IN BAD COMPANY
What every business needs to be doing right now in the #MeToo era — or face severe consequences
THE one place you’d expect to be free from sexual harassment is the human-resources department. But Terry Abbott, an HR professional from Freehold, NY, realized early on in her career that’s not the case.
“I was 25, [and] it was my first meeting with the entire group,” Abbott*, now 41, told The Post, about one of her first jobs in HRat a sporting-goods store. The meeting was packed, and space was so tight around the conference-room table, Abbott had to perch on a chair on her knees. Suddenly a senior partner turned to her and declared: “Everyone, this is Terry, and look, she’s already on her knees for us!” “I was so embarrassed and hurt,” Abbott recalled. But complaining to her direct supervisor wasn’t an option, because she “wasn’t there for employees. She was trying to be one of the guys.” So Abbott sucked it up — and several other incidents like it — for 18 months until she couldn’t stand it anymore and quit. “I had to get out of there. I started to get a lot of anxiety . . . I started to get sick.”
Experiences like Abbott’s are sadly commonplace. A 2016 Equal Employment Opportunity Commission report found that up to 85 percent of women experience workplace harassment. And while higher-up harassers breezily maintain positions of power, victims have to either put up with the mistreatment or leave.
But after scores of women this fall accused movie mogul Harvey Weinstein of being a sexual predator and rapist, leading to a floodgate of revelations about other big names in Hollywood, the media and politics, that’s starting to change. More women will be likely to fight sexual harassment across the country, said Therese Lawless, a partner at the San Francisco-based legal firm Lawless & Lawless.
“Things are changing, which is a very, very good thing,” said Lawless. Prospective clients are bringing up cases like Weinstein’s in meetings, making comments like, “Finally, we’re here.”
The culture shift is great, but all companies, even those without reported scandals, need to heed the Weinstein wake-up call right now and “proactively evaluate their harassment policies,” said Jennifer Lake, president of the National Human Resources Association.
Businesses that take smart, concrete steps to make the workplace safer for employees will not only guard against (expensive) future scandals but also be rewarded with praise.
Weeks after firing “Today” show host Matt Lauer for misconduct, NBC issued zero-tolerance anti-harassment guidelines, including rules on how to hug, according to Page Six. But many businesses don’t need to go that far. “Lots of companies already have robust harassment policies which, if actually implemented, would work,” lawyer Bryan Arce of Phillips & Associates said. “They just need to change how it’s enforced.”
Companies need to throw out the “check-thebox” handbooks and “cheesy, outdated and unrealistic” anti-harassment training videos, said David Ballard, a workplace psychology expert at the American Psychological Association. Herecommends several training sessions per year for employees — both at the individual and group level — and face-to-face discussion groups and role-playing exercises, as well as a “see something, say something” policy for the workplace. Furthermore, “employees need [to be given] clear instruction on howtofile a complaint,” Ballard said. It’s no good being able to recognize a threat if no one knows how to act on it.
It’s also crucial to identify exactly what sexual harassment is, said NHRA president Lake. “Getting down to specific behaviors is important.” The EEOC’s 2016 findings support this: When people were simply asked if they had been sexually harassed at work, only one in four responded yes. But when researchers asked people about specific forms of sexual or gender harassment, such as raunchy jokes or flirtatious overtures, 60 percent of women said they’d been harassed.
Senior leaders also need to lead the charge. “There has to be a very clear message sent from the very top . . . and a threat that there will be very real consequences [for unacceptable behavior],” Lawless said.
Employers shouldn’t just sit around waiting for workers to file formal complaints either, said Lake. She urges her fellow peers in HR to take rumors as seriously as formal complaints. In the case of whispers, “companies should ramp up passive reminders to employees,” she said — notes in the company newsletter or website, or verbal prompts at routine staff meetings — and take quick, direct action for the concerned parties. “If there’s a rumor about a specific person, you can talk to that individual’s supervisor first, then take it to the individual themselves,” she said. “That way, it’s on the record, even if no one has directly reported it.”
Of course, the process shouldn’t turn into a witch hunt. But Lake stressed that HRprofessionals — good ones, at least — know that they “have an obligation to review both sides” and investigate claims carefully. When an “egregious” accusation is made, the person accused of harassment should be immediately suspended with pay until the investigation is finished, she said. “This actually protects both employees.” The accuser is shielded from further incidents, and the accused can’t be blamed for interfering with the investigation.
Ballard, meanwhile, believes that real change will happen when companies examine who’s at the top of the food chain. “Lots of organizations are traditionally hierarchical . . . with men in positions of power,” he says. These power structures can lead to a “Wolf of Wall Street” mentality: “It’s like a frat-house environment. Inappropriate comments and gestures are made in front of other people, and everyone laughs,” Arce said. Ideally, Ballard said, women would be “at parity” with men in top positions —“but by some estimates, that won’t happen until 2085 at our current rate, so we have a long way to go,” he said.
Abbott, who now works in human resources at a nonprofit, has left the boys-club culture for good. But the #MeToo reckoning has made her optimistic: “I’m proud of everybody that’s come forward,” she said. “It’s a shame that we didn’t say anything sooner.”