The #MeToo movement has brought awareness of sexual harassment to the forefront of public attention and empowered victims of sexual harassment in the workplace to speak out. Sexual harassment consequences, however, affect more than just the victim and perpetrator.
Companies are impacted by the actions of their employees, CEOs, owners, and managers. Sexual harassment in the workplace can bring unwanted attention to your business, cost you significantly in lawsuits and in business, and hurt employee moral and workplace productivity.
Taking steps to insulate your company from #MeToo consequences starts by conducting thorough background checks on every new hire. Simply running a background check is not enough to know if someone will be a threat. Often, sexual harassment is not an isolated incident and there are a trail of victims, some of whom may not have come forward, or who may have come forward but the incident wasn’t thoroughly investigated or reported. You need to know why they left or were asked to leave their previous jobs. An investigator can dig deeper and ask the right questions to find out if sexual harassment or misconduct has been an issue in previous work environments.
Your company needs a strong policy against sexual harassment in the workplace. This means everyone involved in the business understands that sexual harassment, as well as retaliation against those who file complaints, will not be tolerated and offenders of the policy will be fired.
Every complaint made needs to be taken seriously an investigated thoroughly. Hiring an outside investigator to conduct the investigation is important to insure objectivity and accountability, and uphold the legitimacy of the investigation and your company. This is especially important if the complaint is against someone in a position of power or ownership within the company.
The best way to insulate your company against #MeToo consequences is to cultivate and maintain a safe and professional work environment where all workers are treated with respect, all new hires are thoroughly screened, and victims are empowered to come forward knowing that their complaints will be taken seriously and they will be protected from retaliation.