Workplace harassment is a big issue Heres how to deal with it

The US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission defines harassment as a form of employment discrimination which is an unwelcome act based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, older age, disability, or genetic information. Many Americans opened up about workplace harassment with the MeToo movement, but there are still some who prefer not to talk about it. Workplace harassment is sadly a common occurrence in all types of work environments in US and contributes to the toxic workplace culture.

The workplace can become an abusive place that brings down the productivity, employee relations, and the reputation of the business due to harassment. A straightforward way to identify harassment is being alert of any instances where one or more employees feel threatened by the people they work with. Bullying, mobbing, and aggression are obvious cases of harassment. There are multiple types of workplace harassment as:

• Cyberbullying – use of online platforms to harass victims
• Discriminatory harassment – harassing victims based on race, gender, religion, age, etc.
• Personal Harassment – bullying victims not based on race, gender, or religion
• Physical Harassment – workplace violence involving physical attacks or threats
• Power Harassment – where the harasser is above the victim in office hierarchy
• Psychological Harassment – harassment that affects mental wellbeing of victims
• Quid Pro Quo Sexual Harassment – a type of exchange based sexual harassment
• Retaliation – harassment occurs for the harasser to get revenge from victim
• Sexual Harassment – harassment in the sexual form, involving unwanted sexual advances
• Third Party Harassment –where the harasser is outside the institution
• Verbal Harassment – often involves the harasser threatening or yelling at their victim

So, how do you report workplace harassment? To whom should you turn? The best place to go is the HR department of your organization. HR personnel are dedicated to helping employees and this includes when there is a complaint of harassment. Even if you do not have any physical evidence of the incident, your HR department would let you file a complaint. Don’t be deterred by your lack of evidence, most grievances don’t have any. It is particularly important to report workplace harassment at whatever scale because the HR department must be aware of the situation. If no one reports an incident, the management will never find out about the abusive workplace. When harassment goes unnoticed, more people are likely to fall victim to it. The management also would not be able to take action to remedy the harm because they are unaware of the problem. Therefore you should never keep quiet about harassment.

So, you have now filed a complaint against workplace harassment. What should you do now? The best thing you could do is to stop doing anything that might escalate the situation. You should avoid retaliating against your harasser. If you take matters into your own hands, thing might get ugly. It’s best to leave matters in the hands of the HR team. You should also avoid complaining about the issue to colleagues. Most of the time, they don’t have the authority to make any changes to the situation. It is a good thing to talk about things with someone you trust, but you should be aware that you don’t know where the loyalties of your coworkers lie.

If you are an employer or a member of the management, there are several important steps you can take to prevent or eradicate harassment from your workplace. Be aware of your company policy against harassment. If it needs updating, revise it. Make sure that the policies are not only on paper and are being implemented in the office. Another crucial thing is to provide suitable training to your staff. Organize a training session or workshop to educate them on harassment policies and related information. An employer must implement a proper internal complaint system. Make changes to the system to make it easier for a vulnerable employee to file a complaint. Having a streamlined complaint process will help tamp down incidents.