Executives and Corporate Boards in every industry are grappling with the explosion of sexual harassment complaints seemingly triggered by the claims against Harvey Weinstein. If your organization has not yet experienced a #MeToo type claim, now is not the time to be complacent or self-congratulatory. Rather, now is the time to assess anew your organization to ensure that conditions that might give rise to such a claim do not exist and that you have the internal structure and processes in place to respond promptly and appropriately if a situation does arise. In doing so, remember that the corporate tone is set at the top and matters.
The Corporate Tone Matters
To start, consider who has the power in your organization and how they behave. Harassment usually occurs when one person has power and others in his or her ambit do not, and the person with the power abuses it. While co-worker or peer harassment certainly exists, can create a hostile work environment if it is severe and pervasive, and may be legally actionable, most of the claims that have captured the public’s attention recently have involved wrongdoers who are in positions of power and have misused that power. The cases that pose the greatest risk are those where the organization’s leader(s) or senior executives are involved. So now is the time to consider your organization’s leaders and culture. Are your leaders held accountable for how they treat people below them? Or, is yours an organization where success in the role as measured by metrics such as profits, number of accounts, ratings etc. always trumps how the employee behaves and treats others? In other words, what message is the organization sending about what conduct it rewards?
