostile, or abusive. And what matters is how the conduct is perceived, not intended.
Sexual Harassment
Sexual harassment is a form of sex discrimination and is unwelcome, repeated verbal, non-verbal, visual or physical conduct that is sexually-based. There are two main categories of sexual harassment – 1) quid pro quo and 2) creating a hostile work environment.
Quid Pro Quo
This occurs when a person of influence pressures an employee to engage in unwelcome sexual activity in exchange for some job benefit – or threatens a negative impact on the job if the employee does not comply with their demands/requests for favors.
Hostile Work Environment
When sexual advances, requests for sexual favors and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature interferes with an employee’s work performance, it can create an intimidating, hostile, humiliating or sexually offensive work environment.
Employers should recognize that sexual harassment is not always a male as the harasser and a female as the victim. In addition, the harasser does not have to be an employee, but could be a customer, a contractor, or vendor. The harassment also does not have to be happening on-site to negatively affect the workplace and create a hostile work environment. Furthermore, the victim is not only the person harassed, but anyone affected by the offensive conduct.
Employers should set clear limits regarding inappropriate workplace behavior and instruct employees to never condone, tolerate or engage in harassing or abusive behavior. Every manager and employee has a responsibility to speak up against and/or report sexual harassment and all forms of harassment in the workplace.
Combating harassment issues in the workplace requires a proactive approach – teaching managers and employees alike what it is and how to prevent it, and what to do about it if they experience or witness it. By cultivating a culture of respect, you can help to limit the behaviors that could lead to harassment and other toxic workplace behaviors.
Pfautz Consulting Group, LLCs “It’s All About Respect” workshops cover respect, bullying, harassment and sexual harassment and:
- teach managers and employees the benefits of a respectful workplace;
- provide specific examples of what respect, disrespect and harassment looks like in the workplace (verbal, non-verbal, visual and physical);
- provide and discuss scenarios that demonstrate the issues;
- share solutions for challenging disrespectful and harassing behavior;
- discuss prevention strategies;
- highlight employee and employer responsibilities;
- teach managers how to conduct internal investigations;
- and showcase how respectful behavior can improve the work environment for everyone.
If Pfautz Consulting Group, LLC can help you with your commitment to promoting a respectful workplace that is free from sexual and other unlawful harassment, please contact us.
Submitted by Deborah M McCormick