Preventing Workplace Harassment in a #MeToo World: A Guide to Cultivating a Harassment-Free Culture

Copyright © 2018. Bobbi Dominick All rights reserved.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data has been applied for and is on file with the Library of Congress.

ISBN (pbk): 978-1-586-44553-9; ISBN (pdf): 978-1-586-44554-6;

ISBN (epub): 978-1-586-44555-3; ISBN (mobi): 978-1-586-44556-0

Printed in the United States of America

FIRST EDITION

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Table of Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1

Why Do We Need a Better Approach?

Chapter 2

The Business Case for Prevention

Chapter 3

The Effect of Workplace Culture

Chapter 4

The Importance of Leadership

Chapter 5

Does Your Training Miss the Mark?

Chapter 6

How Policies Help Shape Workplace Culture

Chapter 7

An Effective Response to Complaints Can Shape a No-Tolerance Culture

Chapter 8

Effective Harassment-Prevention Efforts Include Protection Against Retaliation

Chapter 9

Prompt Corrective Action Is Key to a Proactive, Effective Harassment-Prevention Effort

Chapter 10

Paying Attention to the Aftermath

Appendix

Recommendations from the EEOC Study

Notes

About the Author

Other SHRM Titles

Books Approved for SHRM Recertification Credits

Introduction

The prevention of workplace harassment has been a focus of many organizations for decades, yet incidents of harassment persist. As of this writing, the topic of sexual harassment has taken center stage, with many speaking out about it and famous and powerful people being accused of (and often terminated for) engaging in sexual misconduct. The #MeToo social media movement involves many women speaking out about their experiences with not only workplace sexual harassment but also rape and sexual abuse.

It is becoming painfully obvious that some organizations have allowed a culture of harassment to exist—and even thrive and prosper—within their walls. Yet for every high-profile harasser who is exposed, there are likely multiple lower-level individuals who commit acts that haven’t been publicized by those who are victimized or by the employers who discover the behavior. What are employers doing, or not doing, that allows a culture permissive of harassment to persist? What have employers done, or not done, that has discouraged victims from reporting the abuse? I have worked with many ethical and well-meaning employers over the years who are concerned about preventing harassment and do not want to see it occur in their workplaces. Given that, I believe that the continued existence of harassment in our workplaces is not an intentional disregard in most cases, although there are blatant exceptions. Instead, we have often focused on the wrong things and taken the wrong actions, and our efforts have fallen short.

In June 2016, the cochairs of the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) Select Task Force on the Study of Harassment in the Workplace called upon employers to reboot harassment prevention efforts.¹ They used the gambling term double down when calling on employers to get more serious about efforts to prevent harassment.² They asked stakeholders—including employment lawyers, HR professionals and labor groups—to stop focusing so intently on avoiding legal liability (a compliance mentality) and to instead focus more specifically on what leaders could do to prevent harassment from happening at all. They included this thought: Preventing harassment from occurring in the first place is far preferable to remedying its consequences.³

For those interested in reducing or eliminating harassment in the workplace, this was a hopeful sign. Those hopes dimmed over the weeks following the report, however. A month later, sexual harassment was once again placed in the public spotlight not by the EEOC report, but instead by a rich and powerful CEO who was accused of sexual harassment,⁴ ousted,⁵ and then defended by a presidential candidate.⁶ The public reaction was less than universally supportive for the women who came forward, proving once again that complaining about harassment in the workplace is a harrowing journey that few will choose to take.⁷ Perhaps the hammer of suppression and vilification came down the hardest on those women when this esteemed presidential candidate offered one piece of advice to women who feel subjected to harassment in the workplace: leave the workplace, or find another career.⁸ Indeed, many imply that if a woman is strong, she will stand up and fight against harassment, when experience tells us that it is simply not that easy. Instead of proactively urging employers to take action to eliminate harassment, women who can’t take the heat are urged to get out of the kitchen. Attitudes like this one, and many others, do substantial damage to the harassment-prevention effort, and make harassment nearly impossible to completely eliminate. These attitudes are not created entirely within individual workplaces; employees carry them into the workplace from their personal experiences and the culture in which they live. The aforementioned presidential candidate was elected to lead our country, further reinforcing the message that complaints about harassment are neither welcome nor encouraged here. Anyone sitting at a desk or working at a machine in an American company in late 2016 might have taken those events as a sign that they should be quiet and keep working or get out.

Hope springs eternal. The hopes and dreams of all who long for a harassment-free workplace started to rise again in 2017, as a movement began within powerful organizations and involving public figures to identify and remove those who abuse their power by engaging in harassment. Among public figures, politicians, and media moguls, those who harass were suddenly not powerful enough to survive accusations. The #MeToo movement enlisted powerful allies, and strong women began to stand up and say #TimesUp on sexual harassment. Is this the tipping point, where even lower-level executives and midlevel managers who engage in harassment will be held accountable? Is this the point where all those who suffer from harassment in the workplace (sexual or other forms) will finally see that they can come forward and make it stop? Is this the point where all organizations will start paying more attention to their prevention efforts and engaging in serious efforts to look at their leadership, culture, and organizational profile around prevention?

