Company Sexual Harassment Policies May Not Be Fully Understood
The Society for Human Resource Management reports that 97% of U.S. companies have a written sexual harassment policy. Researchers at the University of Missouri found, however, that such policies might not be effective in preventing sexual harassment in the workplace. This is because researchers found that individuals’ perceptions of flirting and sexual harassment and their understanding of the terms are not always a “perfect match.”
According to Debbie Dougherty, Associate Professor and Director of Graduate Studies at the University of Missouri Department of Communication, the participants in the study “did not consider that their meaning would be different from others. While participants acknowledge that others may perceive behaviors differently, they seemed to assume that they all used the same definition to determine when someone had crossed the line from harmless flirting into sexual harassment."
The bottom line is that a sexual harassment policy is just not enough. Managers and human resource professionals must continue to provide training and coaching on the subject of sexual harassment in the workplace.
