HRM Practices To Prevent And Manage Sexual Harassment Incidents In The Workplace

Types of Sexual Harassment in the Workplace

Discuss About The HRM Practices In Managing Preventing Sexual.

Sexual harassment has existed in the workplace with the presence of both the sexes, despite laws in place to prevent it. It is not a new phenomenon (McDonald 2012, p. 8). The past decades have seen the entry of more women in the workplace and taking up occupations previously monopolized by males.  It has led to the increase in the prevalence of conflict between the genders. The conflicts led to the development of bounds of acceptable behaviors at work. Sexual harassment can include persons of the same sex, though the most reported cases involve females harassed by males (McDonald  & Dear 2009, p. 42). Most accounts of sexual harassment involve physical assault. The harassment is not easily identified and are more subtle.  Men have also been victims of sexual harassment though they rarely report the cases. The report explores the limitations of the job behaviors.

According to Hill and Kearl (2011, p. 5), sexual harassment involves physical or verbal conduct of a sexual nature, sexual advances, images displaying sexually explicit materials. The sexual harassment therefore refers to unwanted attention or conduct of sexual nature towards an individual. It can occur at the workplace or at a person level.

Sexual harassment takes different forms in the workplace. A wide range of behaviors can be classified as sexual harassment (Cortina & Berdahl 2012, p. 472). Sexual harassment is classified into two categories: the hostile or offensive working environment and quid pro quo harassment. A hostile or offensive working environment refers to when no benefits are offered in exchange for sexual favors, and the victim is mistreated daily. The mistreatment includes subjection to unwanted sexual attention, inappropriate jokes or stories of sexual nature (Shingles & Smith 2011, p. 104). The quid pro quo harassment involves when a manager or employer offers an employee a benefit, such as an increase in salary, or job promotion in exchange for sexual favors. Cortina and Berdahl (2010, p. 432) denote that subordinate staffs are harassed by those in higher positions in the organization. There are cases and evidence that coworkers, customers, clients have others to exert authority and gain favors (Thomas 2014, p. 156).

Organizations face a lot of challenges in implementing corrective actions including variations in understanding of what sexual harassment constitutes and the need to protect the confidentiality of the affected parties (Klein, Apple, & Kahn 2011, p. 96). In a workplace environment, employees are reluctant to file a formal complaint due to stigmatization that comes with the sexual harassment and fear of confidentiality (McDonald 2012, p 7).

Challenges in Implementing Corrective Actions Against Sexual Harassment

The HR practitioners and managers have made efforts to implement effective mechanisms to handle sexual harassment at work and employees are expected to file complaints through the internal process within the organization. Employees are held liable under antidiscrimination and employment laws when they do not take the necessary steps required to address the sexual harassment incidents (Saunders & Easteal 2013, p. 124).

Sexual harassment is framed as an individual problem and not with causes and consequences at a systematic level limiting the response of the organization to the sexual harassment at a workplace (McDonald, Charlesworth & Cerise 2013, p.282). It is also not viewed as normal misconduct and injustice in a workplace as it is developed from other perspectives such as the Anti?Discrimination Act which advocates against sexual harassment. There are laws enacted to prevent the sexual harassment and have a workplace safe for all the employees. Anti?Discrimination Act and Commonwealth sexual discrimination act formed to prevent these behaviors at work place. The articles describe HRM policies, procedures, and practices put in place by the organization aimed at preventing, managing and responding to sexual harassment in the workplace. It elaborates the framework used by Caltex Australia to manage and prevent sexual harassment in the organization.

Caltex Australia is the leading oil refining and marketing company most admired for its people, Partnership, and performance. Caltex was opened in the 1950s and 1960s, where it competed with Ampol in the service station arena and oil product marketing industry. Both the companies merged to become the largest refiner-marketer in Australia in 1995. The company operates independently with all its decisions made by the management and the board in Australia. Caltex Australia is listed in Australia Securities Exchange (ASX) with around 3500 employees across the country.

Caltex Australia offers a collaborative style of learning with the emphasis on teamwork. The employees are approachable, and they uphold the organization’s values. The values dictate how the employees perform their responsibilities and duties, and there is the presence of teamwork across the departments making it easy for employees to relate and understands one another.  There is a hierarchy within the organization, the teamwork culture exposes one to different people, and you get to learn from every worker. Caltex has many female employees in the leadership and management level leading to promotion of gender equality within the organization. Caltex Australia does not discriminate on a gender basis. Training on policies are conducted during orientation of new employees, and one gets to learn the behavioral norms and what is expected and not expected from employees. The company has a human resource department responsible for the welfare and workforce of the company. Caltex also abides by the laws of the country and the policies and procedures required of them.

