The need for employers to offer their employees sexual harassment is vital. Given the recent surge in sexual harassment cases to hit the news, it certainly begs the question: If employers were more proactive in educating workers about what sexual harassment, how to refrain from it, how to recognize it and what to do if you’ve been a victim, would current #MeToo movement even be necessary?
Most employers are proactive in educating their employees about sexual harassment. Maybe what the #MeToo movement reveals is the fact that most, in fact, are not training their employees the right way.
According to the Association for Talent Development, 88 percent of organizations they polled provide some kind of formalized sexual harassment policy in writing to their employees. Meanwhile, 71 percent provide their employees with sexual harassment training.
Most of this sexual harassment training covers peer-to-peer and supervisor-employee sexual harassment prevention training. They also offer guidelines to help employees report when this kind of behavior happens to them and their co-workers.
So what gives? Why does sexual harassment continue in Florida workplaces? Part of the reason may relate to a larger societal problem, which the #MeToo movement and similarly-themed movements are trying to address. The more that society is able to see and recognize sexual harassment when it happens, the more willing victims will be to confidently speak up and bring the behavior to light rather than silently put up with it.
Now, as companies scramble to bring themselves and their employees up to speed on what constitutes appropriate and inappropriate behavior, it’s vital that employers train their employees the right way. It’s also vital that we — as friends, co-workers, bosses and fellow citizens — support all victims of sexual harassment in standing up for their legal right to a safe and healthy work environment.
Source: TD Magazine, “Majority of Companies Require Staff to Take Sexual Harassment Prevention Training,” Megan Cole, accessed May 03, 2018
