How to Prevent Sexual Harassment
When you have a business, large or small, you are responsible for certain things in the workplace. One of these jobs is to make sure all of your employees are safe and feel safe. Not only does this have to do with businesses that deal with mechanical, robotic, or technological devices, but it also deals with people that have businesses where sexual assault or harassment - injury to the body, mind and emotion, can also take place. Some people probably take this with a grain of salt thinking that it’s not a big deal or it will never happen in their place of work, or that it’s not something they need to worry about but it is, and it’s a serious issue that takes place in businesses and companies, large and small, every single year. Not only is it your obligation as an employer to make sure that your employees are in a safe environment, but it’s the law. If you allow this to happen knowingly or unknowingly, it could hurt your business, reduce employee morale or result in some high paying lawsuits. Below, we will be going over topics such as what is sexual harassment, types of sexual harassment, male versus female sexual harassment, and of course the purpose of this entire article; prevention of sexual harassment. What Is Sexual Harassment If you think that sexual harassment is different for different people, you're wrong. Look in any guidebook, handbook, legal book or even online on things like dictionaries, Wikipedia or ask a local employment Law Attorney in NJ and you can clearly see that sexual harassment deals with one thing and one thing only; any unwelcome advancements of sexual conduct that creates a hostile, uncomfortable, offensive or awkward working environment. Working at a place of employment, is about working. It’s not about sex, or flirting or making sexual advances and it’s definitely not about offering sex for higher pay or better jobs. Any type of advancement or conduct that makes your employees feel uncomfortable can be and probably will be considered sexual harassment. If you are a victim of sexual harassment or want to prevent this type of behavior in your company
you should talk to a lawyer who specializes in sexual harassment prevention in the workplace.
There are quite a few different types of sexual harassment, but that shouldn't be a big surprise considering this topic is pretty broad. Here are a few examples of sexual harassment:
A supervisor implies to an employee that the employee must sleep with him to keep a job. A sales clerk makes demeaning comments about female customers to his coworkers. An office manager in a law firm is made uncomfortable by lawyers who regularly tell sexually explicit jokes. A cashier at store pinches and fondles a coworker against her will. A secretary's coworkers belittle her and refer to her by sexist or demeaning terms. Several employees post sexually explicit jokes on an office intranet bulletin board. An employee sends emails to coworkers that contain sexually explicit language and jokes. It should be mentioned that sexual harassment doesn't only come from "bosses" it can come from and happen to anyone really. In fact, if you think it only happens to women or that the advances to females are the only ones that are wanted, continue reading below. Male vs. Female Sexual Harassment
Naturally when most people think about sexual harassment, they automatically think of the female sex. But, just like with any type of abuse, this can happen to men, and it’s not always a wanted advancement. Some men are married, don't want to get involved in things like that, just want to go to work to work, or hey, maybe they're just good guys. Just the same, it should be noted that both sexes can and have gotten involved in unwanted sexual advances, not just women. The one thing to mention though is that statistics show that when it does come to sexual harassment in the workplace that it does happen to more women - females getting sexual advances from men than men - males getting sexual advances from women. It should also be noted that people of the same sex can also sexually harass each other.
How to Prevent Sexual Harassment in the Workplace
There are a few different methods that you can use in order to reduce sexual harassment in your workplace. - First off, make sure that you have a special section in your employee handbook that talks about sexual harassment in the workplace. If you can't find the right words or want to make sure you included everything, talk to an employment Law Attorney in NJ. 2- Let employees know that if sexual harassment happens, that it’s not something you will tolerate, or turn the other cheek to. 3- Let employees know how they can report such actions 4- Make sure that they know if they are being harassed that the business (you) take every report and complaint seriously Hopefully, these tips helped you out a little more. But, one or two more things to consider are training employees about sexual harassment; what it is, rights they have, how to report a complaint, etc. Another thing is to think about training your managers and supervisors as well. Not only does this give them the same insight as the other employees and will teach them about sexual harassment, but it’s also a good way for them to get a better handle on how to deal with these types of situations.