I now know how to harass you.
Hi there readers. Geez, you guys look tired. Working too hard lately? Yup, I understand. Why don’t you lean back a little in your chair, yes that’s right, and I’ll give you a nice neck massage. See? Doesn’t that feel good? Creeped out yet? You should be. Now quickly run to a parent or teacher (HR Dept.) and tell them about the bad touch.
Ah, mandatory preventing workplace harassment training. Always good for a “People still do that stuff?” moment. I know it still happens; I’m just always a little surprised when it does. I chalk it up to either a company culture that allows such things to happen, for example the situation with NASCAR the HR Capitalist talked about, or people just completely unaware of their own behavior (let’s call them extremely low self-monitors with no understanding of borders, i.e. jerks). Sometimes it’s a little from column A and a little from column B.
My favorite part is always when they get to the part about how a “reasonable person” would react. That’s a vague and constantly changing determinate. This is exactly how it should be. The problem I have with some laws is that they try to mandate for every situation possible. That only leads to situations in which things slip through the cracks and thus avoid prosecution because the law hasn’t caught up with society yet. We could stand to have a little more ambiguity in our laws. That’s what lawyers, judges and legislatures get paid for, right?
There’s a lot of gray in this world, and HR sees more of that than most departments. It’s our job to make sure associates are not exposed to harassing work environments through training, clear (and yet not overly defined) policies regarding behavior, and encouragement to speak up. Then, if something does happen, provide quick, consistent, and fair action. Its part of the reason companies still need us.
