Harassment cannot be tolerated in any organization, so it is vital to show people how certain behaviors can lead to big problems.  This is done best through workplace harassment training. Every employee – from top to bottom – should be taught to recognize (and avoid) harassing behaviors and to stay on the “right side of the line” between acceptable and unacceptable behavior.

Workplace harassment training should cover harassment in ALL its forms, including teasing, gossip, joking, sabotage and sexual harassment, and should differentiate between behaviors that are simply unprofessional or inappropriate, and behaviors that are illegal. Employees should also learn the definitions of both Quid Pro Quo Harassment (“I’ll do this for you if you do that for me”) and Hostile Work Environment Harassment, which the EEOC defines as “conduct severe or pervasive enough to create a work environment that a reasonable person would consider intimidating, hostile, or abusive.”

Bringing awareness to what behaviors are inappropriate and illegal is the first step towards preventing harassment in the workplace. The next step is educating people on what to do if they observe, or are a victim of, workplace harassment. If the behavior is merely inappropriate or unprofessional, a person may wish to address the perpetrator directly. Perhaps the perpetrator is not aware of the offensiveness or harm of their words or actions and may change their behavior with a polite but firm “talking to.” Addressing the perpetrator directly (if one feels they can do so competently) can often keep a situation from escalating.  

When harassing behavior occurs and the recipient and/or observer don’t want to address it directly with the harasser, harassment training provides steps for knowing where and how to report the incident. Sexual harassment can be particularly difficult and uncomfortable to address directly with the harasser. In these cases, a sexual harassment training video can help the victim know his or her rights, and may help them feel more comfortable reporting the harassment through the proper organizational channels.

CRM Learning offers many workplace harassment training programs covering various topics, including harassment training for managers, policy statements on harassment, and sexual harassment. It’s Up to You is a sexual harassment video that uses real-life scenarios to depict the various faces of sexual harassment and how to stop sexual harassment in the workplace.

Unfortunately for employees in today’s organizations, workplace bullying has become a prevalent and serious issue. Leaders should address this problem head-on by providing harassment training – specifically on bullying – to ensure all employees have an action plan to identify and stop workplace bullying.

Any action plan designed to prevent bullying should begin with learning that identifies what bullying behavior looks like. By definition, bullying is persistent, offensive, intimidating or insulting behavior that makes victims feel upset, threatened, humiliated (not good enough, stupid, incompetent) or vulnerable. It can be verbal, physical, social or even online in nature, so it’s important to coach employees to recognize bullying in all its forms.

The second component of a bullying action plan should be to stop bullying when it occurs. This involves teaching employees to speak up for themselves when they experience behavior that “crosses the line.” Harassment training will go a long way to empowering employees to speak up for themselves when they’re being bullied. Speaking up takes courage, but when done calmly, confidently and factually, it can have a very good outcome. It helps when employees plan what they will say ahead of time – even practicing it aloud – and focus on stating the facts of what has happened along with how it made them feel.

Another important part of a workplace bullying action plan is to  encourage employees to stand up for others when they witness bullying. Sometimes the victim of bullying doesn’t feel they have the courage, power or will to stand up to their bully. But if other employees witness the bullying, they have an obligation to take action: either addressing the bully directly or reporting the bully to a higher authority. If a witness chooses to stand up to the bully personally, they need to state their observations (the bullying behaviors they’ve witnessed); share their concerns for why those behaviors are a problem, and explain the impact of the bully’s behavior – on the victim, the team, and the whole organization.

Providing training on harassment and bullying can build awareness among employees to help recognize problematic behavior, and can also teach skills and techniques for preventing and stopping bullying and other abusive and disrespectful workplace behaviors. CRM Learning offers numerous harassment training videos including Preventing Workplace Bullying: How to Recognize and Respond to Bullies at Work.

Preventing and addressing harassment in the workplace is extremely important for any organization. Providing every employee with harassment training is a critical step to provide an effective, safe work environment. Training will help employees recognize and understand the different types of harassment in the workplace, and will also help them feel safe talking about any harassment they experience. Proper harassment training will better prepare your staff should a situation arise.

What are the different types of harassment in the workplace?

Harassment comes in many shapes and forms. Good harassment training will teach employees to recognize harassment based on race, ethnicity, age, gender, or religion, and also sexual harassment and bullying.

Here are just a few examples of how “harassment” can take different forms in the workplace.

Race: Employee makes racial slurs about Asian people within earshot of many people on her team.

Age:   Manager resists hiring young people because she feels they have too much of an entitlement attitude.

Gender:  Boss always assigns event planning to women because he feels women are generally better at “that kind of thing.”

Religion:  Employee hassles a co-worker whose faith prevents her from celebrating birthdays or holidays.

