By Steve M. Cohen bio
Whether you call it harassment, bullying, or something else, negative workplace behavior can be expensive for any organization.
Although the legal field is highly professional, it’s also staffed with human beings who sometimes use bad judgment, have questionable intentions, or are even just misunderstood.
Unhappy employees today are more likely to seek legal recourse against their employers, a fact that even law office managers should keep in mind. Combine that with the expanding exposure from regulations, legislation or lawsuits, and it’s not an issue you should overlook.
The government and the courts’ position is that employers cannot do too much to protect employees. They can do too little—they can underreact—and that will get them in trouble. But they can’t do too much to protect employees on the job. The government’s expectation is that employers will take a comprehensive approach to providing a completely safe environment for their employees. If the employers cannot or will not do this, they face the wrath and ire of federal and state governments.
Protect employees from all types of bullies and harassment
In all types of organizational settings, bullying and harassment directed at employees by employers has been a courtroom staple for years. However, bullying directed at employees by other employees has often been ignored, but is also an issue. In fact, the government, the courts and the media are increasingly focused on these concerns.
If sexuality is involved, it’s called sexual harassment. If sexuality is not involved, it’s just called harassment, but it can be equally serious. The existence of bullying or harassment in the workplace could clearly be labeled a hostile work environment. If it is perpetrated from management to employee, it could even be labeled disparate impact, which is the belief that an employee is subject to greater on the job scrutiny than other employees. In any event, harassment will usually attract the attention of the government, and it’s not the attention management ever wants or needs.
Implement a policy and a value-based response
So, how do you prevent it in your workplace?
I suggest starting with a policy forbidding bullying behavior. Reminders, both ongoing and intermittent, follow up that policy. This is followed by mandatory training for all existing and future employees and is capped off by management’s zero tolerance response if it does happen in the workplace.
Part of the response is values based. A values statement could include: It is not a part of the values of this organization to allow anyone to bully our employees. If it is discovered to exist, it will be dealt with quickly and definitively. Our values are that employees are to be treated with dignity, courtesy and respect. At our company, we will hold all employees at all levels accountable to treat all other employees thusly.
Act on all allegations
If allegations of violations are found to exist, management must investigate or cause an investigation to occur in a thorough and timely manner. If the allegations are substantiated, then harsh penalties, including written warnings or even terminations, should occur.
Conclusion
If the company does not handle the matter internally, it should expect the matter to be handled externally. And, if these external forces find that the firm under-reacted or otherwise allowed the harassment to occur, the organization can expect fines and issuance right to sue letters. Trust me: at that point it is not pretty.
