Preventing Harassment in the Workplace – Part 2
Today I will discuss Communication and Training, which is often significantly underdone in many organisations. I do a great deal of Acceptable Behaviour Training for organisations and approximately 65% of people say they have never had proper training on this matter! This astonishes me as training is a major factor in risk mitigation for organisations, particularly as all employers are required by law to train their staff on these matters.
So where to start?
It depends on the size of your business. I have tried a number of ways to ensure communication and training is done appropriately and the only way to ensure 100% that it gets done and gets done well is by having a HR Professional deliver the training at the beginning of employment.
You may be thinking of course you would say that! Well here is my rationale. As a HR Director for over 22 years, I found from real life experience that delegating the task to local managers meant that communication and training becomes patchy, as managers are busy managing the business and often uncomfortable about doing the training. Often too Managers are motivated to deprioritise training to get people on the tools as soon as possible. This generally results in an increase in complaints and general behavioural/performance issues.
When training is done well and in a timely manner by a professional who can explain the obligations and rights in plain and easy to understand formats, I have found that there are a lot less issues and complaints! In fact in every organisation I have implemented such a process, complaints dropped by more than 70% and those that did get raised got resolved quickly and effectively. In my 22 years, I have never lost a harassment case (that's got to say something right)?
Anti-Harassment/Discrimination (or as I like to call it Appropriate Behaviour Training) can be delivered effectively in a classroom style environment or via a live webinar. Highly effective training including a knowledge test can be done in approximately 90 minutes. I would strongly recommend you investigate a HR Professional conducting this training for you. See below for a special offer if you do not have your own HR Professional.
What and when should you communicate?
Communication and Training is critical. It is not only a legal requirement but it helps to ensure your business doesn’t end up in DJ’s situation! And above all, it just makes good commercial sense to develop a strong values based culture, being open and honest and encouraging respect and professionalism! Employers that achieve this type of culture, have less complaints, less turnover and higher levels of employee engagement! The facts speak for themselves!!
Communication
Once you have an appropriate policy for your business, this should be distributed to all staff and ensure that they read the document (by signing a copy and returning to you) and then attend training. For new staff, you should include the policy in an offer package or on the first day of employment. In addition, I ensure all staff must pass with 100% a scenario based test. This ensures you know they get it and is strong evidence if a complaint is ever made.
But beware! As the DJ case highlights, having a policy and not ensuring you implement it could be very costly! Not having a policy and not training however can be even more costly as you then don’t have mitigation for any potential claims! This is not optional. You need to have a policy that is in line with the law and you need to ensure you manage it too! Above all, as the DJ case highlights, paying lip service or pretending that everything is ok, or having a culture of secrecy or lack of challenge is potentially very costly indeed!
Communication is an ongoing process. Specifically staff need to be reminded of the policy and when it applies to appropriate behaviour at particular times of the year – example Christmas parties and off-sites. In my experience, these two types of work situations create the highest level of complaints!
Training
Training falls into two categories.
The first type of training is for all staff. Everyone needs to attend the training and it specifically needs to ensure all staff understand the law, their responsibilities and rights and when and how to use the complaints procedures. At My Performance Coach, our training is customised to your situation (e.g. if you have staff working at other sites), includes examples of appropriate and inappropriate behaviour, how to deal with any concerns quickly and all attendees have to achieve a 100% pass mark on a knowledge test.
Secondly, Managers, including ALL Senior Managers/Executives need to know what their obligations are, the organisations expectations of them, what to look for, when to act, what the consequences of failing to act are and how to deal with complaints appropriately. In my experience, most managers are generally unaware that they can be personally sued by an employee for failing to act or acting inappropriately. In the DJ case, McInnes is being sued for 5% of his personal income.
More importantly Managers at all levels must understand their responsibilities in creating the right culture. This training should also include effective behaviour management and how to deal with difficult employees effectively. In addition, managers need to know how and when to act and when to get a HR professional involved!
At my performance coach we have course ranging from ½ day to 3 days (which incorporates all skills and knowledge for organisations to create and managing high performing environments and manage employee behaviour effectively).
Until next time, keep smiling and remember -
Life is not about finding yourself it's about creating yourself :)
MY PERFORMANCE COACH - HR SERVICE
As a special offer, My Performance Coach is offering Readers of this Blog a 20% discount on Training. That means that you can ensure highly effective Acceptable Behaviour training for your employees starting from $69 per person (minimum requirements apply). Costs include webinar training, handouts and an online test. We can also assist you in investigating and managing complaints.
My Performance Coach specialises in assisting small to medium enterprises with their Human Resource and HR issues We ensure you have effective protection whilst ensuring we use pragmatic and straightforward processes. My Performance Coach provides strategic Human Resource service enabling businesses to build a strong, integrated HR strategy giving you a clear competitive advantage over their competitors. We also offer Coaching and training service for Executives/Managers to ensure your business is able to easily and proactively manage their human resources effectively!
My Performance Coach is delighted to assist you with implementing your strategy. We will assist you to develop an appropriate policy for your business and conduct training. Contact us to discuss your specific needs.
This article is intended to provide commentary and general information. It should not be relied upon as comprehensive or legal advice. Formal legal advice may be necessary in particular transactions or on matters of interest arising from this article. My Performance Coach is not responsible for the results of any actions taken on the basis of information in this article, nor for any error or omission in this article.
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