Poll: #MeToo changing workplaces
Third of US workers say they’ve changed how they act on job
WASHINGTON — Barbara Myers started work as an apprentice electrician in 1995, and over the years she learned to shoot back sexual banter on the job site as much as she had to take it from some of her co-workers.
Those days, she says, are starting to change.
“I have worked over the last several years, actually, to really be much more circumspect in my conversation,” Myers said. “And so, basically, I don’t talk about things like that. And I know a lot of the guys are thesame way.”
Myers is among the onethird of American workers who say they’ve changed how they act at work in the past year, as the #MeToo movement has focused the nation’s attention on sexual misconduct and highlighted issues of racial and ethnic diversity at the same time, according to a new poll of Americans who are full- or part-time employees.
Thesurvey, conducted by The Associated PressNORC Center for Public Affairs Research in collaboration with the software company SAP, also found that about a third of all working adults say they have talked about sexual misconduct in the workplace with co-workers in the past year.
“I haveworked construction. And I grew up during that time period, where banter of that type was much more free,” Myers said. “I have had to watch what I say. If I find that it would be offensive to a woman, I know that there are men that are just as sensitive.”
The poll finds American workers view the #MeToo movement more favorably than unfavorably, 45% versus 27%. Half ofwomenhad a favorable opinion, compared with 4 in 10 men; just over 3 in 10 men view the movement unfavorably.
Those who say they have been subjected to workplace sexual misconduct are especially likely to view the movement favorably, compared with of those who say they have not been victims, 60% versus 42%.
About half of working adults think things will change for the better for working women in general as a result of the recent high-profile sexual misconduct cases.
As a result of recent focus on issues of racial and ethnic diversity, about 4 in 10 working adults think change for the better is likely for African Americans, while about a third say the same for Latinos.
Still, the poll found that few Americans expect positive change will come to their own workplace or for them personally. Count ShaeTiaunna Green, 26, a cashier from Wyoming, Michigan, among them.
Green, who is African American and a lesbian, said she’s hoping for positive change, but she’s not optimistic.
Still, she said she has thrived in diverse workplaces, so when she applied for her current job at a supermarket last year, she made sure it was diverse and had inclusive policies. The poll finds that diversity and inclusion policies are much more important to black and Latino workers than to white workers and are slightly more important towomen than to men.
“I wanted to make sure that was an aspect, and so that I knew that everyone had an equal opportunity, and I wouldn’t be excluded fromcertain opportunities,” she said.
About 4 in 10 working Americans say their employer has established new training on harassment in the workplace, instituted new policies about harassment or introduced new training on workplace diversity in the last two years. Most of those who say their workplace has made any of those changes think it’s had a positive impact.
Jason Phillips, 49, works for Seattle and said employees receive ongoing diversity training that he believes has had a positive effect on his workplace, allowing people to advance their understanding of issues of race and equity.
”We’re all on a different point in that spectrum,” he said. “And so, it provides everyone all these different opportunities to advance their awareness wherever they are on that spectrum.”
In assessing their own workplaces, about 4 in 10 working adults say white people andmen experience more advantages compared with others, while about half don’t think they are more or less advantaged, according to the poll.
Robin Knight, a 58-yearold dental technician from Brooklyn, said that when it comes to pay, men often have the advantage, even though she thinks in her female- dominated field, women often have an edge in getting hired.
The poll also shows that people who supervise at least one employee are more likely than nonsupervisors to say they have talked with co-workers about sexual misconduct in the workplace in the last year, 41% to 23%, and that they’ve changed how they interact with co-workers, 38% to 27%.
Tom Eisenhauer, 65, of Pocatello, Idaho, manages apartment complexes and oversees 25 to 30 people. His workers often must handle difficult situations with tenants, and he said women in the industry can face harassment and discrimination from tenants and co-workers. Latino workers are often pigeonholed by others, with people assuming they are janitors or pool cleaners.
“They have to disprove the stereotype, even to somebody like me who’s more liberal,” said Eisenhauer, who is white.
The AP-NORC Center survey of full- and part-time employees was conducted July 25-30. The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 4.2 percentage points.