Do you have a comprehensive workplace harassment prevention program in place?

During our recent webinar, “Workplace Harassment is Evolving: Is Your Prevention Program Keeping Pace?,” we asked attendees whether they had a comprehensive program in place to help prevent harassment at work. More than two-thirds said “no”—their workplace harassment prevention efforts do not currently extend beyond anti-harassment training.

Given the fact that workplace harassment is still a major pain point—putting organizations at risk for cultural, reputational and financial damage—implementing a comprehensive workplace harassment prevention program (not just training) is critical for creating an organizational culture that repels harassment. In fact, earlier this year, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) announced that 30 percent of all charges filed with their agency are related to workplace harassment—and that they are focusing on “developing strategies to prevent and correct harassment” to help curb this “major problem.”  

In order to make a significant impact on reducing workplace harassment issues, prevention cannot be a one and done training effort. To help compliance professionals who want to do more in their organizations, we’ve compiled our top ten resources for bolstering workplace harassment prevention efforts below.

We hope some or all of these pieces will help your organization expand your workplace harassment prevention efforts—and strengthen your organizational culture of ethics and respect.

Ten Resources for Building a Workplace Harassment Prevention Program That Works

Anti-Harassment Policy Template & Legal Briefs

• Sample Policy: Global Anti-Harassment & Bullying: This sample policy, developed by Littler,  provides a starting point for organizations who want to update their anti-harassment and bullying policy—or implement one for the first time.
• Legal Brief: California AB 1825—Sexual Harassment Training Requirements: The state of California has established strict requirements for sexual harassment prevention training and other forms of workplace harassment. These practices set the bar for harassment training in organizations worldwide. This legal brief outlines the requirements imposed by the law, including specific guidance on how harassment training ought to be conducted and what it should cover.
• Legal Brief: California AB 2053—Navigating California’s New Abusive Conduct Training Regulation: In late 2014, the California legislature amended the existing law requiring harassment training to also require mandatory training on abusive conduct (or workplace bullying). This legal brief defines abusive conduct according to the law and describes the training requirements under AB 2053.

Increasing Employee Awareness:

• Blog Post: Keys To Raising Employee Awareness of Ethics & Compliance Programs: Unless employees are aware of your workplace harassment policies and expectations for adhering to them—or speaking up when they see potential misconduct—your prevention efforts will stay stuck in neutral. This post provides best practices for making sure you reach employees.
• Blog Post: How Do I Know If My Policy Management System Is Working? Five questions to help you determine whether employees are reading, understanding and changing behavior related to your policies—including your workplace harassment-related policies.

Investigating & Responding to Workplace Harassment Issues:

• Checklist: Harassment Investigations: Developed by Littler, this checklist provides investigators with practical advice and outlines best-practice steps to take when investigating workplace harassment-related issues—from ensuring that questioning occurs in a secure setting to determining what remedial action is most appropriate.

Building and Strengthening a Culture that Repels Harassment

• Blog Post: Building a Culture-Changing E&C Program: Six Essentials: Compliance programs are effective only to the degree that they help build and support a strong organizational culture.  So what does a strong corporate culture look like? And what ethics and compliance tools can help support it? Our experts share their experiences and perspectives.
• Article: Engaging Middle Managers—How to Stop Harassment Before it Starts: An article ethics and compliance officers can cut and paste into a memo to middle managers, the piece provides practical steps they can take to stay connected with their employees, and help prevent harassment before it starts.  

Improving Workplace Harassment Training Effectiveness—Including International Training Considerations

• Webinar: Workplace Harassment is Evolving: Is Your Prevention Program Keeping Pace?: Tips from NAVEX Global experts on adapting your workplace harassment training approach to reach and engage your modern workforce.
• White Paper: International Harassment Training—10 Best Practices: Training a global workforce can be a daunting task, and missteps can derail even the most well-intentioned compliance programs. Careful planning and paying attention to some important considerations can help ensure a successful deployment of your global harassment training program.