HRM Practices to Prevent and Manage Sexual Harassment Incidents at Caltex Australia

The aim of the paper is to discuss the policies and recommendations to preventing sexual harassment in the organization. The focus is on Caltex Australia and their commitment to providing a sexual harassment free work environment for their all employees.

Sexual harassment affects one’s physical wellbeing, psychological, and employment situations of an individual. Some of these effects can be long-term and have a severe impact on the victims. It can lead to illnesses, poor work performance from the affected due to emotional instability and absenteeism. The affected individual can also resign from their work due to humiliations and embarrassments. Sexual harassment can also be linked to the mental health problem such as posttraumatic stress disorder and depressions (Larsen & Fitzgerald 2010, p. 2559).

Sexual harassment can affect organizations and the individuals involved in a very traumatic manner. It can lead to a very stressful work environment to all employees recording poor performance and job satisfaction. Witnessing harassment may result in employee feeling not valued in the organization leading to loss of confidentiality and loyalty to the organization. It also affects the relationships between colleagues and development of lack of trust among one another leading to a high turnover rate of the employees (Wynen 2016, p.352). For Caltex Australia, some employees interact with customers and are at a greater risk of being sexually harassed.

Organizations have relevant human resource policies, guidelines and procedures to address sexual harassment in the organization. Caltex Australia is not exceptional, and all its employees including managers are required to familiarize themselves with these available resources.  There are HR procedures and policies set up in an organization to prevent, manage and respond to sexual harassment incidences in the workplace (Thomas 2014, p.156).

The companies policies on sexual harassment aims at preventing sexual harassment by removing the causes and determinants of sexual harassment incidences at workplaces by preventing risk factors associated with sexual harassment and other injustices and focuses on policy and training (Chamberlain, Crowley, Tope & Hodson. 2014, p. 270). The Human resource is tasked with training employees on issues surrounding sexual harassment, how to handle them, and steps to take if you are a victim. According to Thomas (2014, p.155) policies should clearly state and describes what constitutes wrongdoing in an organization. Below are Caltex Australia policies on preventing sexual harassment at workplace.

Caltex Australia has policies in place to prevent sexual harassment. Caltex Australia is committed to providing a safe work environment for all the employees. The policies are publicized in the organization for all members to see and familiarize themselves of what is expected of them. (Popovich & Warren 2010, p. 49). All the employees are equally treated with dignity and respect and aims at providing professional work environment free from sexual harassment. The company does not tolerate any form of sexual harassments and necessary steps are taken if any form of sexual misconduct occurs. Caltex Australia also has all employees accountable for their behaviors and actions to ensure that their actions are in line with policies of the company. All employees are also expected to maintain a work environment free of sexual harassment. The company also has a complaint committee in place to act on any form of reporting on sexual harassment that may occur. There are guidelines for investigations and necessary actions to be taken if need be. The employees are encouraged to report any form of harassment they face during their working period in the company. The compliant committee is time-bound to address the issues or complaint reported.

Effects of Sexual Harassment on Employees and Organizations

The company also has a policy on confidentiality when handling sexual harassment.  Grievance procedures and protections are well framed and confidentiality and protection of the affected well managed in the organization. The human resource uses multiple communication channels to empower its employees on the sexual harassment policies (Zelizer 2012, p. 36). For Caltex Australia, the company understands that it is difficult for the victim to come out and report sexual harassment, hence the company came up with the policy on keeping confidentiality of the victim and tries and keep the matter confidential. The company ensures this by conducting an investigation on the circumstances leading to the harassment and tries as much to keep the matter private. The records of complaints, the result of investigations and the outcome of meetings are kept confidential and are only disclosed during remedial process

Caltex Australia also ensures protection to the victims and employees who report sexual harassment are protected from any form of reprisal. Caltex is also committed to ensuring the victims or witnesses are not victimized during the process. The company clearly states that disciplinary actions are taken against wrong accusation of an individual to ensure that only harassment issues are raised and prevent biasness. The enforcement of severe punishment is effective in the prevention of sexual harassment.

 Clatex Australia workforce has seen more women take up leadership roles and other tasks which initially were left for men. The company promotes gender equality and provides a safe professional work environment. Caltex Australia has the most recorded number of women in the leadership position compared to men. The HR tends to focus on the professional gender relations in order to prevent sexual harassment in the organization (Crowley et al 2014, p.291). The data was collected using survey questionnaires with open-ended interview questions for primary data collection from the employees of Caltex Australia.

