University of Minnesota - UMN Executive Leadership Insights
Preventing Workplace Harassment in a #MeToo World
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Preventing Workplace Harassment in a #MeToo World

A Guide to Cultivating a Harassment-Free Culture

Bobbi Dominick
SHRM, 2018
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Editorial Rating

8

Qualities

  • Applicable
  • Eye Opening
  • Bold

Recommendation

Seventy-five percent of employees experience one or more forms of harassment over the course of their career, from teasing and bullying to sexual assault. Toxic corporate cultures that tolerate bad behavior ultimately drive away customers, employees and potential future workers. The costs to organizations – in terms of money, reputation and culture – are staggering. The impact on victims is unconscionable. Employment lawyer Bobbi Dominick brings decades of experience to bear on the subject in her comprehensive guide to managing workplace harassment of all types. 

Summary

The #MeToo movement showed that sexual harassment is commonplace and systemic.

Though many companies have formal anti-harassment policies and training programs in place, employers may tolerate and even perpetuate bad behavior. When employers and public figures in positions of power suggest women should leave their jobs when they believe colleagues are harassing them – which normalizes and even celebrates harassment – this sends mixed messages to employees and the public. It also reinforces the idea that rules of professional behavior are meaningless and that workplaces won’t enforce them.

For every person who reports harassment, many more remain silent. Beyond sexual harassment, any kind of harassment based on a protected class such as race or religion, or bullying such as public humiliation, is “harmful to an effective and safe workplace and just as illegal as sexual harassment.” Even when not based on a protected class status, harassment or bullying wears down and frays a “culture of respect” and sets a company up for potentially unlawful harassment in the future. 

The costs of ignoring harassment far outweigh the costs of proactively ...

About the Author

Bobbi Dominick practices employment law and is an internationally known expert in workplace harassment prevention and response. She advises leaders across all sectors in employment and HR matters.

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