November 2008
Tips for Preventing Sexual Harassment
Consider the following Tips for improving the effectiveness of your harassment policies:
- Actions Speak Louder than written policies – Initiate real consequences for behaviors that were likely intended to be prohibited by those policies.
- Training is an investment that counts – Training on topics such as harassment should be delivered separately to supervisors, employees, and HR staff. Each group should come away with confidence about what is expected of them.
- Even HR professionals may lose sight of legal realities. One way to prevent errors, in judgment is to have automatic (and confidential) oversight of each complaint and how it is managed.
- Verbal Harassment is the most common form of harassment. Avoid the tendency to believe that the something so difficult to control, like the spoken word, cannot create liability for the organization.
