Skip to main content

Workplace Harassment Training is Essential for Small and Large Businesses

The EEOC (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission) is in the process of creating a new task force to prevent and address the issue of workplace harassment.
The newly sworn in Commissioner of the EEOC commented that:

"The EEOC is working to leverage our resources to have a greater impact on the persistent problem of workplace harassment," said Yang. "By identifying underlying problems in workplaces and industries where we see recurring patterns of harassment, we are developing strategies that focus on targeted outreach and education as well as systemic enforcement to promote broader voluntary compliance."
Small business owners need to be aware that the EEOC will be looking with equal force at employers across industries, and they need to be sure that they take precautionary measures to educate themselves and their employees on the nature of harassment and discrimination.




Many employers may not be aware that they are responsible, and their supervisors are responsible, for ensuring that there is no harassment or discrimination in the workplace for their employees, and that includes any form of external harassment or discrimination by clients, vendors or suppliers to their employees especially if they have been made aware of this behavior. 



While many states require employers to conduct Harassment Training this is not the case in Maryland, although when examining a case of sexual harassment, the Maryland Commission on Human Relations will favorably review any preventative steps taken such as training, information dissemination and discussions.


There are a number of great resources online to guide employers as to what steps they can take such as BizFilings.com as well as the EEOC website which defines different kinds of discrimination, and links to useful regulation and guidance.
At Namaqua Consulting we offer Respectful Workplace Training for management and employees, as well as Harassment and Discrimination Complaint Investigation.  








Comments

  1. UnknownFebruary 9, 2015 at 9:47 PM

    This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Passive Aggressive Behavior – Understanding and Managing it in the Workplace

In the Radical Collaboration world, we talk of three different kinds of working environments: While the Red and the Green Zone may be obvious in how they show up, the Pink Zone is equally powerful, and just as destructive as Red Zone thinking. Essentially, two words sum up the Pink Zone, “passive aggression”, but many hours and emotional frustrations result in its expression! Why does it show up, and how can you deal with it when it does? There are many reasons why people can become or act in a passive aggressive manner: They feel powerless or voiceless, and this is a way for them to have impact. They do not enjoy conflict and perceive deeper interactions with others as having the potential for conflict. The politics of the workplace may dictate that it is unsafe for them to speak out especially if it is against a superior or a well-liked colleague. The management style of the company is such that open communication is discouraged, or that bad behaviors are not managed. ...
Post a Comment
Read more
The challenge with KPI's and hard numbers is that not only can they lack relevancy, but they frequently do not invite collaboration. Instead they create the opportunity for individuals to protect, reinforce, or enforce thinking. Unless there is a corporate culture which enables collaborative thinking a pure focus on KPI's encourages secrecy around mistakes, a lack of accountability in individuals, and a complete lack of awareness of the priorities of others. This then requires hierarchical decision making as people pass the buck up the line. Yves Morieux of BCG gives a wonderful TED Talk on the old and 'new' ways in which organizations need to work, much of which was originally put forward by one of my favorite business gurus and writers, Ricardo Semler in his book Maverick, back in 1988.
Post a Comment
Read more

A Strategy for Effective Communication and Team Development

Do unto others as they would be done unto, not as you would have them do unto you There are two qualities almost every organization I have worked in have in common when I first arrive. Ineffective communications and an abundance of negative behaviors.  Meetings dissolve into battlegrounds, department heads and their teams define fiefdoms, political behaviors abound, and ineffective and misunderstood communications suck energy, and sacrifice efficiency for leverage. A large component of this behavior is founded on one factor.  Misunderstanding. According to a 2014 Inc. Magazine article, “office workers spend more than two and a half hours per week trying to resolve conflict, which translates into $359 billion in losses for U.S. companies every year....” People generally want to work in an environment where they feel they can be effective, and enjoy working with their colleagues.  Frequently, however, this is not the case.   A person starts out t...
Post a Comment
Read more