Over the last year, claims of sexual harassment by Hollywood personalities and politicians have made many headlines. Sexual harassment allegations have also shaken many parts of the business community. Uber engineer Susan Fowler, for example, has said that Uber’s HR team systematically ignored her reports of sexual harassment when she worked there. Subsequently, Uber has fired of over 20 people as part of an internal investigation.

A new study conducted by HR.com confirms that sexual harassment not only remains a major issue in the workforce but that there may be more, rather than fewer, claims of sexual harassment in the near future. It found that over a third (38%) of respondents—primarily HR professionals— forecast an increase in complaints over the next 12 months, while only 7% predicted a decrease.
 
Of course, the reality is that harassment is hardly new and should have gotten far more attention decades ago. For those who would like a quick reminder, go watch (or watch again) a movie called North Country starring Charlize Theron. The movie features the story of the first sexual harassment class-action suits filed by 20 female miners working for Eveleth Taconite in 1988. It took over ten years to settle the case and awarded the plaintiffs over 3 million dollars. It is an eye-opening movie to watch as it vividly portrays the destructive nature of abuse and the red tape that presented almost unsurmountable barriers to justice.

Sexual Harassment: Widespread and Worldwide

In the United States, sexual harassment is defined as “unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature that tends to create a hostile or offensive work environment.”
 
The impact of sexual harassment is enormous. An organization can incur substantial legal and other costs. The work environment can become toxic. Such behavior is at total odds with the need for greater gender diversity. But the biggest impact is on the victims themselves. They wonder what will happen to their jobs if they report incidents. It can play havoc with their own well-being, and it can destroy lives.
 
The prevalence of workplace sexual harassment is far more frequent that many may think, especially males. A CNBC All-American Economic survey conducted in March 2017 revealed that one in five women report they have been harassed at work. A more recent study released by the University of Quinnipiac showed a far higher number with 60% of the respondents saying they have been harassed. In 2016, an EEOC task force reported that nearly 75% of harassment claims go unreported, and that 75% of women who do report harassment believe they experienced retaliation.
 
The problem is not unique to the United States. The Guardian, a UK publication, reported that 52% of their sample said they had experienced some form of harassment. One quarter said they had been touched without invitation while one fifth reported unwanted sexual advances. Even more disturbingly, the Guardian article reported that 80% of the respondents who were harassed reported that nothing changed. Sixteen percent said things got worse.

A Closer Look at Progress

HR has largely been given the responsibility of both handling and preventing sexual harassment in their organizations. Because of the importance of this issue, HR.com wanted to take a close look at what is getting done and provide useful and actionable benchmarking data to practitioners. In January 2018, we gathered data from 1,223 HR professionals. The respondents represented a wide range of industries and company sizes. The full report, Sexual Harassment in the Workplace: Reigniting Today’s Dangerously Stalled Prevention Programs, is freely available at the HR.com website. Here are a few of the top-level findings.
 

1. Complaints on the rise: Thirty-eight percent of the respondents expected an increase in the number of harassment complaints over the next twelve months. This increase can be viewed two ways. First, with all the efforts organizations have put into polices and training around harassment and a larger emphasis on a gender diverse workplace, the increase is concerning. On the other side of the coin, the recent public attention on harassment may mean that many more women will be less tolerant of harassment and less intimidated by harassers. Therefore, they may bring more incidents to the attention of HR or their managers. We can hope that, in the longer run, this dynamic will result in less harassment in the workplace.
2. Policies not widely understood: There appears to be a gap between having a policy and the workforce’s understanding of the policy. Almost all the organizations we surveyed have a sexual harassment policy. However, only a third of respondents estimated that as many as 90% to 100% of their employees fully understand their sexual harassment policies. Policies alone will not prevent harassment. However, it would be foolish to expect the problem ever to be solved unless everyone in an organization understands the laws around harassment, what constitutes acts of harassment, and the individual and organizational consequences.
3. Training not paying off: While most organizations do some sort of training around harassment, just over a third consider it to be highly effective. One organization we spoke with delivers the training on-line. While they measure completion rates, there is not a single measure on learners’ understanding of the content or subsequent outcomes. Is this the rule rather than the exception? We suspect so. But there is some good news here as well. We compared organizations that had highly effective training programs with those that did not. Those organizations with better programs tended to have a lower percentage of reported incidents and expected a bigger decline in complaints in the future.
4. Comfort levels in reporting incidents mixed: As shown in the figure below, harassment victims feel most comfortable reporting incidents to their HR departments. They are less likely to bring it to the attention of their manager or their perceived harasser. As mentioned earlier, a big deterrent to bringing up incidents is a fear of potential retribution or total inaction.

Some Considerations

• Commit to prompt and thorough investigations: Harassment is not tolerable. Every organization must ensure potential victims feel comfortable reporting incidents, that every incident is investigated, and that appropriate action is taken. Clearer policies and actions will send strong signals to the entire workplace. HR professionals need to increase their own understanding of the “gray areas” of the laws to avoid over or under-reacting to complaints they receive. The laws are ambiguous: behaviors that may not be illegal or actionable in themselves may escalate to create a hostile work environment. Understanding the distinctions between sexual assault, harassment and discrimination—as well as the subtle behaviors that can lead to the creation of hostile work environments—is something all HR professionals should seek to understand.
  • Create much better training programs: Current training is not working as well as it should. Close to three-quarters of organizations are either planning to bolster their training or considering doing so soon. In October, 2017, the EEOC completely redesigned harassment training to focus on desired behaviors rather than emphasize illegal and undesirable behavior. Instead of delivering harassment training to only mitigate legal risk, organizations should ensure new training builds respectful and civil work environments. There are some newer concepts that are being explored, such as unconscious biases that often serve to perpetuate environments where harassment is overlooked or ignored. Like other forms of training, new and improved programs need to be continually reinforced by managers and the organization by modeling behaviors such as speaking up when questionable or inappropriate comments are heard or behaviors are observed. Most importantly, programs should be evaluated in terms of desired impact.
  • Build a culture of inclusivity: A culture that respects inclusiveness and all forms of diversity is key. Gender workplace equality has become an issue in its own right. Currently, most companies address harassment and gender diversity as separate initiatives, but these are both issues that impact gender equality, the retention and promotion of women, and efforts to close the gender gap at senior leadership levels. Commit to a comprehensive analysis of policies, programs, practices and perceptions that prevent women from advancing into these senior roles. Then address those barriers so that women have a truly equal opportunity to move up within their organizations.

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