A part from the organisation policies, the human resource system in the country use primary prevention strategies to create awareness and prevent sexual harassment in the work places. Emphasize on training is one of the primary prevention strategies for handling sexual harassment in a workplace. Education on sexual harassment is offered to all employees including managers to show the different injustices that occur in the workplace. It affects the organization culture and leads to the acknowledgment of the sexual harassment. New employees can also recognize harassment during inductions process and become fully aware what constitutes harassment in the organization. The HR develops the training based on the risk factors identified in the organization through conducting anonymous surveys on views of employees on sexual harassment measures, gauging the role of employees, and status and positions of the organization.  Training also clarifies misconceptions and creates awareness of sexual harassment in the organization. It provides a clear image of what is considered wrong and the behavioral norms expected of employees (Birinxhikaj & Guggisberg 2017, 12).

Conclusion

HR use Training to challenge gendered organization cultures. A male-dominated occupation or work environment is more prevalent in sexual harassment cases/incidences than an organization with balanced numbers of both males and females (Wilson & Thompson, p. 64). Training is conducted for the opposite sex to learn how to relate to each other in the organization. They are trained on how to manage their emotions and develop the emotional skills on how to react when around other genders. The training helps break the stereotypes based on gender (De & Timmerman 2010, p. 720).

Responding to sexual harassments in the organization. Immediate response to problems after they have occurred is known as Secondary interventions. It prevents further perpetration and handles the short-term consequences such as victimization of those at risk. The HR has grievances procedures as the mechanism where the employee’s rights are legislated. The mechanism of reporting sexual harassment is not effective, and employees perceive them as hostile and lack confidentiality, and sometimes no action is taken (Mainiero & Jones 2012, p. 375). Men are not willing to report the cases of sexual assault as it is more likely to cause more attention to their nonconformity and masculine stereotypes. The organization’s policies on sexual harassment protect employers from liabilities unlike the victims (Cruz & Klinger 2011, p.2). Low quality of evidence when an incident occurs away from witnesses is a challenge as the evidence is based on a matter of (he said, she said) making it difficult to determine who is correct and who is wrong. It leads to discrimination and safety problems.

Responding to these challenges includes the HR encouragement of appropriate responses to filed complaints; the HR has also created availability of different reporting channels, investigations of incidents, and use of mediation. The complainers are required to consider the process as just and fair even when they do not agree with the results (Wilson & Thompson, p. 62). It allows interpretation from other parties and agrees on settlement levels for the employees. When a complaint is logged in, there has to be a formal or informal warning to the perpetrator depending on the degree of damage caused. Some employees observe sexual harassment but do not report as they believe then nothing can be done to the offenders hence keeps quiet about the issues (Diekmann, Walker Galinsky & Tenbrunsel, 2012, p. 620).

The management discrimination actions determined the number of steps in the procedure and the incidence f early resolutions. The delay in response to issues led to escalations as the immediate supervisor or manager did not handle most of the problems. The speed of response to complaints led to the victim perceived fairness of justice as they are quick to make decisions (Goldman et al. 2011, p.) complex system took long and victims losing trust in getting justice while the simpler system in the workplace enhanced safety and effectiveness. The outcomes turned out to be less important. The established multiple channels of reporting have enabled secondary prevention victims not to keep quiet about bad behaviors, and the perpetrators are usually afraid of consequences making them fear to be violent (Charlesworth 2013, p. 382).

The human resource also has a tertiary intervention system to deal with the long-term response that deals with lasting consequences such as negative psychological impact, job stigmatization, and health-related problems. Fitzgerald (2010, p.84) illustrated that proactive follow up with victims assist in recovery and diverts attention from other things such as depression, low performances. It also ensures retaliation does not occur. The organization can also provide a counseling center to help the victims recover from the trauma associated with sexual harassment and assault.

Therefore, according to (O’Leary, Bowes, Bat es & Lean 2009, p. 372) a well-functioning voice system should be established in an organization which enables employees to speak out, and timely responses and investigations should take place in an open and supportive environment making employees feel safe to express themselves and enhance the system the organization uses. The quick response would prevent escalation of many cases to the legal jurisdiction.

