Five Things Organizations Still Get Wrong About Sexual Harassment

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Five Things Organizations Still Get Wrong About Sexual Harassment

By Caren Goldberg | MIT Sloan Management Review | February 13, 2024 

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Although the #MeToo movement shed light on the prevalence of sexual harassment in the workplace, employers have been slow to make any substantial changes to address the harassment epidemic. As a result, organizations often find themselves in indefensible positions when they are sued for sexual harassment.  The talent retention risks to organizations are significant on their own. Then there are the legal and financial risks. Good employees will not only leave bad organizations but also sometimes sue them. 

While laws and norms regarding sexual harassment vary from country to country, certain employment practices are universally better than others. Based on the author’s experience, here are five things even well-meaning organizations are still getting wrong about sexual harassment.

1. Offering training that is not apt to be effective. Training is one of the primary means of preventing sexual harassment. However, in evaluating an organization’s harassment climate, a trained HR expert would likely explain to a judge or jury that simply looking for a yes-or-no answer regarding whether there had been any training would be insufficient; rather, they would testify regarding whether the training that had been provided was likely to be effective.  Training for bystanders is central too.
2. Determining that a complaint doesn’t warrant an investigation. Often, there is a tendency to brush off complaints of behavior either by responding with “That’s just the way the person is” or by making an assessment that a behavior is not sexual in nature.  Harassment, though, is in the eye of the beholder, so if someone finds a behavior bothersome enough to report, HR has an obligation to investigate it. 
3. Conducting inadequate investigations. Effective investigations must meet the criteria of being prompt, thorough, and impartial. Investigative notes are almost always turned over during litigation, so it is in employers’ best interests to ensure that the investigator is impartial and trained in conducting investigations.  While complainants typically cannot control the speed of an investigation, an unduly long process may factor into liability, as it signals that an organization did not take seriously its responsibility to provide a workplace free from harassment.
4. Treating each complaint in a vacuum. While conducting each individual investigation properly is important, organizations also need to ensure that there is a system for managing harassment complaints. Handling investigations is typically a task assigned to an employee, and, as with any task, employers should assess how well it is being carried out. At a minimum, a system should track when the complaint was made, the investigation start and end dates, the witnesses interviewed, and the final determination. This organizational process allows employers to monitor the timeliness with which investigations are handled and may provide insight into their thoroughness. 
5. Not disciplining harassers. Because of the escalating nature of unchecked harassment, when lawsuits are prompted by more egregious harassment, courts will often consider an organization’s response (or lack thereof) to the less severe, earlier behaviors.

3 key takeaways from the article

1. Although the #MeToo movement shed light on the prevalence of sexual harassment in the workplace, employers have been slow to make any substantial changes to address the harassment epidemic. As a result, organizations often find themselves in indefensible positions when they are sued for sexual harassment.  The talent retention risks to organizations are significant on their own.
2. While laws and norms regarding sexual harassment vary from country to country, certain employment practices are universally better than others. Five things even well-meaning organizations are still getting wrong about sexual harassment are: offering training that is not apt to be effective, determining that a complaint doesn’t warrant an investigation, conducting inadequate investigations, treating each complaint in a vacuum, and not disciplining harassers.
3. Beyond their value in reducing liability, these efforts may help organizations create an environment in which talented female colleagues want to work.

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Topics:  Organizational Behavior, Sexual Harassments