Unwelcomed sexual advances at work are totally shunned by everyone today. But how can employees know what behaviors are welcomed and the ones that are not welcomed? This is where sexual harassment training comes in. This program is designed to educate and equip employees with the right tool and knowledge they need to know the behaviors that are wrong and right.
Although this training is not compulsory in many places, in the U.S., all employers are mandated to maintain a workplace free of harassment for all staff. When a staff faces sexual harassment at work, it can negatively affect his or her ability at work. Also, this can cause lawsuits that are expensive and stressful for all parties affected. To avoid this scenario and improve work ethics, it is important for organizations to carry out this staff training.
When deciding to have sexual harassment training for your employees, your organization is left with the choice of either outsourcing this program or having the human resource team curate one for the business. Whatever decision you make, make sure it is in the best interest of your company and its workforce. If you have not made a decision yet because you don’t know what sexual harassment training involves, then ensure that you read through this article.
We will discuss what this harassment is, what is considered sexual harassment in a workplace, what the training program involves, and how your organization will benefit from it.
Contents
What is Sexual Harassment?
Sexual harassment involves unwelcome sexual advances and other physical or verbal harassment that has a sexual intent in the workplace. It could also be a comment or attitude targeted at a person due to their gender, for instance, offensive jokes about women.
What is Considered Sexual Harassment in Workplace?
There are several obvious behaviors that are considered to be sexual harassment. They include:
- Making remarks or gestures that are derogatory or telling inappropriate jokes.
- Inappropriate pinching, leaning over and touching.
- Sending pornographic videos or images without permission
- Forwarding telephone calls, letters, or any material of brazen nature to someone
- Offering benefits in exchange for sex
- Making threats after receiving a negative response to advances
Apart from these behaviors, there are certain factors that determine whether a situation is sexual harassment or not. They include:
- The attitude must be welcomed. In a scenario where two workers are talking about a movie they watched and both feel comfortable about it, neither can complain about harassment.
- The individual that is harassed is not only the person that was subjected to this; bystanders could also be affected by the behaviors.
- These behaviors do not need to happen at work to be regarded as harassment. If you want to get an overview of what sexual harassment is, read this article.
What is Involved in Sexual Harassment Training
The purpose of this training is to help your staff to recognize behaviors that can affect a person’s privacy, well-being, dignity, and personal boundaries. This training program also plays an important role for even people in supervision and managerial positions in an organization, since these individuals are often accountable for many types of harassment that occur at work.
A good training program will cover everything your employees need to know about. From the basics and vital definitions to advanced legal language. Most of these programs make sure that staff understands the federal and local laws that govern the behaviors and how companies can create policies about them.
A helpful aspect of a good training program is that it contains interactive content and uses real-life stories to let employees understand what appropriate workplace behaviors are and what are not.
Some of the subjects or topics covered during this training include:
- What sexual harassment is
- Types of this behavior
- What to do to avoid this attitude and discrimination
- What you can do if you experience it
- What actions to follow if you notice this in the workplace
For supervisors and managers, the training topics covered will include:
- What to do if a staff lays a complaint
- How to handle the matter in a professional yet emphatic way
- How to research and document the entire situation.
Benefits of Sexual Harassment Training in the Workplace
The following are some of the benefits of having this in your organization:
- It helps your workers understand what this is by giving different definitions and practical examples.
- It educates employees on the right company culture they should cultivate – one that stresses the importance of mutual respect.
- It doesn’t focus on laying complaints and legal actions but also helps staff know how important it is to have mutual respect. This mutual respect improves engagement, productivity, employee loyalty, and satisfaction.
- It motivates employees to be willing to lay complaints if they notice any incident of harassment or are directly affected by it.
- It creates trust among employees and improves communication between staff. For other important benefits that this training will bring to an organization, check here: https://www.networkesc.com/.
Conclusion
If you decide to outsource your training, make sure you select the best program for this. The best program will provide technical support to your staff at no additional cost. A qualitative sexual harassment course is one of the best things to facilitate for your organization. You will not only curb these behaviors among your staff but will improve your company’s culture.