Lack of attention given to the tertiary prevention and also organization practices, particularly in monitoring and functions that allows sexual harassments to persist.  Some organizations do not act on primary and secondary prevention leading to the significant cause of sexual harassment (Johnson, Cates & Steven 2016, p. 26)

The shift of viewing sexual harassment as an individual problem to system level should be embraced in order to challenge the status of sexual harassment. Sexual harassment is also linked to perceived gender of organizational practices that threaten respectful and hospitable work environments and belittle individuals by their sex (Russ, Moffit & Mansell 2017, p. 392). The discussions of sexual harassment prevention strategies in the broader role of employment and social policies in the workplace are ongoing. Workplaces operate mostly in isolation from the societal contexts but as integral parts of local and globalized environments.

Discrimination is also another issue influencing sexual harassment. Employees are discriminated upon based on their gender. It has seen most men shy away from reporting the incidences of sexual harassment in fear of being seen as not masculine enough.

The work environment is also another issue of sexual harassment. Most employees fear to lose their jobs when their managers make advances towards them making them not to speak up due to fear of job loss (Cogin & Fish 2009, p. 459).

Conclusion

Sexual harassment affects organizations across the nation, to implement policies and procedures that would prevent and manage sexual harassment in a workplace require increased awareness and knowledge in order to have a respectful work environment. The employers’ needs to work together with the employees in order to prevent sexual harassment and those affected should follow the procedures for reporting such cases as it would see them through the process and help get the necessary care.

Caltex Australia being a big company has a means of organization reporting and with the inclusion of women in the leadership role; it aimed at ensuring the organization supports all the gender and advocates for equality in the work industries. The training conducted in the organization has made the employees aware of the behavioral norm expected of them and follow the human resource policies and procedures set in place to guide workers and prevents sexual harassment. The employees are not only exposed to the harassment from colleagues but also the customers. The organization aims at a respectful and safe working environment for their workers. Many organization needs to adopt different ways of managing their employees and preventing sexual harassment across the country.

Organizations also need to conduct constant training on policies and procedures of sexual harassments creating awareness among the workforce. It will enable workers to speak up. Most numbers of cases reported are women, and the training should also help men understand the importance of reporting sexual harassment without being stigmatized. For reported cases, an organization needs to establish a clear and short time frame to enable workers to gain confidence in the process and encourage them to report when necessary. Also, investigate ate to come up with valid data and ensure all the investigators are well trained. Organizations should also ensure to develop a reporting framework for these cases and also the provision of resources for handling incidences when they occur. The awareness through training of policies and procedures in the organization would lead to better ways of preventing sexual harassment in the workplace.

After review of policies by human resource management in an organization, to provide a safe and respectful workplace environment for all workers, the following recommendations can be used to improve the work environment to prevent sexual harassment (Casey & Lindhorst 2016, p. 96).

1. Establishing an independent reporting office

Having an independent body in the organization for the victims of sexual harassment to report and an investigation to be carried would enable more people to report the incidences of sexual assault. Sometimes the managers or supervisors harass employees, and they cannot report to anyone else as the manager is the one in charge and fear of losing their jobs lead to failure to report such cases. Consistent practices increase the confidence of the employees in the system and would encourage others always to report sexual harassment leading to prevention.

1. 2. Expand the training offered on sexual harassment

Create awareness and increase the knowledge of policies, procedures, and resources on sexual harassment accessible to all employees. The training should be consistent in organizations create a culture of preventions and support of victims of sexual harassment. The training will enable staffs to know how to handle cases of sexual harassment and the right procedures to follow when they become a victim.

1. 3. Support diversity in leadership and management position

With different genders engaged in leadership and management positions, creating an organizational culture where both the genders understand and respectfully relates with one another would help prevent sexual harassments in the organization

1. Robust and recurring communication plan

Providing employees with consistent information on sexual harassment would lead to its prevention. Understanding the behavioral norm expected of them at a workplace is key to prevention of workplace sexual harassment and constant feedback from employees helps understand the areas of improvement needed.

1. Expand the reporting option

The organizations should create different avenues for reporting incidences of harassment. It will enable more employees to feel comfortable in reporting the cases and actions taken prevent sexual harassment instances from occurring.

1. Audits of agency policies and procedures

Conduct audits to ensure that organizations abide by the set policies and procedures to prevent sexual harassment.

1. Provide feedback to the complaints made

The organization should conduct an investigation and provides constant feedback to the victims of harassment. It would build trust in the system and encourage more people to speak up and prevent sexual harassment (Chan, Chun, Chow & Cheung 2015, p. 367)

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