UNTIED STATES
Forbes Human Resources Council
August 20, 2018
By Mirande Valbrune
Mirande Valbrune is an employment lawyer with a passion for Employee Relations work. She is the author of #MeToo: A Practical Guide.
Sexual harassment, as highlighted by the #MeToo movement, cuts across all professional industries. Global, high-profile companies have landed at the center of some of the most public sexual harassment cases. With the widespread visibility of the #MeToo movement, what can human resources professionals expect from the fallout?
1. Increased Reporting Of Complaints
With renewed visibility of harassment in the workplace, there is the potential for increased reporting and complaints from staff. Heightened awareness of workplace rights may lead to increased reporting of more than sexual harassment allegations involving a man and a woman. For other protected traits (such as gender identity, sexual orientation, race, religion, disability and age, etc.), it will be important to monitor workplace trends on increased complaints and company exposure in these areas.
Actor Terry Crews and others have added male voices to the conversation after coming out as sexual harassment victims. Men may become more willing to complain about harassment now that they have been a part of the increased awareness of harassment.
What HR can do: Policies and training should be updated to include more focus on gender identity and sexual orientation, and emphasizing gender neutrality regarding who may experience sexual harassment. Strategic and progressive training should be designed with an emphasis on “bystander empowerment” to intervene, as this has proven an effective deterrent. Training on the lines of communication for reporting incidents and how to respond in the moment and afterward will be key to addressing the large number of harassment complaints that go unreported to internal sources.
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