Abstract
Sexual harassment at the work place is an unsolicited or undesirable conduct of a sexual nature, which is intimidating, unpleasant and embarrassing. It affects the employee’s work performance, livelihood, health and employment. It is a significant problem, and is difficult to deal with in organizations, as it is persistent in nature. Women and men differ in what the society perceives to be sexual harassment. Sexual harassment in various organizations exists at a larger scale though the organizational decision makers acknowledge less. Furthermore, the consequences to the victims can be strong and devastating. The consequences can be loss of tangible job returns and psychological stress. Sexual harassments in terms of unwanted sexual comments and advances have not been accorded the necessary attention in the past. It was taken as part of everyday working life, which a few people, apart from the victim are aware of its happening. This paper seeks to scrutinise the difficulties faced by Human Resources (HR) departments due to sexual harassment at work places. Henceforth, this research paper will end up with various ways in which HR professionals in various organizations use to address the vice.
Introduction
Sexual harassment in workplaces affects women at a larger extent as compared to men. Organizations are taking the vice differently compared to how they did in the past. Nowadays, victims of sexual harassment report any related incidences, since a large magnitude of females, especially younger women, have joined the work place (Karla, 2010). The issue is, however, most of the times not easy to report and prove. In industrialised countries, forty two to fifty percent of female workers have been sexually harassed. In Asia-Pacific countries, thirty to forty percent of women during their working lives, report sexual harassment in various forms while in the European Union, thirty to forty percent report of such occurrences. Over the last twenty years, workers, particularly women, have begun objecting to being sexually harassed (Karla, 2010).
Women employees, especially those attached to processing industries dealing with exports, and informal sectors are more susceptible to sexual harassment and exploitation (Goodridge, 1990). Migrant workers in both industrialised, and developing nations are the most vulnerable, as they cannot stick up to themselves, are isolated in the social context, and face challenges in getting employment. They lack freedom of expression, since they are not well conversant with language of the immigrant country to enable them speak up on their own.
Occurrence of sexual harassment in organizations across the globe is not a new phenomenon. However, in the recent past it has been recognised as an unruly and demoralising organizational behaviour. As previously mentioned, sexual harassment precisely entails uninvited and unwelcome behaviours, sexual in nature, which are humiliating, offensive, embarrassing an intimidating. It results in poor employee work performance as it affects their livelihoods, health and careers in general (Karla, 2010).
Instances of sexual harassment in workplaces
Trade unions should stand up actively to reduce cases of sexual harassment in the employment sector. In most cases, it results due to power relations in the work place. Workers under threat of the vice are those who are vulnerable and unprotected. In an organizational set up, sexual harassment can occur in contractual terms. This means that in order to get employment, get access to training opportunities, obtain a job promotion, and other benefits, the granting of sexual favours becomes a contractual term, either implicitly or explicitly (Mary, 2005). Lack of compliance results in denial of job employment, lack of promotion to a better job ranks, loss of employment, unfavourable work assignments or dismissal. This negatively affects human resource within an organisation as it can deny professional human resource, in terms of employees, a chance to put their input for the mutual benefit of the organization. Moreover, it can result in employment of low capability workforce, therefore, leading to poor service delivery by the organizations.
Sexual harassment can also occur in relation to the creation of hostile working environments. This entails sexual harassment even though contractual dimensions may not be involved. It occurs in cases where there exists no clear employment penalty or gains, but sexual annoyance is aggravated. This has a negative impact on HR; as such, behaviour has the purpose or effect of reasonably lowering the job performance, as it creates a hostile, intimidating and an offensive working environment.
Effects of sexual harassment at workplace
Sexual harassment of an employee threatens them, patronises, humiliates, thus, creating an un-conducive working environment. Victims of sexual harassment usually resort to acts, which are costly. Some resort to suicide, as it makes the lives of the victims impossible. Harassed employees are always looked down upon and ascribed all faults. If they forward the complaints, their grievances are dismissed (Goodridge, 1990). Moreover, they are looked down upon by not being promoted, and may be dismissed from employment. The vice kills employee morale, therefore, reducing their work efficacy. United States can be an example whereby sexual harassment problems, which have been ignored, are likely to cost a company an amount of up to six million, seven hundred thousand million annually due to lowered production, and employee missing work constantly, not to mention the legal costs involved (Mary, 2005).
Organizations are prone to incur legal costs if the problem of sexual harassment is ignored. In the year 1989, the first case of sexual harassment was reported in the republic of South Africa. The industrial court ruled that an employer undoubtedly has an obligation to ensure that his/her workers have an ample working environment with no harassment of any form (Goodridge, 1990). Even without any knowledge of harassment, an employer may be held responsible in cases where there are insufficient channels of complaint. Moreover, organizations with no clear policies on sexual harassment may lack a way of confirming charges to the offender.
