The vast majority of companies offer some form of sexual harassment training. According to the Association for Talent Development, approximately 71 percent of employers have implemented a form of sexual harassment prevention training that they require all employees to complete. An even higher percentage of employers have created a written policy on sexual harassment that defines the behavior and provides guidelines for victims who need to report such abuses to make them stop.
How does your employer measure up? Is your employer one of the few hold-outs that have — through laziness or lack of care — neglected to create sexual harassment guidelines to which employees and supervisors must adhere? Does your workplace have a reputation among your coworkers for being a hotbed for rude and inappropriate jokes and comments about the appearance and sexuality of others? Are employees simply supposed to put up with toxic junior high-style working conditions where every other thing that comes out of their colleague’s mouths relates to sex?
When a workplace culture is infested with sexually demeaning behavior, it can be difficult to root it out. In fact, workers who complain could find themselves singled out by fellow employees, and they could become the target of crude jokes, demeaning behavior and even suffer severe workplace retaliation, loss of opportunities for advancement, loss of working opportunities, lower wages and wrongful termination.
The fact of the matter is that — even though employers are increasing the frequency and scope of sexual harassment training — sometimes this training is not enough to make on-the-job discrimination and harassment stop once and for all. What it may take is for victims to become braver and more resolute in speaking up for their constitutional rights.
Source: Association for Talent Development, “71 Percent of Organizations Offer Sexual Harassment Prevention Training,” Megan Cole, accessed May 03, 2018
