HR departments preparing for flood of harassment complaints
They may not be the boldface names coming out saying #MeToo, but many thousands of US workers — now emboldened by the grassroots solidarity movement of women who have suffered sexual harassment — are speaking up about harassment in the office.
As a result, human resources professionals are battening down the hatches for an anticipated and unprecedented onslaught of sexual-harassment workplace complaints and lawsuits — a development that could totally blindside the best HR departments, according to labor experts.
“I don’t think we’re done,” sexual harassment-prevention expert Ken Cooper said. “I think there is a backlog of instances out there as workers become more emboldened.”
Cooper, president and founder of consultants CooperComm and a 30-year industry vet, added: “Clearly, today, workers are more confident about coming forward.”
The newly heated atmosphere, which was unleashed by the Harvey Weinstein scandal, is rapidly bringing that backlog to the fore, as many victims no longer feel muzzled.
Some experts forecast record new caseloads involving workers, mostly women, alleging to be the victims of sexual harassment.
A 2016 study released by the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission concluded that “anywhere from 25 percent to 85 percent of women report having experienced sexual harassment in the workplace.”
And according to Antonio Puente, president of the American Psychological Association, sexual harassment in the US workplace is a pervasive, chronic problem that can result in enduring psychological harm.
“I would think there is quite a lot of nervousness out there because some of these practices have been going on for a long time, under the guise of flirting and other behavior,” said Maureen Clark, a workplace investigator and CEO of Three Sixty HR.
“People are now bringing things forward that happened a long time ago, when prohibitions on certain conduct were already in place but not taken as seriously — in today’s climate, that behavior is going to be seen in a very unfavorable light,” she added.
Clark said human resources departments should mobilize for a worst-case scenario, since the balance may be tilting further in favor of alleged victims.
“HR departments are being advised to go in and update all of their harassment policies,” Clark said, “to ensure that employees are clearly authorized to make a complaint not just upward in the chain of command, but to anyone in a management position.”
HR departments may have much catching up to do.
“Companies have all the policies in place; employees sign the workplace manual; there are bulletin board notices and sexual-harassment training,” Cooper said. “Missing are the behavioral tools for employees and managers.”