For more information on the differences between harassment and bullying, see this Handout on our blog.

Understanding what these different kinds of harassment look and sound like helps employees to be aware of how to recognize the signs, and what to do should they witness or become a victim of harassment.

How can you administer harassment training to your employees?

Not only do your employees need to be trained in harassment in the workplace, but your managers and supervisory staff do, as well. At CRM Learning, we offer a variety of harassment training videos.

Our programs offer numerous topics designed to fit your training needs, including videos on general harassment, sexual harassment, harassment training for managers, and building respect in the workplace. It is important to know the boundaries of acceptable behavior, and the legality of actions or words said in the workplace. Our training videos go over these subjects in great detail. The ultimate goal is to promote a harassment-free, respectful environment for your staff.

Harassment training is an important key to your employees’ knowledge and success at work. Visit our website to preview all of our harassment training videos that will better educate your employees.

Sexual harassment training is an integral part of maintaining a healthy and productive workplace. This area of workplace training doesn’t have to be a long or arduous process: with the right sexual harassment videos, employees engage with and retain this important information. Taking the time to find and choose high quality workplace harassment training videos ensures your employees have a positive training experience.

How to Find the Best Sexual Harassment Videos

Finding the best sexual harassment videos to train your employees is easier than ever thanks to the internet. Use a search engine to find a variety of businesses that provide this type of training. Then, use the following criteria to make sure the videos you choose are right for your employees:

1. Is the video relevant to my workplace? Every workplace is different, and therefore experiences different harassment issues. Before choosing a video, determine what problems and behaviors it specifically addresses. Read the written description and watch any previews included on its webpage to learn more.
2. Does the video provide clear strategies for success? Sexual harassment is a delicate topic in many workplaces, making it difficult to find videos that lead to real results. The best videos provide direct and honest solutions to real workplace problems.
3. Are there any other materials included in the package? Workbooks, leader’s guides, and other learning aides can help make sure your employees retain the information covered in a given video. Buying these materials in a package with sexual harassment videos is often the most efficient choice.
4. Is this video well reviewed? What do other businesses have to say about a given video? Look for testimonials from other business owners or employees. Generally, if a certain course is well received by other businesses, it’s a good sign that your own workplace can benefit from what it has to say.
5. What are the best selling videos in this category? If you’re not yet convinced that a given video is right for you, compare with other best selling videos in the workplace harassment training category. This provides a clearer idea of what types of videos other businesses value.

The best sexual harassment videos equip employees with the information they need to maintain healthy workplace relationships. Choose your video carefully and you’ll be pleased with the results.
Recommended Training Resource: Let’s Get Honest/He Said She Said is a two-video set that takes a thoughtful look at the problem of sexual harassment in the workplace and provides solutions to common scenarios.

Organizations can only run at their best when employees commit to relating to one another in respectful and productive ways. Training with harassment videos can be an effective way to help employees avoid behaviors that get in the way of healthy workplace interactions while reinforcing behaviors and attitudes that lead to positive workplace relationships.

5 Concepts Covered in Harassment Videos that Improve All Types of Workplace Interactions

1. Inclusion: A workplace can thrive only when all employees are encouraged to contribute their skills and knowledge.  Commonly covered in videos that focus on harassment and discrimination prevention, inclusion is about creating a sense of “belonging” among all team members so that people feel valued.  While it’s human nature to gravitate toward people who are like us, or with whom we have a lot in common, when we do that, we tend to ignore or exclude those outside our comfort zone.  Being more inclusive means welcoming different perspectives and experiences and working to include those who are reluctant to participate, or who may have been overlooked in the past.
2. Respect: To many people, respect can be an abstract concept. Harassment training videos strive to depict specific behaviors known to make feel people either respected, or disrespected. Trainees are reminded to avoid clearly discriminatory or illegal behaviors while also learning about other types of behavior that can be equally destructive to a fellow employee’s well-being and productivity.  Respectful behaviors taught in harassment training videos include things like:  not being a “bully”, letting go of the belief that you are always right, building people up instead of tearing them down, and working through disagreements instead of holding a grudge.
3. Communication: In addition to increasing employee awareness about what constitutes “harassment” in the workplace, harassment videos often focus on maintaining a respectful climate through the use of positive communication.  In this way, harassment videos not only lessen the number of disrespectful exchanges that occur, they also show people what to do when problems surface.  Most of the time, the right kind of dialogue can turn moments of tension into learning opportunities where gain an understanding of one another and find more effective ways to work together.
4. Personal Responsibility:  The notion that every employee plays a part in building and maintaining a respectful, harassment-free workplace is a key component of any harassment video training.  Participants come to clearly understand that, if the video depicts something they themselves have done, they need to stop doing it immediately.  Similarly, if the video reveals something they’ve witnessed or experienced first-hand, they need to speak up (see #5 below). Harassment training drives home the point that the “golden rule” still applies at work—every day, in all circumstances, we must choose to treat others as we, ourselves, want to be treated.
5. Reporting: The reporting of inappropriate behaviors is an important tool in eliminating them, but many employees are reluctant to call attention to negative interactions. Harassment training videos reinforce the importance of reporting while training employees on when, how, and to whom they should report problematic behavior.

