Sexual Harassment (Part 2 of 2)
July 30th, 2007Today, we finish up our conversation on sexual harassment.
Last week, we covered some introductory guidelines. This week, we cover the 9 steps you should take when you are made aware of a situation that may be harassment.
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July 30th, 2007 at 10:07 pm
In my experience with the Australian Army, this topic is approached as simply ‘harassment’. That way it includes sexual or any other form of harassment. The ideas presented could be related to any other type of harassment that an employee may encounter.
In addition, each member is ‘forced’ to sit through a PowerPoint presentation each year. This ends up being long and tedious. I now realize how important this is to the overall organization. I’ll think about it differently in future rather than relying on my ability to fly by the seat of my pants should the situation arise.
Great information, M&M.
Ken.
July 30th, 2007 at 11:10 pm
Great podcast on a topic near and dear to my heart and so refreshing to hear from a manager. As the EEO/HR professional tasked with training employees and managers, I found your approach of “focus (ing) on the behavior, not the legalities” to be perfect. It is disheartening to deal with managers who miss the point that it doesn’t matter whether the behavior meets the legal definition. What is important is their prompt actions to stop the offending behavior (with the advice and guidance of HR/ER/EEO). Effectively dealing with these situations is truly a litmus test of the manager’s day-to-day leadership of the team and support of the organization. Thanks so much for your good work. Just two more comments below -
1 - When the accuser says that they “do not wish to pursue a formal, official complaint,” play it safe by documenting in a brief memo to the employee and bcc EEO/HR/ER.
2 - It is so easy to over/under react to a report of this kind of misconduct. Just because someone is “accused” doesn’t mean that the offensive behavior actually took place, so as with any conduct issue, it is important to get all the facts. If an inquiry is inconclusive, the feedback model (” . . . so fast your head will spin, is that clear? Good day!”), may still be necessary and more prudently delivered with the caveat “if you have engaged in this behavior.”
August 1st, 2007 at 12:33 am
Mark,
I really liked the example of strong negative you give in the podcast (or was it the first installment?) where you use the feedback model to tell an employee that if they repeat the behaviour they will be fired. Shows how the model can be used for a huge spectrum of feedback from warm and fuzzy to just oe step short of instant dismissal.
I really appreciate examples of how to word something like that, even though I hope I never have to remonstrate with someone to that degree.
Cheers!
August 1st, 2007 at 2:35 am
Tomas-
Thanks, and yes, that can be done, though one hopes one doesn’t have to go to those extremes. And since hope is not a method, what do we do to avoid it?
Feedback along the way.
Mark
August 15th, 2007 at 12:42 am
As an HR professional it is great to hear managers directed away form the legal matters and toward the behavior. It is the behavior that can be observed, measured, evaluated and acted upon.
I agree completely that a manager should be updated on the progress of the claim – I liked the sample questions managers should be asking their HR people. (Mark, from your comments, I think you must have worked with some of the most inept and unprofessional HR people on the planet!)
One strong caution: Maintaining the integrity of an investigation is vital – this may mean that some information must be held back during the investigation phase. In the event a claim goes to trial, the first thing that is “tried” is the investigation itself. If opposing counsel can create doubt in the how the investigation was handled (e.g.; whiteness being tainted through discussing the claim with others before giving statements) the case is lost before evidence is presented.
Mangers should ask for updates and be part of briefings to their superiors, but should not discuss the situation with others (especially the accused) until the investigation is complete. If asked for information I suggest they say, “We take this seriously, action is being taken, and speculation or discussion of the details would be counterproductive at this point. So let’s focus on moving forward as we let HR do their job. If you feel a strong need to discuss this we can go see HR together”.
August 15th, 2007 at 1:36 am
I am a lawyer and until recently, I in a U.S. government agency for many years. I worked on many sexual harrassment lawsuits and advised high level decisionmakers about sexual harrassment issues.
As a lawyer, I would not endorse your views of the law. For example, I don’t think any state requires sexual harrassment training. Many corporations and even government agencies require it, however, because consistent training is a great defense against harrassment claims against the corporation/agency. It greatly diminishes the liability of the corporation/agency, leaving the plaintiff to only make claims against the individual.
As a lawyer, I also would not endorse some of your recommendations, such as having the complaintant and alleged harrasser talk about it. There are some big problems that could develop and I wouldn’t want to see those in court. After years of problems, a confrontation would not make the record any better.
As a manager, I think you also missed the mark. I usually didn’t see sexual harrassment claims until years of problems that end up in a lawsuit. At that point, most of your recommendations are too late. If you really wanted to avoid 95% of all sexual harrasment claims, if you really wanted to make big difference is…..and you should be sitting down to hear this…..
….employees and managers should sit down with each other and discuss their concerns regularly. They should talk to each other, one-on-one. The manager should give frequenf feedback. They should concentrate on what is best for the firm, and give advice and training on how to change behavior.
Except for the most extreme and blatant sexual harrassment in the caselaw and in my experience, that would have solved 99% of the issues I have seen as a lawyer. The other 1% was pure malice by the complaintant.
So, if you had grand advice to try to change management, it would be to advise managers to sit down and listen to their employees very often, and give frequent feedback.
You might want to consider that. It would have resolved every case I was involved in
:-)
August 15th, 2007 at 3:11 pm
Borealis — I’m thinking your comments about managers to sit down and listen to their employees regularly and give feedback often were surely made with your tongue firmly implanted in your cheek? If not, it’s important for you to understand that weekly one-on-one’s, feedback and coaching are the “Management Trinity” of Manager Tools. Everything we learn and discuss on this website starts with the basic understanding that we, as managers, are using the Trinity. I’d suggest you listen to the podcasts on O3’s, feedback and coaching.
Dani