Harassment Training has a new look!

By Nicole Martin | June 20, 2022

Strengthen your workplace with a respectful environment and watch your productivity and employee engagement flourish!

Now some of you may be thinking… what can we possibly do differently from what we’ve always done…what is so different about the training requirements?

Let me break it down for you!!!

What organizations should be doing is protecting themselves from PREVENTABLE claims.

Harassment claims can be devastating not only to the culture of the organization, but to the bottom line. Also, people always talk about Sexual Harassment but in today’s world it is about Anti-Harassment overall.

So, here is what you should be doing differently:

Establish clear expectations of behavior.

Speaking of expectations, this could/should be a line item in the job description. Behavior has become the newest gauge in interviewing for new candidates. Behavior is a powerful thing, good or bad! If you are expecting a certain behavior/behavioral profile, why wouldn’t this become part of your job requirements?! New employees and current need to know what you expect of them. Codes of conduct still can be outlined in your handbook. This could be crucial in protecting the organization in a claim or lawsuit.

Focus on change behavior.

Harassment is not knowledge based, it’s behavioral! Good business is focused on being proactive and strategic. Take the time to develop a great training program that will change the behavior of your employees or drive home the culture the company has as a core value. Don’t just settle for what fits the bill or checks the box. That leads me to the next point of what you should do differently.

Develop effective training

Make training effective for employees in the positions of authority or oversight over others in the workplace. Teach them how to recognize harassment or unacceptable behavior, how to respond and address it when it is recognized. Further, the guidance they will need to understand their role when they are given a report or have acknowledged when behavior needs to be addressed.

Employees tend to lose focus during training if the content is outdated or has poor layout. Training should demonstrate desired culture and company branding while also being interactive to keep them engaged.

Focus on training what respectful workplace environments look like and feels like. Empower those employees to act. Teach bystander techniques and examples. Don’t just drill about what not to do. Focus on what you want them to behave like.

You know the old saying “Be the example”!

Don’t just ALLOW time for training! Request that time as you want trained employees on your team! Prepare them and help them feel knowledgeable and ready to speak authentically.

Establish a clear policy

Policy should outline clear conduct, reporting procedure for internal complaint specific to a role that exists within your organization. Reporting should be trusted to be confidential and make sure to follow through after a thorough investigation. If you don’t have the internal unbiased and knowledgeable person on your team, know HRBOOST® can provide this service and has been called by attorneys to dive right in and conduct good faith internal investigations. This is really the only act internally that companies often fail to do well.

Make training an annual event and for onboarding new hires. Policy consistency is key.

NEWS BREAK!!!!!!!

THE TRAINING REQUIREMENT GOES INTO EFFECT JULY 1, 2022. THEREFORE, ALL EMPLOYERS MUST CONDUCT THE REQUIRED TRAININGS ON AN ANNUAL BASIS BEGINNING JULY 1, 2022.

Outreach Materials
THE FOLLOWING MATERIALS ARE AVAILABLE TO INFORM BUSINESSES, EMPLOYEES, AND RESIDENTS ABOUT THESE NEW CHANGES.

Outreach Flyer
CCHR Flyer (English)
CCHR Flyer (Spanish)

Some states are updating their harassment requirements so make sure to check your state mandated laws and stay up to date. City of Chicago becomes effective July 1, See it here.

City of Chicago :: Sexual Harassment

Mayor Lightfoot and the Commission on Human Relations amended the city’s sexual harassment laws in April 2022 to make them stronger and to uphold zero tolerance of violence and harassment in the workplace.

Model Sexual Harassment Policy

ALL EMPLOYERS IN CHICAGO ARE REQUIRED TO HAVE A POLICY ON SEXUAL HARASSMENT. THE CITY WILL PROVIDE MODEL POLICIES IN THE LANGUAGES LISTED BELOW BY JULY 1, 2022, WHEN THE ORDINANCE TAKES EFFECT.
o   SPANISH
o    POLISH
o    SIMPLIFIED CHINESE
o    ARABIC
o    HINDI

ALL EMPLOYERS MUST HAVE A SEXUAL HARASSMENT POLICY AS OF JULY 1, 2022.

Written Notice

ALL EMPLOYERS ARE REQUIRED TO POST A WRITTEN NOTICE FOR ALL EMPLOYEES TO SEE. THE WRITTEN NOTICE WILL BE AVAILABLE FOR DOWNLOAD BY JULY 1, 2022 WHEN THE ORDINANCE TAKES EFFECT.

ALL EMPLOYERS MUST HAVE A WRITTEN NOTICED POSTED AS OF JULY 1, 2022.

EMPLOYEES ARE REQUIRED TO HAVE ONE HOUR OF SEXUAL HARASSMENT PREVENTION TRAINING AND ONE HOUR OF BYSTANDER INTERVENTION. ADDITIONALLY, SUPERVISORS/MANAGERS ARE REQUIRED TO HAVE AN ADDITIONAL ONE HOUR OF PREVENTION TRAINING.

*TRAINING TEMPLATES AND MATERIALS WILL BE AVAILABLE TO DOWNLOAD BY JULY 1, 2022, WHEN THE ORDINANCE TAKES EFFECT.

If you need help in complying with this new ordinance or seek to provide virtual training in states beyond Illinois, we at HRBOOST® proudly have resources available for all 50 states, in Spanish and English and for employees and managers.
LEARN MORE.

Author: Jamie Hicks, HR Consultant