As an employer, you want your workers to feel safe. Anyone that feels threatened is unlikely to be as productive as they could be. Moreover, a few unsavory incidents could unsettle other staff members and make it hard to recruit top-quality employees or attract customers.
Here are some essential steps to take:
Understand and follow all relevant laws
California law is particularly exigent of employers. Implementing everything it requires is not only sensible to create the right workplace atmosphere, but showing you have done so will strengthen your defense if harassment occurs. You can only do this if you make time to read the laws in the first place.
Set out your stance so everyone is clear
You know you won’t accept sexual harassment. Your longer-serving staff members know that, but what about Ian, the new manager you hired last month? Ensuring you set things out as part of the training process for new hires is crucial. Follow that up with regular refreshers for all.
Show you mean it
Slotting your sexual harassment policies into section 24.9 of a document that most employees will never read is not enough. If you want to make it a priority, set time aside to tell people. Then, make sure you and your managers respond adequately to any issues that do arise. If someone sees another employee’s complaint was ignored, they may decide there is no point reporting what happens to them. That can allow perpetrators to continue until the point you have a legal problem on your hands.
Requirements change over time, so consider legal help to ensure you are up to date with the latest ones and defend any claims against you.