If you are running or managing an organization, you are the one responsible for making sure that the atmosphere in the workplace is nice and satisfactory. Of course, among other things, this means that you will need to make the environment safe. Safety is a broad term and it encompasses so many different concepts when it comes to workplaces, but the concept that we are going to be talking about today is certainly one of the most important ones that you need to keep in mind at all times.
To put things simply, you need to be sure that your workers are feeling safe by preventing sexual harassment, which is why you have to learn more about how to do that. By keeping your workers safe this way, you will also keep the entire business safe because you won’t be vulnerable to liabilities and lawsuits that can ensue if someone is being maltreated at work. Yet, protecting the staff is probably your top priority and the idea of protecting the business along the way is simply a huge plus. Or, at least, that’s how it should be.
Everyone certainly understands that harassment is a bad thing, but when prevention trainings are mentioned, a lot of managers and business owners tend to assume that those aren’t exactly necessary when their organization is in question. The fact that you are here tells me that you are also not entirely sure whether this is necessary for your particular business or not. So, in order to help you understand if these trainings are what you need, we are going to dig a bit deeper into that topic.
Why This Training Is Necessary
To put it all as simply as possible, we are going to explain why harassment training is absolutely necessary for every single business. There are several different reasons why every organization should provide the training to their workers and all of those reasons are certainly closely connected to the idea of protecting your staff and yourself. So, we are now going to check out some of those and thus help you decide if this is something you want to do.
To make it clear what constitutes harassment
As I’ve mentioned above, everyone knows that harassment is bad, but here’s the harsh truth. Not everyone knows what constitutes harassment, which leads to people not reporting certain harmful behaviors, simply because they are not sure whether the person in question has actually done something wrong. On the other hand, not knowing also leads to people engaging in those harmful behaviors. So, these trainings can actually help you make it perfectly clear what constitutes harassment and thus get all your workers properly equipped to recognize it.
Here’s a nice read on prevention: https://www.canada.ca/en/government/publicservice/wellness-inclusion-diversity-public-service/harassment-violence/preventing-resolving-harassment-workplace-guide-managers.html
To encourage people to come forward
Apart from becoming capable of recognizing harmful behaviors, people also need to be encouraged to come forward and speak up about it. There are a lot of cases in which certain individuals are afraid to speak up because they don’t believe that the management can actually help them. Well, it is time for you to prove those people wrong and thus make them feel safer.
If you’re wondering how you are going to achieve that, then you haven’t been reading quite carefully. In short, you need to provide your staff with the necessary harassment training, as that will certainly encourage them to come forward whenever they notice harmful behaviors in the office. This is bound to make everyone feel safe and protected, which is certainly your goal.
To protect your reputation
Speaking of protection, you have the business to think about as well, in addition to thinking about the individual workers. I am sure that you don’t want to be known as the company that has had a lot of sexual harassment cases and issues to deal with, as that can deal a great blow to your entire reputation. Well, if maltreatment keeps happening, your reputation is bound to be tarnished, meaning that you need to do something to prevent that and thus protect your reputation.
In case you cannot guess it all on your own, what you need to do is provide your employees with the perfect sexual harassment prevention trainings. This will undeniably help with prevention, which will ultimately lead to protecting your reputation. It’s better to be known as the business that cares for its workers than as the business that deals with harassment on a regular basis.
To increase productivity
Believe it or not, sexual harassment trainings can actually increase productivity. This might sound a bit weird, but it is actually quite logical when you think about it. When people feel safe in the workplace, they will be much more productive, because there’s nothing to worry about while they are working. This might not be the biggest benefit, but it certainly is one to think about.