In Business World Did you know that about 80% of women and 43% of men report sexual harassment in the workplace? It may come as a surprise to some, but workplace sexual harassment is a fairly common issue.
That is a terrifying fact for a business owner. That is because it not only jeopardizes your employees, but it can harm your business as well. Luckily, there are signs to look out for so you can tackle the issue before it arises. It is necessary that all employees should undergo sexual harassment training so they can easily spot the problem.
By learning how to spot sexual harassment and create necessary policies, you ensure that everyone remains safe and happy in the workplace. Want to learn more? If so, keep reading our informative article.
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What Is Sexual Harassment?
Many people think they know what sexual harassment is and assume they could point it out if it ever happened. However, some aspects of harassment can go unnoticed if you do not familiarize yourself with the term.
For starters, sexual harassment refers to any unwelcome and inappropriate advances or comments. And it doesn’t just happen to women.
Both male and female employees have the potential to be victims of sexual harassment. The Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 states that harassment of any kind, for either gender, falls in the same league as discrimination.
Types of Sexual Harassment
Most people think of inappropriate touching of another person when they think of it. However, there are several types of harassment to be on the lookout for as you go about your day.
For instance, verbal comments that are sexual. These remarks can make the employee or employees uncomfortable with their surroundings.
One of the most notable forms of harassment is Quid Pro Quo Sexual Harassment. That means that a supervisor, manager, or any kind of boss hints to a subordinate that they could receive benefits if they perform sexual acts.
Some other forms of harassment include:
- Inappropriate emails
- Denial of promotion
- Demotion
- Poor performance evaluations
- Lewd jokes
- Off-color comments about gender
- Staring
- Remarking on someone’s body or outfit
- Asking sexual questions
Once someone comes to you with claims of harassment, tell them to file a form with the EEOC. By doing this sooner rather than later, they prove that there was a workplace violation. To fully protect your employee’s rights, support the victim by providing the best sexual harassment lawyer NYC to handle the case so they’d have a better fighting chance of winning the lawsuit.
How To Prevent Sexual Harassment?
Fingerprint for Success in their article about women in the workplace, states that one potential upside from massive swing to working from home is the potential fall in opportunities for sexual harassment. However, this is temporary since a lot would be returning to the office with pandemics ends. As such, measures should be implemented to prevent incidents of it in the workplace.
Teaching your employees about workplace conduct is an excellent way to prevent l harassment. Upon hiring, be sure to dedicate a section of orientation about how harassment is intolerable.
Make it known that harassment of any kind will lead to dire consequences, like termination. Along with that, you can send your employees to HIPAA training for harassment and HIPAA rules and regulations. These courses educate workers on the necessity of remaining professional, respecting one another, and enforcing its policies.
Learn More About Workplace Sexual Harassment with HIPAA Classes
As you can tell, there are several ways to spot and prevent it. Remember, always keep an eye out for verbal comments or inappropriate touching.
Those are clear signs of harassment in the workplace. There are a lot of HIPAA training providers that provide a variety of training courses for any needs you may have.