Handle sexual harassment in workplace

There is not any surprise that sexual harassment turns out to be a global issue from the developed United States to the underdeveloped Asian countries, and it has no exception for any industry. However, this issue is still not clearly understood by some business owners and managers. Today’s article is intended as a general guide to help you better understand sexual harassment in the workplace and take steps to prevent it.
 
According to The Balance Career website, “Sexual harassment occurs when one employee makes continued, unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature to another employee against his or her wishes.” Sexual harassment take manay forms that you can easily recognize.

•    Offensive words on appearance, verbal abuse of a sexual nature and unwelcome jokes and gestures that seem to be sexual in nature.
•    Unwanted touching and physical contact such as grabbing an employee around the waist, kissing an employee, purposefully brushing up against another person.
•    Repeated requests for dates, inquiries about someone's sexual history or their sexual orientation or lewd flirting.
•    Sending or posting suggestive emails or pictures
•    Displaying inappropriate sexual pictures, or posters in the workplace.
•    Whistling sexually suggestive music.
•    Keeps trying to meet you alone or outside of work

However, sexual harassment is not always obvious in all cases. Moreover, many potential victims or witnesses doesn’t report an issue about the inappropriate behavior in the moment because they feel afraid of that innocent individual or they were threatened and forbidden to tell anybody or they accepted with the deals of exchange something valuable like promoting. Anyways, sexual harassment is morally, ethically, and legally wrong in all its form, as according to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, “it is unlawful to harass a person, who is an applicant or employer, on the basis of that person’s sex”. These inappropritate action lead to hostile or offensive work environment, interferes with an employee’s work performance, holds back your employees’ success or creates an intimidating feeling for staff members.

When an employee complains to a supervisor, they should immediately involve the Human Resources staff. And as an employer, demonstrating that we took immidiate action following a sexual harassment complaint is crucial.

1.    Develop policies about harassment in office
Your policy should clarify what sexual harassment is and why this behavior will not be tolerated. HR department will immediately and thoroughly conduct the investigation once they receive such a report of sexual harassment in the office. The procedures should be clear so that employees and managers understand expectations and the process.

2.    Train employee
 A written policy is not enough to fight against sexual harassment. To create a harassment-free workplace, it’s crucial to be aware of training. HR service provider like Faro might help you with providing in-person or via online training program for staff members.

3.    Communicate with employees
Listening to them and letting them know how important it is that everyone contributes to a working environment where harassment of any kind is not tolerated. Employees should be required to acknowledge that they have received and understood the policy.

It’s clear that businesses should get help with their HR needs from a service provider like Faro. With many years of experinces in staff issues, Faro knows how to give you the best advice and solutions to each problem.