Empowerment Through Education: Sexual Harassment Training in the Workplace
Creating a safe and respectful workplace starts with education. Sexual harassment training is more than a compliance requirement—it’s a vital tool for fostering an environment where everyone feels valued and protected. By empowering employees with knowledge about their rights and responsibilities, organizations can proactively prevent harassment and promote equality.
In this blog, we’ll discuss the importance of sexual harassment training and how it empowers teams to build a stronger, more respectful workplace.
Is Sexual Harassment Training Mandatory?
It depends on where you operate; certain jurisdictions have strict laws dictating the frequency and content of sexual harassment training.
California, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, New York, and Washington all carry some sort of sexual harassment training mandate. Sometimes, cities or counties will have their own laws. For example, there are mandatory sexual harassment training requirements in New York City that must be met in addition to the requirements for New York State.
If sexual harassment training topics are mandatory for you, non-compliance can have tangible legal and financial consequences.
Why Does Sexual Harassment Training Matter?
Even if sexual harassment training isn’t mandatory in your jurisdiction or industry, it’s important to provide an effective sexual harassment training program.
According to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), six to eight thousand people file workplace sexual harassment charges every year, and this represents only a fraction of the impact on the workforce. One study found that 90% of individuals who have experienced harassment never take formal action as a result.
A hostile work environment of any kind has a chilling effect on the productivity and effectiveness of an organization because some portion of the participants are intimidated or dispirited into silence and complacency. This should be reason enough for employers to take action.
There’s also the matter of reducing your organization’s liability. Even if regulatory compliance isn’t a consideration, training employees on how to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace can protect you in a court of law. First, an effective program may prevent any sexual harassment from rising to the level of a lawsuit. Second, an important part of your organization’s defense can be showing the efforts taken to discourage inappropriate behavior and proactively address claims in-house.
Empowering Employees with Effective Sexual Harassment Training Programs
Mandatory sexual harassment training isn’t a magic wand – it won’t suddenly rid your organization of crude jokes or inappropriate come-ons. However, it will empower everyone in your organization with the knowledge and resources to recognize and address sexual harassment. Over time, this can have a profound effect.
But how, exactly, do sexual harassment training topics empower your employees?
Empowering Everyone to Recognize Sexual Harassment
Sexual harassment can manifest in many different ways, some of which can be viewed or passed off as innocuous to the uninitiated.
Sometimes people are simply ignorant of the potential power dynamics when they brush sexual harassment off as a joke or no big deal, while others are malicious actors looking for a way to downplay their actions.
Either way, having everyone recognize the seriousness of certain behaviors removes any cover or excuses for behavior that creates a hostile work environment.
This is also why it’s important to go beyond rote memorization of sexual harassment examples. Effective sexual harassment training programs explore why each behavior can be alienating and the reasoning behind a zero-tolerance policy even for small infractions.
Employees who have a clear comprehension of sexual harassment and its repercussions are better positioned to identify it. You need to eliminate gray areas and make it easy for employees to differentiate between acceptable and inappropriate behavior. You can even train managers to recognize the signs of harassment even when they haven’t witnessed a troubling incident.
Providing the Tools to Respond to and Prevent Sexual Harassment
Recognition is only the first step. The next step is training employees on how to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace. Productive training programs will educate employees on appropriate responses and actions to take when they see sexual harassment happening to themselves or others.
Giving employees the right tools will boost confidence and make everyone more likely to stand up against a hostile workplace. A trained employee is less likely to be a silent victim or bystander, creating a culture of accountability. Early recognition and response also result in sexual harassment being addressed before it gets too far.
This is important for everyone, but especially in sexual harassment training for managers. It’s crucial that anyone in a position of responsibility take a course with a more extensive exploration of sexual harassment training topics such as the proper procedure for addressing allegations, investigating and documenting claims, and intervening in the appropriate manner.
Fostering Respect and Inclusivity
While the legal implications of sexual harassment are critical, there’s a larger, more profound impact in its effect on workplace culture.
Sexual harassment training is a bridge between policy and practice. When employees undergo training, they're not just familiarized with the rules; they also start to internalize the principles these rules are based upon.
This internalization translates into daily interactions, meetings, and conversations, laying the foundation for a workspace where every individual, regardless of their gender, race, or position, feels valued and safe.
This isn’t just a feel-good initiative. Research has shown that there are concrete productivity rewards for embracing diversity in the workplace.
Creating a Ripple Effect
The positive outcomes of sexual harassment training extend beyond the workplace. They have a ripple effect where the benefits extend into employees’ homes, social circles, and communities.
When individuals understand the gravity of sexual harassment and the importance of respecting boundaries, they challenge and question traditional societal norms that allow such behavior. They can influence friends, family members, and acquaintances, driving a larger conversation around respect and equality.
Additionally, as businesses prioritize sexual harassment training, they also indirectly create a demand for similar education in schools, colleges, and other institutions. This demand fosters a generation that is aware, respectful, and advocates equality from a young age.
Get Effective Sexual Harassment Training Programs Online
Creating your own sexual harassment training from scratch can be a dodgy proposition – you need to make sure you cover all the major sexual harassment training topics, meet the compliance requirements for relevant jurisdictions, and convey the information in a way that participants understand and retain.
Obtaining the right courses through a trusted education provider can be a much more efficient solution. Students benefit from a curriculum crafted and kept up-to-date by experts and interactive material they can work through online and at their own pace.
With 25 years of online compliance training under our belts, we offer Anti-Harassment Best Practices for Employees, which covers the basics of recognizing, addressing, and reporting sexual harassment, as well as Anti-Harassment Best Practices for Managers, which provides a deeper dive into the topic while accounting for a supervisor’s heightened responsibilities.
Enroll today!
