Avoiding harassment at work subject of Chamber seminar
TROY, N.Y. » Local professionals learned how to take a stand against workplace harassment on Tuesday during an interactive chamber event.
The seminar, titled Ask The Experts: Preventing Workplace Harassment, was held by the Rensselaer County Regional Chamber of Commerce at the Hilton Garden Inn in Troy.
Attendees learned some proactive and ready-to-implement tactics to help prevent harassment in any workplace.
The presentation, given by performance consultant Elaine Angelo of the Latham-based company ProKnowledge, clearly defined harassment and its different forms.
While recent reports have brought into the spotlight cases of harassment in Hollywood and politics, Angelo reminded those in the room that it happens everywhere, not just in corporations, but in small businesses and nonprofits too.
Workplace harassment in particular has to do with power, Angelo said. “It’s about the power and what people do with it.”
Whether it’s unwanted touching, off-color jokes, derogatory comments, inappropriate content shared electronically, request for sexual favors or any other instance of harassment — there are ways to properly handle it.
The local presentation, which included but was not limited to sexual harassment, particularly focused on the bystander perspective. Angelo spoke of how people observing harassment can help the situation, even when they may not be directly involved. These included calling out the offender, subtly stepping into a situation to disrupt its continuation, reminding a violation of policy or reporting an incident.
In the future, Angelo hopes to see expectations for bystanders included in company handbooks because, she said, a harassment policy is only as good as the employees that are holding each other accountable to it.
In terms of law and liability, New York is one of the most employee-friendly states in the country, protecting an evergrowing number of groups against harassment in the workplace, Angelo said.
Amidst the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements, ProKnowledge has received many requests for workplace harassment seminars like the one Angelo gave at the Rensselaer County Regional Chamber of Commerce event.
“The Chamber provides a variety of professional development opportunities for our members to educate professionals and provide knowledge to implement in their workplace.
Our role is to respond to the ever-changing challenges of our members, listen to their needs and provide training opportunities. This is one example of where we were quick to respond to member requests,” said chamber president Kate Manley on why the organization decided to host the Preventing Workplace Harassment event at this time.
Though it’s unfortunately a popular issue, Angelo said the current focus on workplace harassment is because it’s been so prevalent in the media.
“It’s on people’s minds,” Angelo said, noting that because of this recent media attention her audiences are aware of the well-known examples she uses in the presentations. “You have all these relevant examples, so people get it.”