The Changing Nature of Harassment
Harassment claims look very different than they did five (5) years ago. Harassment in 2023 will primarily rely on context and the nuances of a situation to understand how the person complaining perceives the workplace situation based on their protected characteristics. Harassment these days is less about blatant overtures or physical conduct and more about the friction generated by people with different life experiences and different expectations for what a respectful workplace experience looks like.
Everyone’s concept of “respect” is slightly different and influenced by our unique life experiences, and when someone feels disrespected, they often describe disrespect as harassment. Understanding the expectations for behavior from your co-workers and learning how to adjust your conduct to meet their needs is a respect skill that can be developed and practiced to reduce co-worker friction (and claims of harassment) and improve team dynamics.
Strong Inclusion and Equity Reduces Harassment
In collaboration with Professor Joan Williams at UCSF Law School and the Work-Life Law group, Emtrain’s people and data science team proved that weak diversity and inclusion increase bias and harassment. So a preventing workplace harassment course should serve double duty as a diversity & inclusion course since half the battle in employee relations is getting people to understand (and have empathy for) the perspectives and lived experiences of their different co-workers. In fact, Emtrain’s data shows that a weak inclusion score (from Emtrain) correlates with a weak respect score and vice versa.
Emtrain’s 2023 Preventing Workplace Harassment Course!
Our new Preventing Workplace Harassment course covers all the legally required concepts of harassment across all 50 U.S. states (we also have a Canadian version, an Indian version and a Global version). But in addition to guarding against potentially harassing behavior, this course teaches the skills to be more intentionally respectful to different types of people to improve social and team dynamics (and reduce conflict). Here are the skills we teach in this course:
- Advancing Allyship
- Embracing Interculturalism
- Ensuring Equity
- Managing Power
- Mitigating Bias
- Nurturing Trust
- Valuing Diversity
- Cultivating Authenticity
- Encouraging Empathy
- Thinking Systemically
And unlike other harassment prevention courses, employers get a free annual climate survey when they roll out this course. We’ve embedded more than 100 survey questions right after the video scenes, designed to pulse employees about how much (or little) they see these skills on their teams. The free annual climate survey produces a feedback loop for HR and Employee Relations teams regarding which teams need further development of their respect skills for better-performing teams. In addition, Emtrain’s solution will automatically recommend skill-building microlessons to develop respect skills where needed in the organization.
Emtrain’s Client Commitment
Emtrain has deep experience solving workforce problems stemming from poor social dynamics. We are a team of lawyers, organizational psychologists, data scientists, D&I professionals, talent strategists, product managers, and engineers. We guarantee that all of our courses meet state and federal compliance requirements. We are also committed to ensuring that our clients see stronger skills in respect and inclusion throughout their workforce, improving team dynamics, and reducing friction and turnover.
To learn more about Emtrain’s new Preventing Workplace Harassment course and see a demo of our solution, contact sdr@emtrain.com for immediate assistance.
