Sexual Harassment Program

Sexual Harassment Program

By Name:

Institution of Affiliation:

Date:

Introduction

Sexual Harassment means any unwanted or unwelcome sexual advance, request for sexual favors, or any other conduct of a sexual nature that creates discomfort necessary to interfere with the performance of the employee. When a person is sexually harassed within their place of work, personal dignity is undervalued. As a result, these forms of Harassment may hinder them from efficient performance during their regular routines in their jobs, bar them from attaining their optimal potential, or making a living (Le, & Rycroft, 2015). Additionally, sexual Harassment can result in the destruction of the overall working environment for all personnel. In case it is not handled at the early stages, sexual Harassment in the workplace can lead to uncivil behavioral practices.

Persistent and unwelcome interactions between personnel rankings

The cases of sexual Harassment in the workplace is possible to both women and men, but women in most cases have the likelihood of being more susceptible to it because they are mostly accustomed to a lower status in the workplace, lower-authority compared to men and lower-paying jobs when you compare with the jobs held by fellow men in the workplace. Nevertheless, women in high positions can also endure sexual Harassment (Webb, 2007). The employers who ignore taking the necessary steps to vehemently stop sexual Harassment are likely to suffer high costs in diminished morale, health care expenses, potential legal expenses costs, deteriorating productivity, and also an increase in absenteeism.

Interference with one’s ability to move freely in the workplace

After conducting my Assessment on a 3-star hotel franchise, I advised the ownership body that they need to conduct training on Sexual Harassment. The employees working in the institution, especially the high position personnel like the managers, are making obscene and offensive jokes towards other lower personnel which is automatically sexual in nature. It came to my attention that employees complain but no action has been taken in regards because none of the victims has ever reported those cases. I noticed some of the employees are scared of walking by another employee’s area because they are afraid of suffering brutal sexual comments that are directly aimed at them. This is happening to both genders and this is a situation that needs to be addressed immediately.

Ignorance of sexual harassment cases in the workplace

Sexual Harassment is an ongoing problem that has already infested this organization. Sexual harassment cases can cost this company millions of dollars in lawsuit claims and fees, lost income, and can cost the company money in revenue (Pina, 2009). The major problem associated with sexual Harassment is that when it happens, people are scared to come forward. The people who suffer these unethical occurrences are scared of possible actions that might be taken against them in case they came forward.  There is a zero tolerance policy for sexual Harassment and it should not be condoned in the workplace (Raver, 2007). It is the responsibility of the company’s leadership or ownership body, to educate the employees on the importance of respecting one another, and treat each other with dignity as there are possible consequences of any sought of harassments.

Employees need to know how to conduct themselves properly in the workplace (Antecol. 2008). The employees need to learn how their personal conduct, and behavior portrays the workplace with a bad business image, as it pertains to sexual Harassment. Therefore, the necessary action will be presenting a training program to the business ownership body in regards to sexual Harassment, and let them know what is needed in order to get the training started (Goldstein & Ford, 2002).

The Learning Objectives

The training program that is being presented, will educate employees what constitutes sexual Harassment as well as ways to combat it. Employees need to know how to stop someone that is being sexually harassed. This training program will give the employees the knowledge of knowing what sexual Harassment is and what needs to be done to report, and stop it (Hersch, 2011).

This training program will provide the means to counter sexual Harassment. The objective of this sexual harassment training, is to teach employees how to work in an environment that is filled with respectful employees who conduct themselves in a professional manner, mentally and physically, at all times. Creating this training program, will let the business ownership body realize what is needed in order to get the training started. Therefore the learning objectives that will be addressed within the program are:-

• The company policy in regards to sexual Harassment.
• The definition and elaboration of sexual Harassment.
• The types of sexual Harassment in place within the workplace.
• The means of stopping or eradicating sexual Harassment.
• The possible action against and reporting sexual Harassment.
• The possible forms of reports in regards to sexual harassments.
• The possible means of retaliation in regards to sexual Harassment.

The business ownership body will be presented with a lesson plan that will depict the time that the training should be conducted. That is the importance of the Human Resource Department (HRD) because they are in a good position to counter problems in the workplace with producing training programs that gives a solution to problems in the workplace (Walker & Vaida, 2014). The lesson plan breaks down the hours of training along with break and lunch times. The fifty, ten mode is used in this training model. That means that there is fifty minutes of instruction, and then a ten minute break, excluding the lunch and review times. There has to be breaks during the training or the employees will not pay attention. This gives them time to rewind and think about what they were just taught so they are prepared to learn more. The instructor that is selected needs to ensure that he sticks to the lesson plan as much as possible. In order to ensure that the instructor sticks to the lesson plan, they need to be informed to control the training, and eliminate sidebar conversation at all times. Sidebar conversations are detrimental to the training as they interrupt the training and distract others trying to learn what is being taught (Solotoff, 2014). The training will be started with going over the safety procedures in case of a fire or any other natural disaster to ensure the employees know the proper exits to use in case this happens. Introductions should be done as well as the instructor introduces their self and tell a little about their self and then go around the room. This is the first step to opening the lines of communication.

