Hybrid Workplace Harassment: Are You Protecting Your Company from Hidden Threats?
0 likes•550 views
The document discusses the rise of workplace harassment in hybrid work environments, noting that bullying among remote workers is significantly higher than the national average. It underscores the importance of organizational policies, training, and proactive measures to create a healthy workplace culture and address potential issues. The author calls for accountability, communication, and support systems to prevent and resolve harassment effectively.
Hybrid Workplace Harassment: Are You Protecting Your Company from Hidden Threats?
- 1. P r e p ared b y I n tegr ity b y M c Car thy Hybrid Workplace Harassment: Are You Protecting Your Employees and Your Company from Hidden Threats? Ken McCarthy, President Integrity by McCarthy Inc.
- 2. For Business and Government Leaders For Human Resources Leaders For Workplace Investigators • What is standing in our way? • How do we get ahead of the obstacles? Overview 2
- 3. What is standing in our way? Building and Maintaining a Healthy Hybrid Workplace 3
- 4. More reported bullying among remote workers than U.S. national average According to Workplace Bullying Institute survey in 2021, 43% of respondents experienced remote work bullying. This is higher than the national average, which is 30% among all adults and 39% among employed adults. Further, 34% or respondents were not aware that workplace bullying happens. 43% https://workplacebullying.org/ 4
- 5. Where did workplace bullying happen? 35% in group virtual meetings 15% in private virtual meetings 6% in group emails 3% in private emails 5
- 6. Some issues that we have seen Virtual workplace • Exclusion and isolation • Cozy commentary • Camera filter • Technology fatigue • Water cooler chatter • 24/7 demands • Pinging at 8:01 a.m. • Time zone inequity 6
- 7. Some issues that we have seen Physical workplace • Workload inequity • Office time inequity • Justification for physical presence • Tight quarters and personal space • Upkeep of shared workspaces • Personal and ergonomic • Covid shame 7
- 8. The “New World of Work” is a Big Change • The Great Resignation • The Real Reasons why we have to return to in-person • Return to the workplace represents a loss • Disillusionment and crossing the line • Does one size fits all? 8
- 9. Digital wild west You may feel helpless. You can monitor the employee chats and keep records on software your company controls, but what if someone is on the receiving end of nasty Facebook messages or inappropriate Snapchats? And what if you sanctioned the use of such tools? 9
- 10. How do we get ahead of the obstacles? Building and Maintaining a Healthy Hybrid Workplace 10
- 11. Community Support Healthcare System Prevention Resolution Investigation Restoration Complainant Broken Lives Productivity Loss Ruined Careers Financial Losses Damaged Reputations Mental Health Issues Witnesses Labour Unions Mediators Arbitrators Adjudicators Judges Labour Advisors Respondent Managers Lawyers Investigators Labour Dept. EEOC & ESDC 11 Where We Should Focus Our Attention
- 12. If people could work anywhere, why would they want to work for you? 12
- 13. You’ve Got Your Act Together • Modern organizational policies • Trained employees • Accountability and consequences • Meaningful conversations • Great culture • Feedback and information 13
- 14. Onboarding and effective training Train new and existing employees on: • Your organization’s values and ethics code • Harassment and violence policies • Wrongdoing and fraud policies • Whistleblower protection policies • Incident reporting and resolution • Why the above matters 14
- 15. Creating a Great Company Culture • Prevention mindset • Deliberate in-person requirements • Boundaries for yourself and your team • Clear and meaningful communications • Incident response and resolution • Preventing re-occurrence • Fixing the problem – accountability and consequences • Restoring the workplace 15
- 16. When an Incident Happens (or you suspect something is happening) Take Action • Even with your best efforts, issues can still come up at work. • Did you hear a snide comment at a meeting?Talk to your employee about their behavior. • Do you suspect fraud? Look into it and monitor the suspicious activity. • Problems do not disappear when they are ignored, in fact, they often snowball into something worse. • Don’t let a molehill turn into a mountain. • If something is going on, take action. 16
- 17. Resolving the issue • If something does happen on your team or in the workplace, walk the talk. • If you can, talk about the incident, check in with your employees individually and provide a training, healing session, or counselling sessions if needed. • Find necessary accommodations or assistance for the impacted employees and put new measures in place to prevent another incident from happening in the first place. • Learn from the experience – every incident has its own story. • What do the Best organizations do? 17
- 18. What You Need to Do Right Now If you are a Business or Government Leader 1. Get your act together 2. Take and show ownership 3. Ask for help If you are a Human resources Leader 1. Analyze risks and trends 2. Consult your peers 3. Empower your business leaders If you are aWorkplace Investigator 1. Provide feedback on what you have seen 2. Exercise your “root cause” muscles 3. Consult your peers 18
- 19. Closing Thoughts • We will never achieve a 100% success rate in preventing workplace harassment in any environment. • Improvements in prevention will have significant impacts on individuals, organizations and reputations. • Feedback is the breakfast of champions Please send an email titled “Information” to [email protected] if you would like to have access to similar material on preventing and resolving workplace issues. 19
- 20. T h a n k Y o u f o r P a r t i c i p a t i n g Find more free webinars: www.i-sight.com/resources/webinars @isightsoftware C o n t a c t K e n M c C a r t h y C o n t a c t i - S i g h t [email protected] [email protected] www.integritybymccarthy.ca www.linkedin.com/company/integrity-by-mccarthy-inc/ @McCarthyK_PCI 20