The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) recently released its 2013 report of harassment and discrimination in the workplace and found that Indiana had 3,067 harassment and discrimination charges in 2013, which is up 1 percent from 2012.
Jimmy Lin, vice president of product management and corporate development at The Network, a governance, risk and compliance solutions provider, shared with the Recorder some insight on the findings and how Indiana businesses can turn this trend around and start preventing harassment and discrimination in the workplace.
What was the purpose of the report? Is this an ongoing thing?
The purpose of the EEOC enforcement and litigation report is to give a comprehensive look at the state of harassment and discrimination in workplaces across each state and the country. The report is released every January and sums up the results from the previous year.
Harassment and discrimination charges were up 1 percent. Some may argue that amount is low. What kind of effect could 1 percent have on Indiana?
It doesn’t matter how much harassment and discrimination is going up. What matters and what companies need to take notice of is the fact that it’s going up. This is a sign that Indiana companies need to reevaluate their employee training programs and make some changes to allow them to further instill ethical behavior in their employees.
What were some of the reasons why harassment and discrimination increased in 2013?
Harassment and discrimination continues to rise in the workplace because of the lack of proper training companies provide employees. Too often, companies just hand employees a 200-page code of conduct and do little or no other training. Employees most likely aren’t going to read their company’s code of conduct cover to cover, so that means employers need to provide supplemental training that’s engaging and interactive. If not, employees will remain oblivious to what their company’s harassment and discrimination policy even is. In fact, a recent study done by Aware.org found that two thirds of employees aren’t aware of their company’s harassment and discrimination policy.
How can businesses turn this trend around? Can employees help with this task too?
Preventing harassment and discrimination in the workplace needs to start with a solid code of conduct and anti-harassment policy that includes step-by-step instructions on what to do if an employee learns of violations to that policy. Employees should be educated as to what counts as discrimination and/or harassment and how to appropriately respond to these situations should they arise in the workplace. Managers also need to know how to deal with these issues and when to escalate them. Incidents are often buried by middle managers that do not respond properly or by the time issues escalate, are afraid to get additional help from above. Training methods also need to be brought up-to-date. A comprehensive workplace harassment training program needs to include periodic education as well as follow-up awareness learning and ongoing awareness communications – it can’t be viewed as a “once and done” exercise.
Where can people go if they feel as if they have been harassed or discriminated against?
The procedure on how to handle a harassment or discrimination incident varies by company, as it depends on each company’s own procedure. However, some basic steps apply. If possible, you should first and foremost tell your supervisor about your concerns. You supervisor cannot address the problem if they don’t know about it. If the supervisor is the person whose behavior is concerning, then talk with the next person of seniority.
The next person you can talk with is your human resources department. They’re there to help you deal with issues that affect your work, especially when you feel that you cannot talk with your manager or supervisor about them. The human resources department can give you advice about the correct process to follow and can direct you to other avenues of support such as the Employee Assistance Program.
The goal of every company should be to develop a speak-up culture. Managers should want their employees to come to them if they feel something is wrong. Developing this type of culture all starts with having a solid and clear code of conduct in place and should then be reflected in the company’s training programs.