Existence of instances of sexual harassment undermines ethical considerations and discipline in the organisation on a general basis. Employees lose trust and respect in employers who engage or allow sexual harassment behaviours within their organizations (Roni, et al., 2008). The organisation's image among its staff, the public, and its customers is tainted if word goes around that cases of sexual harassment go unchecked.
Men, women and sexual harassment
The sex of an individual is the most consistent variable, which foretells variations in people’s definition of sexual harassment. Gender differences have been found to be the most consistent finding, amongst a number of differences on sexual harassment with regard to perception of incidents. Dealing with sexual harassment within an organisation is problematic, as it is perpetual in nature (Roni, et al., 2008). Both genders i.e. women and men perceive sexual harassment differently. Women are found to have a broader definition of sexual harassment than males. Precisely, women have negative attitudes towards any form of sexual harassment and are less tolerant to the act. Furthermore, they consider unnecessary physical contact, sexual gestures, remarks, looks, and teasing to be sexual harassment (Karla, 2010).
Conversely, men typically do not think the above-mentioned behaviours to be offensive and consider looks, teasing, gestures and comments to be normal interactions between males and females. Men perceive lesser behaviours at the workplace as sexual harassment. However, they tend to find sexual approaches from men to be insulting (Mary, 2005). Deductively, men and women differ in the way they perceive sexual harassment.
How HR professionals deal with sexual harassment
Sexual harassment can cause adverse effects in organizations to its associated prejudices. To address this vice, HR professionals/managers need to know the importance in creating a conducive environment for mutual understanding and respect prevails within the organization. Managers should provide tremendous benefits of improved creativity, teamwork, and morale, as employees who are happy and contended work better and harder thus minimising chances of occurrences of sexual harassment (Boland, 2005). Allowing sexual harassment in a workplace eventually causes harmful effects on the employee’s productivity.
In dealing with sexual harassment, HR professionals have clearly stated intolerance of any form of discriminatory behaviour within their organisation. Furthermore, they should set the standard and act as role models in preventing the occurrence of sexual harassment. They should also communicate to the organizational staff about the consequences, if found guilty of engaging in sexual harassment practices. It should be their responsibility to ensure all rounded well-being of their employees (Mary, 2005).
Clear and well thought policies for gender equality have been enacted and implemented by HR professionals aimed at dealing with issues on sexual harassment. This is significant as the policies contain concrete measures and goals that can be evaluated and can measure level of achievement of the purpose of preventing sexual harassment. To improve the functioning of these policies, the HR professionals have involved sexual harassment experts in coming up with the policies. Moreover, systems to carry out follow up on a periodical basis have been created to ensure implementation of the policies (Boland, 2005).
HR professionals have played an essential role in supporting victims of sexual harassment. They have set up individuals whom the victims of sexual violence can turn to if they succumb to cases of sexual harassment. Moreover, the employees have been given several contacts of persons: the employer and a trusted staff member whom victims can contact in case they are harassed sexually.
HR professionals within a given organisation have established measures to be taken when someone makes a complaint on sexual harassment. Strategies on how to handle the complaints have been well set up and made well known to the employees (Roni et. al., 2008). This ensures prompt response to complaints with extensive follow-up on existing policies.
Another way in which HR professionals use to address the issue on sexual harassment is organising workshops for all management, supervisors and employees’. They are jointly organised by the organizational decision maker’s i.e. General Manager, HR manager and Government Legal Advisor (Mary, 2005). Through these workshops, everyone is given an opportunity to reflect on sexual harassment issues thereby; giving a clear indication and commitment of intolerance of the act in the organization. Involvement of Government Legal Advisor further gives the provisions of the law on the likely consequences of sexual harassment.
HR professional have invested finances and time in carrying out awareness campaigns and trainings on diversity about sexual harassment. Ignorance seems to be the cause of various forms of sexual harassment and thus can easily be resolved. Good training programs prepare workers to recognize sexual advances and develop strategies to deal with them. Training programs act as the best catalyst and intervention in removing harassment from the work place. Training is, therefore, an ideal method of prevention of sexual harassment.
Conclusion
Sexual harassment continues to characterise the working conditions especially for many women in the working sectors. HR professionals should thus come up with appropriate mechanisms to curb this vice. It is however, not the sole responsibility of the HR professionals but also the employee’s responsibility to speak up and not allow them to be victimized. Sexual harassment is not an individual problem, as many believe. However, it is a structural and an organizational problem. Therefore, solutions for the problem lie within the organization itself. Removing offenders from their positions cannot play a significant role in resolving the situation. Sexual harassment can be scraped by creating an organization that ensures suitable conditions for both women and men. This result in a productive and creative employee workforce for the mutual benefit of the organization. Persistence of sexual harassment in the work place is invoked by the reluctance of the victims to report complaints to the complaints mechanism set in place. Ineffectiveness of existing complaints mechanism in punishing the perpetrators of sexual harassment offenses further leads to stem up of the vice in various organization.
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