How Do You Address Harassment In The Workplace?
The first steps to addressing workplace harassment are training, prevention and awareness. Federal agencies such as the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission provide guidelines for employers constructing anti-harassment policies. Online resources provide sample policies, executive statements and ways to handle complaints pertaining to workplace harassment. As with all employment policies, place your anti-harassment policy in your employee handbook and make it part of your new-hire orientation. The EEOC recommends that employers redistribute the policy and complaint procedure periodically and post them in central locations. Enlist your human resources staff to perform an audit of employment files to determine if all employees have received training on the company’s anti-harassment policy. Many employers have employees acknowledge receipt of the written policy and anti-harassment training. The signed acknowledgement should become a part of the employment file. Remind employees, wh
