j In November 2017 Harvey Weinstein’s Hollywood
film production empire was in flames and fresh sexual
harassment allegations were surfacing almost daily.
American broadcaster NBC had just fired one of the highest
paid TV presenters in the country. Matt Lauer, host of the
popular Today Show, was canned after the network received
a detailed sexual harassment complaint from one of Lauer’s
colleagues.
By December 2017, NBC had not only dropped its most
popular anchor, but also introduced a raft of new sexual
harassment policies. Employees were now operating under
a strict behavioural regime, which didn’t sit well with some
NBC insiders. One employee spoke to the media shortly after
the regulations were imposed.
“There’s been a series of ridiculous rules issued on office
conduct. One rule relates to hugging. If you wish to hug a
colleague, you have to do a quick hug, then an immediate
release, and step away to avoid body contact,” said the source.
“Also, there’s strict rules about socialising, including not
sharing taxis home and not taking vegans to steakhouses.”
As well as having to closely monitor their own actions
at work, NBC employees were also instructed to report
anything they thought might constitute a breach of the new
rules. “Staffers have been told that if they find out about any
affairs, romances, inappropriate relationships or behaviour
in the office, they have to report it to human resources,
their superior or the company anti-harassment phone line.
Staffers are shocked that they are now expected to snitch on
their friends,” the source said.
Karen Gately, Chief of Staff’s expert HR columnist,
said this is a textbook case of trying to get the policy to do
the work for you. Banning what many consider normal
behaviour and forcing employees to report one another
creates a secretive culture, and can prevent genuine
complaints being made.
“It’s a naive controlling approach to making policy that
isn’t going to add value, and in fact causes more problems,”
Ms Gately said. “People are not necessarily going to make a
report because the policy says they have to. They are going to
look for excuses if they don’t feel comfortable reporting.”
“One of the big fears for people is that their personal
choices and their personal rights are being restricted
unnecessarily. Some organisations try to be overly prescriptive
and overly controlling by banning all personal relationships to
avoid sexual harassment complaints or events.”
NBC’s policy was pulled together in the heat of a global
movement and as a reaction to the Matt Lauer scandal, but
perhaps their quick fix does more harm than good.
Fast forward to today. Executives and organisations are
still grappling with sexual harassment policy. They are under
immense pressure to revise or update their regulations, and
face severe reputation damage if they don’t meet the public’s
expectations.
Unintended consequences
In January this year, the world’s most influential business
leaders, politicians, religious leaders, and academics met
in Davos, Switzerland for the annual World Economic
Forum. Each year the snowy wonderland sets the stage for
discussions on some of the most pressing issues of our time:
war, populism, big data, privacy, the environment. This
year, almost unbelievably, sexual harassment policy was on
that same list.
Key business leaders attending the summit discussed how
they now “have to think twice about spending one-on-one
time with a young female colleague,” to minimise the risk of
a claim being made against them.
A survey conducted by the workplace equality advocacy
group, LeanIn, came to some surprising conclusions that
support the concerns voiced in Davos.
“60 percent of managers who are men are uncomfortable
participating in a common work activity with a woman,
such as mentoring, working alone, or socialising together.
That’s a 32 percent jump from a year ago,” the survey reads.
“As for why this is happening, 36 percent of men say they’ve
avoided mentoring or socialising with a woman because they
Good policy
In November last year, Google made global
headlines when 20,000 employees staged a walk-
out in protest of the tech giant’s sexual harassment
claim handling procedures. In response the CEO of
Google’s parent company Alphabet, Sundar Pichai,
committed to updating their policy.
“Going forward, we will provide more transparency
on how we handle concerns. We’ll give better
support and care to the people who raise them. And
we will double down on our commitment to be a
representative, equitable, and respectful workplace,”
reads Pichai’s email to staff.
In April this year, Alphabet released an update
that delivered several of the revised measures
promised in November. The updated policy
includes a dedicated complaint reporting platform,
20 Chief of Staff | Issue 3 2019
increased care for complainants during and after
the investigation, a clear outline of the investigation
procedure, and a public broadcast of their policy.
This shares striking similarities with our
investigation into best whistleblowing practice in the
last edition. Alphabet’s new policy ticks all the boxes
required by Australian law for an equally sensitive
topic like whistleblowing. A workable, balanced
framework that leaves room for corporate culture to
do its job is much more attractive to executives than
an overreaching and potentially damaging system
like NBC’s.
Despite this, Google’s changes were heavily
criticised in the mainstream media.
Read more on the next page on how executives have to balance
best practice and PR in their sexual harassment policy.