All of these events highlighted the intrinsic difficulty of eradicating harassment from the workplace. We speak of an environment that is harassment-free, but it may look like (and actually be) an impossible goal. It was disheartening to learn that organizations still existed in 2017 that seemed to promote and support a leader who engages in disrespectful—and even predatory and violent or criminal—sexual behavior.

The task is even more daunting when we consider that the public face of harassment is only the tip of what may exist at all levels within various organizations. Those leaders serious about eliminating harassment will redouble their efforts in light of this difficulty and not become disheartened and disillusioned or consider previous efforts to be good enough.

I found the cover photo of Time magazine’s Person of the Year edition in December 2017 to be a chilling example of the work yet to be done. While it was heartening to see our nation celebrate the Silence Breakers (those who came forward to report and fight against harassment), I noted an anomaly that I think frames our whole discussion about what we need to do to eliminate workplace harassment. On the Time cover, there are five very powerful-looking women, all dressed in black. Some are standing, some sitting, some facing the camera head on, and some slightly turned. It is an image that evokes a feeling of power, of taking control of a troubling issue and fighting back. But if you look closely at the cover, there is a sixth woman pictured. In the lower right corner, the only thing visible is her elbow, clothed in black. She is representative of all of the anonymous women (and men) in this country who have been subjected to harassment in the workplace; those who are not yet in a place where they feel comfortable coming forward and reporting their stories, much less fighting publicly about the issues. These are the people I refer to as the elbows. There are many elbows in every organization, but for many reasons—practical, personal, and psychological—they have not been able or willing to come forward.

Some of the public reaction to women who have come forward with stories of harassment has been nothing short of appalling. It has been implied that they are untruthful; seeking power, attention, money; or that they must bear the consequences; or even that they invited or enjoyed the behavior. Such public vilification makes it even more unlikely that others will bring forward legitimate claims of harassment. While there have been hopeful signs in the support for the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements, efforts to silence those who complain have continued and even taken on a sinister tone at times. This has a daunting effect on leaders who seek to create an atmosphere of trust to encourage those subjected to this behavior to come forward. Conversation, training, and other efforts must establish standards of behavior that do not include shaming or retaliating against those who bring forward complaints.

With these events, we have powerful evidence that attitudes and cultural norms persist that are antithetical to efforts to eradicate harassment. Organizations must boldly face these attitudes and culture with effective leadership if we are to reboot our harassment-prevention efforts.

Many books have been written about the theory or practice of implementing policies, procedures, training, and techniques for preventing or correcting workplace harassment (and many of these are listed in the endnotes). What kind of policy should an employer have, and what should it contain? What kind of training should occur in the workplace to effectively prevent harassment? How should employers receive complaints? How should they conduct investigations? What is the proper prompt, corrective action if they do receive a complaint? Often, books repeat what has been said many times: prevent harassment from occurring and promptly correct any existing harassment. Rarely do the existing writings provide detailed analysis of the reason for any recommendations, or focus on organizational culture and leadership and the impact of those factors on harassment prevention. These writings and self-help books often do not reference what we know about harassment, its causes, or its consequences.⁹ All of those elements must be considered and analyzed in any effective prevention efforts.

Harassment in the workplace still exists, leaving HR professionals and employment-law attorneys to deal with the consequences. Will harassment ever end? What are we missing in our efforts to prevent and correct harassment? Any HR professional who believes that their work is done when they have a training video and a policy against harassment is missing the mark. The EEOC has correctly diagnosed the problem (but perhaps not the depth), and it is time to improve workplaces by doing all that we can to prevent harassment. There is so much to be done to improve both our workplaces and the lives of our employees. We cannot rest until every organization and its leadership understands and embraces the reality of this pressing problem. HR professionals must make the business case for investing in the future of the organization by ensuring that harassment in the workplace is not tolerated, that leadership supports this cause, and that every employee understands what is expected of them.

This book addresses the gap between what we are currently doing, and where we are missing the mark. What works in prevention? Why does it work? How can we improve our efforts? What practical steps should the HR or legal professional take to correct harassment when it occurs, based on what we know about effective techniques? I offer that type of practical advice with real life examples. The advice rests on the firm foundation of research and practice. What is offered here is not just one person’s opinion, but the collective wisdom of many experts in this area. But this is merely the beginning of the conversation, intended to generate a closer examination of individual workplaces. The real work will come in the field, in practice, within organizations committed to prevention.

This book suggests a proactive approach. Today, with a wider culture of incivility and a rapid decline in civil discourse, the culture of the workplace is in danger of being infected with behaviors that fan the flame of incivility, inevitably leading to harassing behaviors. This is especially important in our country at this moment, when public discourse seems to have degenerated into a free-for-all. Under the guise of rejecting what is politically correct, it seems we have backtracked into tolerating all types of derogatory and demeaning behavior toward women, Muslims, black people, Christians, those with disabilities, gay or transgender individuals, Mexicans, people from foreign countries we deem less desirable, and any number of other categories of people. When we tolerate this behavior in public discourse, it leaks into the workplace, and employers are faced with the ultimate question: Are our prevention practices effective in this environment? Only when an organization and its leadership are