Harassment in the workplace not only affects the afflicted employee; it also has harmful effects on the employer when it comes to productivity, absenteeism and attraction/retention of talent.
A breakfast session held on Nov. 1, 2007, hosted by the Employee Assistance Programs Association of Toronto(EAPAT)and led by Sharon Bar-David, keynote speaker, trainer and coach, tackled the issue of harassment in the workplace.
What’s tricky about harassment is that the benchmark can be a moving target. “What was reasonable 20 years ago is not what’s reasonable today,” says Bar-David. Furthermore, there are many definitions of harassment that may in turn be influenced by different workplace cultures. Notes Bar-David: “There are no clear lines.”
Essentially, harassment is about ensuring that everyone in the workplace is treated with dignity and integrity. And Bar-David offers some tips for employers to uphold these standards.
Employers should ensure that they have a progressive harassment policy in place that makes it easy for people to come forward. Employees must be properly trained to ensure that they’ll know what to do if a situation arises. And company leaders need to model the right behaviours top-down to ensure that employees get the message.
With the growing labour and talent shortage, it’s becoming increasingly important for employers to focus on employee wellness and maintaining a positive work environment. Notes Bar-David: “Attraction and retention of talent becomes very difficult in organizations where respect is not present.”
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