This is an important reminder: If you did not provide anti-harassment training for your staff in 2018, then do it in 2019!
Nurturing a respectful and safe workplace is a continuing process.
Here are a number of reasons:
- Training demonstrates management’s commitment to a respectful work culture.
- Maintaining a safe and respectful work culture is key for productivity and engaged working relationships.
- Remind managers of their responsibilities of due diligence and responsibility to be the eyes and ears of the organization.
- Management will have an opportunity to listen to employee’s concerns and respond to their questions.
- New employees need to understand your anti-harassment policy.
- Employees may be emboldened by social media and news events to engage in inappropriate behavior in your workplace.
- With an increasing culturally diverse workforce, misunderstandings about behavior happen. Training can provide clarity and direction.
- Remind employees of how they can respond to minor behavioral issues one-on-one, and review the organization’s complaint process for serious situations.
- If you are a privately-owned business, you can clarify who employees go to with behavioral concerns from the owner(s).
- Your attorney will be pleased that you have evidence of taking anti-harassment measures seriously if you have to respond to a civil rights complaint
If you need further convincing, read this article Study: When Leaders Take Sexual Harassment Seriously, So Do Employees from Harvard Business Review, December 2018. The study’s research showed that an effective measure to minimize harassment in the workplace is to “communicate to employees that preventing it is a high-priority issue for their companies.” One of the most effective ways to communicate this message is through training.
Contact me today to schedule your training sessions.