Three Steps to Prevent Sexual Harassment at Your Dealership

 By Kathryn Carlson

 
 
Every day, a new sexual harassment case hits the news, with new faces, new situations, new victims, and lots of money in settlements. But, the story is as old as the civil rights act of 1964, and still, businesses continue to lose millions of dollars every year, incurring damaged reputations, and lost productivity around sexual harassment issues. How can you prevent sexual harassment in your workplace?

The Solution

Smart business leaders have effective sexual harassment policies in place. There are three steps to an effective policy that will keep your business safe from lawsuits, and keep your employees safe and productive. These steps are also outlined in this helpful video by Kathryn Carlson, Product Director for KPA’s HotlinkHR.

Step 1
Have an Official No Tolerance Policy for Harassment in the Workplace for any type of harassment.
•    Must be written
•    Must be distributed to all employees at all levels of the company
•    Each employee must acknowledge their understanding and acceptance of the policy

Step 2
Training
•    How to recognize, report, and prevent  harassment
•    In California, law requires that every supervisory employee receives sexual harassment prevention training on a two year basis
•    Best practice is to train every employee every year

Step 3
Policy Enforcement
•    No tolerance policy for sexual harassment
•    employees must feel safe in reporting sexual harassment
•    Management must take immediate action when they are aware of sexual harassment in the workplace
•    Management is responsible for swift and appropriate disciplinary action in response to sexual harassment