What did you learn about workplace harassment that impacted you to know?
Workplace harassment can take many forms but is always discriminatory and harmful. Abusive behavior results in adverse effects for companies, affecting productivity, morale, and turnover rates, and employees, impacting their physical and mental health (Bader et al., 2018). Therefore, imposing sanctions against harassers and preventing conflicts is crucial for maintaining a healthy workplace environment. From the presentation, I was amazed to learn that several phases of conflict resolution are distinguished. This information made me think about how long eliminating the results of workplace abuse cases can take and how critical identifying the early signs of the issue is. Besides, I found it worrying to learn about the growing number of incidents, despite the law regulations. Both sexual harassment and workplace harassment endanger an individual’s fundamental rights, and their harmful effects require immediate intervention and raising awareness in employees and employers.
Workplace-related abuse can target an individual or a group of employees and is often based on their gender or ethnicity. As research shows, female employees face sexual harassment and a hostile work environment more frequently than their male colleagues. For instance, a study by Bader et al. (2018) indicates that the tendency is especially high in countries where institutional-level gender discrimination is strong. As a result, women experience decreased job satisfaction, along with increased job-related stress and quit intentions if they are affected by improper requirements at work. However, as Robotham and Cortina (2017) report, harassment based on ethnicity also remains pervasive along with gender-related abuse. Both behaviors are defined as unlawful and can result in verbal or written warnings, reprimands, suspension with or without commission, and termination (Robotham & Cortina, 2017). However, it is crucial to recognize sexual and workplace harassment as early as possible at work to maintain a supportive and inclusive environment for employees.
Did this presentation help you better recognize workplace harassment in your current job performance?
The presentation helped me learn how to better recognize workplace abuse in my current job performance as it explained different types of harassment. In particular, it can take a verbal, psychological, physical, or sexual form. Besides, there are ascending, descending, and horizontal types of unlawful behavior towards other employees in the workplace. In any case, immediate action needs to be taken if any kind of workplace harassment occurs. According to Aamodt (2010), “in 2013, 21,371 complaints of harassment were filed with the EEOC,” and over one-third of them was for sexual harassment (p. 98). In this regard, the employer must investigate all complaints, regardless of how trivial they might appear. Besides, measures need to be taken to protect the accuser until the investigation results are presented (Aamodt, 2010). Even though workplace harassment might not appear harmful in some cases, the behavior needs to be corrected to prevent future incidents.
Many researchers contribute to counteracting the issue of sexual and work-related abuse by conducting studies and suggesting solutions. For instance, as Becton et al. (2017) state, claims for certain types of harassment have increased, which identifies the need for an anti-harassment program with several elements. According to Becton et al. (2017), they include “a clear anti-harassment policy, … an explicit statement of prohibited behaviors, … a complaint procedure that encourages employees to come forward with harassment complaints” and other measures (p. 101). Furthermore, promoting respect in the work environment is essential to resolve the issue (Robotham & Cortina, 2017). Employers are obliged to ensure the employees’ fundamental rights and take action if sexual or any other type of harassment takes place in the work context.
References
Aamodt, M. G. (2010). Industrial/organizational psychology: An applied approach (6th ed.). Cengage Learning.
Bader, B., Stoermer, S., Bader, A. K., & Schuster, T. (2018). Institutional discrimination of women and workplace harassment of female expatriates. Journal of Global Mobility, 6(1), 40-58. Web.
Becton, J. B., Gilstrap, J. B., & Forsyth, M. (2017). Preventing and correcting workplace harassment: Guidelines for employers. Business Horizons, 60(1), 101-111. Web.
Robotham, K., & Cortina, L. (2019). Promoting respect as a solution to workplace harassment. Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion. Web.