SEXUAL HARASSMENT
were nervous about how it would look.”
These reactions have an impact on equal opportunities for
men and women. Sexual harassment policy that is hastily
put together to satisfy the media can leave employees—
women in particular—at a professional disadvantage. These
consequences have serious negative effects on the health of a
workplace and its culture.
The focus: creating culture
According to global research, “Nearly 70 percent of executive
leaders have either initiated or enhanced their sexual
harassment complaint management training” in response to
the scandals in late 2017.
A complaint should be the worst case scenario, and
training an executive to manage a report, instead of creating
a positive culture is like shutting the gate after the horse has
bolted. Instead, executives should establish a culture where
workplace harassment in any form is unacceptable.
“A policy is not going to do the work for you. It’s there to
educate and give people warnings. It’s up to the managers to
intervene and coach their people on appropriate conduct if
they go too far, well before it becomes a complaint,” Karen
Gately said. “People’s thinking and decision making is
guided by a culture, not controlled by policy.”
Rules don’t work when people don’t respect them.
Compelling people to report and ‘dob’ on one another doesn’t
foster a culture of respect that prevents sexual harassment.
Instead it can either force people to hide misbehaviour or
simply stop engaging with their colleagues altogether.
Managers and executives are responsible for setting this
culture. They need to lead by example and invest themselves
in the prevention of harassment. S
Best practice in the public eye
The Guardian and other media outlets have
continued to pull apart Alphabet’s policies. One
article says Google “failed to pass several proposals
to address sexual harassment … as Alphabet faces
growing pressure from shareholders and employees.”
The media’s attention is fixed on policy, leaving
large organisations like Alphabet in a tricky spot.
On one hand, they have to satisfy the media’s
hunger for overreaching policy to protect their
share value and public image. On the other, they
have a responsibility to develop good culture and a
workable policy to protect their employees.
Small and medium sized businesses don’t
generally fall under the media’s microscope, but
they suffer a similar problem. Without an over-
prescriptive policy, smaller organisations are more
vulnerable to expensive and potentially catastrophic
lawsuits.
If executives should be more focused on
developing corporate culture alongside workable
policies, shouldn’t the media be focused on that
too? While good policy is a necessary foundation
for handling sexual harassment complaints, the
development of corporate culture and thoughtful
leadership is much more important.
Perhaps now business leaders should be more
concerned with their employees’ well-being than
headlines. If they continue to be good examples
of policy and corporate culture, the public and the
media’s opinions may even follow suit.
Issue 3 2019 | Chief of Staff 21