Sexual harassment in the workplace has been an ongoing problem for many years, and much of the responsibility for identifying it and training others to identify it falls on the shoulders of the HR department. This paper reviews the literature on the subject and presents the fact that there is no one best strategy for training staff and supervisors in terms of identifying and sanctioning those who harass others. The bottom line is: HR professionals need training in order that they can train others.
Sexual harassment in the workplace is an ongoing and serious problem that employers in any workplace environment must cope with as justly and fairly as they can. They must also follow the laws that apply to workplace harassment and to do that they must be fully aware of what legal aspects relate to sexual harassment. This paper points to the importance of the human resource (HR) department in terms of setting the standards for all employees to follow in order to be in compliance with federal and state laws. Moreover, this paper provides peer-reviewed information from the scholarly literature that places a good deal of the responsibility for hiring quality people -- and for enforcing existing laws pertaining to employee behavior -- on the shoulders of the HR department.
For example, the HR department should be staffed with well-trained professionals experienced enough to hire quality people that hopefully won't engage in improper behavior. One suggestion for assuring that competent people are hired is offered by Boxall; HR should give prospective employees tests covering their capabilities, the depth of their commitment, and how much of a contribution they potentially could make to the company (Boxall, 2013). Moreover, the smart executive manager in a progressive company might realize how vitally important the legal and social implications of workplace sexual harassment are, and in that context he or she might well hire legal counsel -- on a consultant basis -- to assist the HR director, especially when it comes to the HR director being harassed or having received "unwanted sexual attention" (Tyner, et al., 2010).
Responsibilities of the Human Resource Manager
Prior to delving into the issues mentioned in the introduction, the definition of sexual harassment seems important to review. Sexual harassment is basically "Unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature," according to Tyner (35). There are three main kinds of sexual harassment in the workplace, and they are: a) "quid pro quo" (go out with me and I'll get you a promotion); b) also "quid pro quo" (have sex with me or I'll fire you); and c) this is a "hostile environment" harassment, posting a provocatively sexy photo of a co-worker in the break room, or giving a co-worker a squeeze in the buttocks or elsewhere (Tyner, 36).
Meanwhile, there have always been a number of important responsibilities that the HR directors are to be accountable for, but in an age of social media influences, workplace romance, frequent reports of sexual harassment -- and recent laws governing workplace social interactions and other potentially harmful dynamics -- the duties and responsibilities of HR managers have changed and are changing. Tyner and colleague reference a study that shows that HR managers and staff have themselves been the victims of various kinds of inappropriate actions.
The data presented by Tyner shows that 89% of HR professionals say they have received "gender harassment"; 47% report they have received "unwanted sexual attention"; 6% received "sexual coercion"; and 29% actually claimed to have been "sexually harassed" (Tyner, 33). At first glance these data reflect what might not have been obvious to observers previously -- that no one in a workplace environment is immune to unwanted advances or harassment based on their gender. Indeed if the HR director or other professionals in the HR department -- who are supposed to be the gatekeepers for wrongdoing reports and who "serve as the initial judge of whether or not a behavior is appropriate" -- are being approached inappropriately that often then Tyner's assertion is correct: legal counsel should be brought in.
As mentioned in the Introduction, training related to identifying sexual harassment -- and determining whether certain actions warrant sanctions -- is a vitally important activity for HR professionals. That said, an article in the scholarly Human Resource Management journal warns HR managers that as to sexual harassment training: a) is "difficult to design"; b) can be expensive; c) trainees may be "resistant to receiving it"; d) ineffective training may result in "backlash from intended recipients"; and e) "may create a false sense of security" that steps are being taken, but in fact "…real organizational problems" are unaddressed (Perry, et al., 2009).
Another peer-reviewed article in Human Resource Development Quarterly explains that training programs for HR staff is "ubiquitous," and in fact about 90% of all businesses have training in some form for their HR department (Perry, et al. 2010). That said, Perry notes that "we know surprisingly little" about whether the training actually creates "positive change"; and given that lack of specific knowledge, the authors present what they call the "best training practices" that are available for HR departments and managers (187).
The "best practices" factors that have proven successful in preparing HR professionals in matters of sexual harassment include: a) "Pre-training factors" (an assessment of who needs the training; how will the training take place; and what will the content be); b) "Training Design and Delivery Factors" (this is an area where there is no one good answer; in some situations "passive" methods might be best and in other situations "experiential" methods might be better); and c) "Post-training Factors" (once learning has taken place, thee needs to be "reinforcement" to keep trainees motivated to use what they learned during the training exercises (Perry, 190).
Meanwhile, Canada certainly hasn't been immune to the problems of sexual harassment in the workplace, according to the Journal of Family Violence. And the Canadian courts come down quite hard on employers when their supervisors are guilty of sexual improprieties, but the courts do not hit the employers as hard when coworkers are guilty of sexually-themed infractions (Schell, 2003). It would be interesting to know how Canadian HR managers respond to that conundrum. In the U.S., the EEOC (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission) has sanctions against employers when sexual harassment is perpetrated by coworkers -- but only if the employer was aware, or should have been aware of the incidents and did not launch an investigation or take "remedial action" (Schell, 352).
And Schell reports that an empirical study of litigation in the U.S. showed that only 31% of the sexual harassment charges filed against supervisors resulted in "favorable outcomes for the complainant" (Schell, 352). Schell references Terpstra and Baker (1998, p. 193) who suggest that HR managers should -- besides posting types of behaviors considered sexual harassment and the penalties for those behaviors -- establish "grievance and complaint" procedures that may mitigate complaints before they "reach filing stage" (Schell, 352).
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