Forms of Sexual Harassment: 4 Harvard-Backed Ways to Prevent Them

Various forms of sexual harassment prevail in the workplace including unwanted requests for sexual favors, sexual advances, and other sexually explicit physical and psychological harassment. It can also include passing derogatory remarks to a specific gender and making them feel embarrassed and violated.

Such offensive practices negatively affect the employees, making them less expressive, affecting their career growth, and ultimately pushing the organization for the downfall. Therefore, it is for you to ensure a secure environment for your workforce for the prosperity of your business.

8 Red Flags to Look for to Recognize Sexual Harassment at Workplace

There can be several outlines and red flags that indicate sexual harassment. Here are some seven red flags to look for:

1. Conditions of employment or promotions in exchange for sexual favors, either directly or covertly.
2. Insensitive jokes or remarks related to sexual orientation, sex, and a gender group.
3. Unwelcome sexual advances and requests.
4. Unwanted sexually explicit emails, videos, photographs, and text messages.
5. Sexual assault or unwanted suggestive body language.
6. Receiving threats or extreme pressure to get involved in sexual acts or otherwise receive punishments.
7. Discussions of sexually explicit stories and fantasies in inappropriate places.
8. Inappropriate comments about your body.

Sexual Harassment, Sexual Assault & Sexual Misconduct - The Difference

These three terms seem familiar but are inherently different. Let's discuss each of these terms one by one.

1. Sexual Harassment

• It is an umbrella term, including all forms of harassment like verbal and physical harassment that are sexual.
• It violates the civil laws of the right to a harassment-free environment and is not directly a criminal offense.

2. Sexual Assault

• Sexual assault is the forceful physical and sexual contact with the victim without consent.
• It is a criminal offense and includes rape, attempt to rape, forceful sexual contact, and non-consensual fondling.

3. Sexual Misconduct

It is an informal term for the organisation's unethical behaviours and includes employee-employer, intimate relationships, employee-employee relationships.

2 Key Signs Your Organization Is Facing Sexual Harassment

All forms of sexual harassment violate an individual or gender that impacts them deeply. To prevent all forms of harassment plaguing your organization, you first need to identify its existence.

• Employees face intimidation and physical aggression based on sex and sex-stereotyping directly or indirectly.
• Prevalence of sexualized name-calling or distribution of sexual content across the network that one finds uncomfortable.

How to Discourage Sexual Harassment

Sexual harassment is prohibited under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and enables all Americans to feel work freely in a discrimination harassment-free environment.

1. Intervene if possible

Intervention or distraction can help the victim feel safe and excuse themselves from the situation. However, do so only keeping in mind your safety.

2. Approach & Offer Your Support to the Victim

• If you feel someone is getting harassed, approach them and offer to accompany them to sort it out.
• Your support will give them the courage to report and feel that they are not at fault.

3. Establish a Support Network

• Intervention to harassment is not feasible in all cases due to threats to safety. A support network will help you gain the support of others to help tackle and take appropriate actions against the harasser.
• Community support will also help the authority realize the seriousness of the issue.

3 Things You Should Never Do to Discourage Sexual Harassment

1. Putting it under the Rugs

You can make it invisible to the eyes and records but not seize away its existence. Not only do you endanger your employees' safety, but you are pushing back productivity and attracting hefty civil liabilities.

2. Dismissing the Claims or Complaints

The filling complaints against sexual harassment are already low due to fear of losing job or threats to life. Dismissing them is a grave mistake and risks both the work culture and your reputation.

3. Questioning the Claims 

You should never directly question the authenticity of the claims just because the harasser seems innocent or the victim, facing difficulty in other life aspects. Sexual harassment is a serious issue and has never should one taken lightly.

If you are an organization, how can you foolproof yourself from all forms of Sexual Harassment?

4 Ways to Stop All Forms of Sexual Harassment in Your Workplace

1. Quick & Strict Actions

• Ensure the employee that their safety is the company's top priority.
• Conduct a quick and rigorous investigation with well-documented findings.

2. Invest in Sexual Harassment Training

Educate or train your employees and supervisors on appropriate actions to take when receiving sexual harassment complaints.

3. Open Channel for Questions & Voicing Concerns

Ensure you have an open, two-way communication channel to address concerns and queries related to harassment and policies without any fear of ridicule or getting ostracized.

4. A Clear Sexual Harassment at Work Policy

Come up with a clear-cut sexual harassment policy at work and make sure all employees are aware and can report such misconduct to the authority.

Why Sexual Harassment Cases are Underreported?

Nearly 99.8% of the women never reported or filed a case in EEOC or State Fair Employment Practices Agencies. The majority of the forms of sexual harassment go unreported due to threats of retaliation, safety, and loss of job.

Even around two-thirds of victims who filed a charge against sexual harassment lost their jobs, and even those who did, most got no benefit.

What Maybe Lacking in Common Sexual Harassment Trainings?

Though 75% of American companies have mandatory training and 95% even have grievance procedures, some things are just not going right or are lacking. Even today, almost 40% of women and 16% of men have faced sexual harassment at work despite such policies.

Here are some reasons for the policies getting backfired.

• Pointing fingers at the other gender, mostly at men, conveys the message that they need to fix themselves.
• No confidentiality of the complainant, making them subject to remarks or jokes by others.
• The need for a large amount of concrete evidence to prove the genuineness of the case.
• Risk of getting demoted, fired, or a threat to life as a mode of retaliation by the harasser. 
• Mandatory arbitration takes away the employees' right to sue.
• Organization’s reluctance to punish accused in fear of a lawsuit.

So, how to work upon these existing issues and put a full stop to sexual harassment? How to drop it Down to Zero?

4 Harvard-Backed Methods to Drastically Reduce Sexual Harassment

1. The By-Stander Training Program

• When traditional training programs fail, it's high time to update them through bystander training.
• It focuses on training employees to identify the problem and to deal with it with interruption before its escalation.

2. Train Your Managers

• Present the issue as a challenge to the managers and train them to intervene early.
• Challenges help them feel like potential heroes with problem-solving rescues than villains.

3. Set up an Ombuds Office

• These offices conduct informal, neutral, and confidential conduct.
• Employees can freely approach the ombudsman to report and seek guidance to resolve the issue and also can decide whether to disclose themselves to the accused.
• A Silicon Valley startup, tEQuitable holds a telephonic and in-written advising facility. It then reports collective data to executives, who then, can identify hotspots and work on them.

4. A Platform for Mediation

You can hire professional mediators or train some of your employees as one, for resolving disputes.

Every employee deserves to work freely, be free from discrimination and harassment, and realize its potential and prosper. Anti-sexual harassment policies and actions will help become your other productivity training fruitful. 

No company can reach heights without ensuring the welfare of its workforce or at least in the long term.