Sexual harassment is a problem that human resource managers are struggling to solve every day. Recently Uber has fired over 20 employees due to a sexual harassment investigation which started in November 2016, it is uncommon for a company to release so many employees from one sexual harassment claim but that’s because the human resource management didn’t know how to solve this problem. Uber isn’t the only company struggling to find ways to deal with sexual harassment in the workplace. Sexual harassment can cause a loss in productivity, low morale, higher employee turnover and higher absenteeism and on top of that it could cost a company thousands to millions of dollars in court and procedural costs. Uber had over a 100 incidents that became public after the investigation began; so how did these incidents go neglected? For Uber is a male-dominated company which created a hostile environment for the few female employees. Having a male-dominated organization can cause female employees not to report sexual harassment which then leads to a hostile environment and increased turnover within female employees in an organization.
Solution
There are a couple of ways to help prevent and respond to sexual harassment claims.
1. Prevention policies
2. Prevention training
3. Interventions
By having a prevention policy, it allows everyone in the organization to know about and have access to the policy at any given time. The biggest way a prevention policy can help is because it
In corporate America, sexual harassment is a huge concern amongst many organizations. The matter of sexual harassment is an issue that needs to be immediately attended to in
Any employee who feels that he or she has been subjected to sexual harassment should immediately contact the Human Resources Department for investigation and corrective action. Protection from retaliation will be provided and confidentiality will be provided as much as reasonably possible. Any employee who witnesses someone engaging in what could be deemed as sexually harassing conduct is obligated to notify the Human Resources Department even if the victim says that they can handle it or that they can take care of it themselves. Sexual harassment is an illegal act and must be reported and investigated just like any other illegal activity.
Harassment, specifically sexual harassment, is one of those challenges faced by businesses and employers as of a result of workplace diversification. Inappropriate conversations, unwanted advances and uncomfortable physical contact are some of the ways sexual harassment can occur. According to Hellriegel and Slocum, “Sexual harassment refers to unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature.” (p.52). To be clear, sexual harassment can, and has, affected both women and men over the years however up to half of all working women have reported experiencing some form of sexual harassment in the career (Vijayasiri, 2008, p.1). It wasn’t until 1986 though that the Supreme Court recognized sexual harassment as a violation of Title VII in the case of Meritor Savings Bank v. Vinson (O’Brien, 1994, p. 1). Before the high court’s ruling, however, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission had begun to address the issue by drafting hostile work environment guidelines that included sexual harassment (O’Brien, 1994, p. 4). These guidelines would serve later to guide the high court’s decision. There are many more cases like this one we could look at. In 1991, sexual harassment became a household term as Anita Hill testified before congress stating she was sexually
In the novel “A Long Way Gone”, there are endless amounts of evidence to be found explaining why this novel is a “coming of age” novel. So, what exactly is “coming of age”? Typically, this is a story that is made up of three different factors: young characters who experience a crisis, absent or negative adult relations, and the incorporation of an epiphany moment. The story of Ishmael Beah could not be an any greater representation of this category of story, because at 12 years old there is no peace that could be described in his childhood simply because peace was absent.
In fact, sexual misconduct and harassment include variety of unsolicited behaviors, it could be difficult to display all related sexual harassment behaviors in any policies, the ethical codes or even legal statute. For example, along with the development of technology, new types of sexually violent behavior have arisen. Without a mutual agreement, taking
Another solution is to put more serious punishments for culprits into action. This is a tactic used commonly by law enforcement officers, using the philosophy that if the punishment is more valuable than the “reward”, people will hopefully be less likely to attempt sexual harassment crimes. It is also a lot more “fair” if the punishment is more severe. The victim will be affected for their whole life because of the harassment, it only makes sense that the punishment should also be life affecting.
Harassment has plagued the world for centuries. Why should the workplace be any different? Sexual harassment and workplace violence are not only of historical roots, but contemporary issues are still present in the workforce today. Managers are addressing and combating modern sexual harassment and workplace violence, however instances still occur (Robbins, Decenzo & Coulter, 2011).
Work place policies regarding sexual harassment is the main issue discussed in this article. Sexual harassment has continued to be a challenge within the workplace. According to a recent review of sexual harassment related resolutions, employers have paid over $732,976.00 in sexual harassment fines (Hobson, Szostek, & Fitzgerald, 2015). The EEOC has issued written guidelines for appropriate strategies employers should use to handle workplace sexual harassment and specific ways to address it. It is the employer’s duty to proactively work to protect all employees from any type of sexual harassment by following sexual harassment policies and procedures that are put in place. Failure to implement and follow the policy and procedure in the workplace can and most likely will lead to liability should an EEOC investigation or lawsuit occur. The employer needs to disperse copies of the policies and procedures and post them in central locations throughout the organization and address sexual harassment in the employee handbooks. The policy and procedures need to clear
In her article , “Women sue Uber for Racial , Gender discrimination” , Katerina Ang predicts the downfall of the modern transportation Uber , because of its chauvinistic tendencies towards their female employees. Ang argued that Uber’s discriminatory beliefs and actions are driving employees and customers away , mentioning that the “three female engineers [who] have sued the ridesharing platform in San Francisco’s Superior Court for discrimination” , were only but a few of those affected by Uber’s sexist atmosphere and locker room talk , supporting her claim of the company sexism by pointing out that an anonymous female who had worked in a group with male colleagues alleged that behind closed doors they “rank their female counterparts
In accordance with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) situations that sexual harassment might occur can be verbal and/or physical in manner such as:
Harassment and discrimination claims are due to lack of education about the subject. As an independent human resources consultant, Santiago-Santos will organize a local education campaign and provide employers with different trainings to educate them and their employees about harassment and discrimination. Employers will have a better understanding on how to develop internal policies and procedures to address these claims. Also, trainings will be provided for employees and they will be educated on how to prevent and identify harassment and discrimination as well as what steps to take in order to report such behavior.
Sexual harassment in the workplace is a huge problem in recent history. It can happen to anyone and it can happen everywhere. It can affect all types of races, gender and age. Statistics today shows that more and more sexual harassment has become an issue due to the large number of cases presented. Mainstream media becomes consume covering sexual harassment because of the high profile cases. Sexual harassment becomes a topic on various TV shows, and on some major morning radio talk shows mostly everyday. Sexual harassment laws must be strengthened in order to fix what has become a serious problem today in the workplace.
In our society sexual harassment has been in the workplace for years. The use of sexual harassment in the workplace has been remembered best as a weapon used to keep women in their place which would cause them to forfeit promotions within their organizations. It was once believed that women were the only victims but the shift is now changing men are also reporting that they are also victims of sexual harassment on the job. In 1964 the Civil Rights Act was passed and employers began to recognize that they were liable for two types of sexual harassment. The first kind of harassment is Quid pro quo when a supervisor offers the employee sexual advances in order to get or keep a job, and also this harassment is used to determined if an
If someone feels unsafe, or if the situation just doesn’t feel right, they should search it up on the internet. They can search up, what sexual harassment is, what is considered sexual harassment, what are the actions they can take, etc. In today’s day and age the internet is right at our fingertips. If something sees off or just not right, search it up. When searching up what sexual harassment is, it may be surprising what is found, and so many situations such as there can be avoided. Simply because the person searched up the situation and stopped it before it got much more complicated.
Based on the findings of the company TNA it was determined that there was a need for sexual harassment training of employees and supervisors. In the training on sexual harassment the areas covered were how to handle cases of sexual harassment, knowing if you were sexually harassed, and how to report harassment. Organizational results are the changes in key outcomes for the organization that can be linked to the training (Blanchard 2013). Training provided to employees