Role of HR : # Me Too Movement at the Workplace

In the wake of recent #Me Too Movement, HR professionals have put in the spotlight. Sexual harassment, as highlighted by the #Me Too movement, cuts across all professional industries. As guardians of organization culture they have to ensure a safe working environment for women.

Human resources need to work overtime to address accusations that practitioners have been on the wrong side of the #Me Too movement.

Even as more new accusations come to light on a regular basis, HR departments are stepping up their responses by increasing sexual harassment training. They are hiring outside contractors to perform workplace culture audits, provide independent whistle-blower services and set up other types of HR tech to support better harassment reporting.

While a lot of activities are being planned by the HR Department, here are a few more practical tips to address the issue of POSH:-

1.     Increase awareness – HR needs to organize or conduct training on an organizational level to enable the employees to understand acceptable       code of conduct.

Training on the lines of communication for reporting incidents and how to respond in the moment and afterward will be key to addressing the large number of harassment complaints that go unreported to internal sources.

2.     Listen To Accusers

HR managers must be very careful to take accusers seriously. Listen to them in an objective manner. Never, ever tolerate any kind of retaliation against the accuser from anyone in the company, including the accuser’s boss, their co-workers or other HR employees

3.     Create a Safe Workplace Culture – HR needs to take actions to create a workplace where employees feel comfortable because bullying and power plays aren’t tolerated. 

4.     Create a strong Anti-Harassment Policy which addresses both prevention of sexual harassment and handling of similar complaints. Every company should have a highly empowered Committee under the act that can handle all the complaints in an objective manner.