Far beyond simply fulfilling a government-mandate for training, harassment videos allow you to cover a wide array of important topics in an engaging and effective manner. When you ensure your employees have harassment training that includes the five concepts featured in this article, you’ll be on your way to a building an environment where workplace relationships are generally positive and everyone feels safe, valued and able to contribute.

Recommended Training Resource: The Respectful Workplace: It Starts with You brings the abstract concept of “respect” down to earth by outlining common behaviors that erode respect and suggesting behaviors that promote respect instead.

Stopping sexual harassment in the workplace depends on clear policies and a change in an organization’s culture. Workplace harassment training is a critical part of maintaining a harassment-free environment. Stop harassment quickly and completely with these five steps.

5 Steps to Stop Workplace Harassment

• Develop a Thorough and Legal Harassment Policy: Create or revise a section of your employee handbook to cover harassment policy. In today’s workplace, harassment prevention must go beyond sexual harassment, so create a policy that addresses all forms of harassment and discrimination. Make sure this policy is clearly stated to everyone in the organization. Clearly state the definition of harassment, the procedure for filing complaints, and that this type of misbehavior will not be tolerated.
• Ensure Your Policy Includes Protocol for Reporting Complaints: Your policy should include a clear protocol for reporting complaints. This protocol should provide a way for employees to make a complaint that does not require them to include the offending party. This section of your policy is an ideal place to discuss why it is illegal to retaliate against anyone who files a complaint.
• Conduct Policy Training on a Regular Basis: Conduct annual training sessions on your harassment policy as mandated by the laws of your state. Employees should end the training sessions with a clear understanding of your policy and should be comfortable with the procedure for reporting complaints. Supervisors and managers should undergo a separate training session to receive education on how to handle complaints. Video-based training is the most effective way to clarify what is (or is not) illegal behavior, ensuring everyone knows what behaviors to avoid and/or report.
• Supplement Mandated Harassment Prevention Courses with General Training on Respect and Inclusion: Behaviors such as bullying and unconscious bias are unfortunately common in today’s workplace. While not illegal, these types of behaviors are every bit as damaging to employee morale and productivity as harassment. Providing general training on respect and inclusion helps employees and management identify these behaviors and take steps to end them.
  
• Make a Cultural Change from the Top: Your organization’s leaders are a powerful tool in modeling harassment prevention best-practices. In addition to providing mandatory harassment prevention training for your manager, ask all of your organization’s leaders to commit to creating a respectful workplace.

Recommended Workplace Harassment Training Resources

Harassment Hurts: It’s Personal provides an overview of the different forms harassment can take, including race, sexual orientation, and sexual harassment. Insight is provided on the negative consequences of inappropriate behavior and tactics for speaking up about harassment are discussed.

Activity Time: 20 minutes

Instructions:
• Divide into small groups of 4 – 6
• Determine who will be Mary (bully) and who will be the victim
• Review and prep: 7 minutes
• Practice speaking up: 5 minutes
• Switch and review roles: 3 minutes
• Practice speaking up: 5 minutes

Facts:
You are a senior-level employee, and you have been employed at your organization for over two years. As a result of a merger, a new Executive Director (Mary) has been named. On her first day, Mary sent out a memo highlighting her background and educational experience. Many of you noticed that although she had over 15 years of experience in management, she did not hold an advanced degree.

Ever since Mary has been assigned to oversee your department, she has consistently bullied most of the senior-level employees. (more…)

With the governor’s signature on the bill in early September, California added a requirement for anti-bullying education to the state’s existing harassment-prevention legislation; the law goes into effect on January 1st. Chances are, other states will soon follow. And regardless of whether your state adopts such a law or not, ensuring that your corporate culture actively discourages and prevents bullying is a smart move.

Here’s a short list of key steps you can take right now – whether or not you’re legally mandated to take action.

1. One of the primary challenges in preventing bullying is identifying when it’s happening. People won’t necessarily speak up when they’re being bullied. They may fear retaliation if the bully is their supervisor (which is the case about three times out of four); they may think no one will believe them; or they may simply not be sure if they’re dealing with a bully, or just someone short-tempered and stressed out. (more…)