Harassment Ruins Reputations and Careers
Sexual harassment continues to be in the news as high-profile people ruin their reputations and careers and force people to put up with their degrading behavior. Countless politicians have had their reputations crushed with harassment allegations including recently, Governor Cuomo, who had signed the New York state law mandating harassment prevention training. He is one of a long list of politicians that had to resign from elected positions for allegations of inappropriate behavior. Entertainers, sports figures, and business executives have also had to resign or be fired for harassment.
Although laws prohibiting harassment have been in place for 50 years, movements such as #MeToo and #TimesUp have heightened awareness. Employers need to take these issues seriously and establish programs to prevent and respond to workplace harassment.
Harassment impacts individuals, the team, and the organization as a whole. Harassment subjects employees to physical and mental stress, and can impact an individual’s self-confidence and pride in work. Harassment affects the whole team, resulting in poor team cohesion, lower productivity, loss of morale and more interpersonal conflict and negativity from people gossiping and taking sides.
A typical case can cost employers hundreds of thousands of dollars in financial and legal liability. The cost to defend your organization can cost upwards of $100,000 and that is just to settle the case. Calculate the cost of investigations and settlements, higher turnover rates and loss of valuable employees, negative publicity, and the possible loss of contracts, grants, public trust, and confidence, and the sky is the limit. Case in point is the Washington football team which was slapped with an $10 million fine from the NFL for bullying, intimidation, and highly unprofessional conduct towards women. Other examples:
$150,000 for a woman who received sexually harassing phone calls, complained, then was terminated
$1.3 million for a saleswoman who was sexually harassed and wrongfully terminated
$15 million to a nurse who endured years of banter, propositions, groping by a doctor
And a record $168 million for a sexual harassment lawsuit against a California hospital
The organization’s response can make a huge difference in terms of liability and morale. Smart employers will take definitive preventative steps and swift remedial action to respond to harassment. i2i Workplace can assist with training, resources, forms, and policies to create a prevention and response program.
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