Training Programme

The training is not only an investment in the employees but also an investment in the company. The training facilitates the improvement of the quality of work performed by the employees of the company as well as bringing diverse skills to the organization. The company is committed to providing a working atmosphere free from any form of discrimination including sexual Harassment on its employees. The purpose of this training is to explain the value of inclusive workplace and to provide viable suggestions for increasing the employee engagement and encouraging inclusion (Goldstein & Ford, 2002).

1. a) Training Time Table

1. b) Instructional methods

(i) Selecting the Instructor

The instructor will be selected by finding the most qualified person who is a subject matter expert (SME) on sexual Harassment. The person selected will have to be certified as an instructor as well (Curtin, 2009). The instructor must be able to answer and ask questions accordingly during their training without confusing himself or the employees. This type of training has to be conducted in a classroom environment because of the training material that is required for teaching these classes on sexual Harassment. The instructor has to avoid, and do not allow employees to get in heated discussions. The instructor also has to ensure that they are bias free during the training and only answer the questions that his knowledge of the subject allows them to (Dobbin, 2009). The instructor must also take notes and ensure that they get the answers to the questions that he could not answer at that particular moment.

The instructor will have to have 2 personnel as part of his training team in order to conduct a 10 minute role play presentation. The play will consist of a woman, or man who is constantly being sexually harassed by a coworker (Levy, 2012). They do everything to avoid the person that is sexual harassing them, but the problem keeps escalating. The person does not know what to do, and their coworkers are not helping them as they witness the sexual Harassment take place. The 2 personnel will have to rehearse the play to ensure that it is given to the audience without messing up because it will confuse the employees if they do. Prior to the instructor teaching the classes to the employees, they must teach the training to the upper management first, and receive their feedback concerning the training.

(ii) Pretraining Environment

This type of training has to be conducted in a classroom environment because of the training material that is required for teaching these classes on sexual Harassment. It needs to be in this type of setting to avoid outside interruption as valuable information is being taught (Achampong, 2009). This type of approach lets the employees think about their actions, and gives them the necessary tools to question their actions, and the actions of others, allowing them to think about different ways to handle any situation (Aggarwal, 2010). The instruction will be taught in the company conference room because it has the classroom environment setting already. The conference room is on the other side of the building which makes it suitable to conducting training there. It takes away the concentration of the employees from the normal work setting which allows a more efficient way of ensuring that the training is being delivered and retained (Werner & DeSimone, 2012).  It also has all of the established training material requirements for the class to be taught with the computer, projectors, and televisions. This saves the company money so they do not have to rent a building or buy the necessary equipment to conduct the training.

In a classroom environment, the instructor will be able to deliver his training message clearly. The instructor will have better control in a classroom setting and he has the ability to use the required training material necessary to deliver the training to the employees (Boland, 2006). Since there will be a lot of training and discussion going on during the training, this is the best setting for this type of training. This type of training will not be delivered in a lecture format because the employees do not only need to hear about sexual Harassment. They need to interact with the instructor so they clearly understand that sexual Harassment is not tolerated and learn ways to report and stop sexual Harassment.

(iii) Changes affecting training

However, some alterations or changes significantly affect the progression of the training. For instant training in a large classroom, whereby some questions do not get asked or answered because they are overwhelming to the instructor and they have to stick to the lesson plan. In a small group classroom setting the employees could really entertain the instructor and receive the message about sexual Harassment efficiently. Keeping the training in a small group classroom capacity is effectively critical because even though a classroom allows the instructor to train more employees, a small group is better because the instructor has the opportunity to really deliver his training so the message really gets across that sexual Harassment is not tolerated (Collier, 2015). This also gives the instructor more time to ask and answer more questions in a small group setting without running out of training time. This opens the discussion between the instructor and employees. Being able to interact within the training opens up the lines of communication which provides the opportunity for an employee to learn and better themselves (Egan & Hamlin, 2014). It also gets more employees involved in the training.

1. c) A practical and Academic rationale of the Program

Training Methods (Selecting the Training Materials)

The training material that will be used for this training program on Sexual Harassment will be a computer (with all required cables), three 70 inch televisions, power point slides, videos, a role play presentation, handouts, and critique sheets. The power point slides will be presented using a computer that will project the slides over three 70” T.V. monitors. This gives the opportunity for every employee to see the training slides and follow along. There will be 2 distinct videos that will be showed to the class during training. The first video will be 5 minutes and it will depict a man who was sexually harassed. This will lead into the second block of instruction, “Stopping Sexual Harassment”. The objective of showing a man that is sexually harassed is because every employee will think that the video will be about a woman who is sexually harassed. This is how you gain their attention from the beginning of the instruction. The second video will be 3 minutes long and it will depict a woman who was retaliated against for reporting that she was sexually harassed. This video will lead into the third block of instruction, “Retaliation” (Bierema, 2014)

Handouts will be given along with critique sheets at the end of instruction. The handouts will contain the reporting procedures for reporting sexual Harassment and the points of contact to inform the employees of who to call if a report has to be made. The handouts will be given at the end of the class because you do not want the employees looking at the handouts while the instructor is teaching because it causes distractions. It also takes the employees away from learning what is being taught because they are not paying attention to the training (Walker, 2014).

Training needs Analysis

Based on my Assessment of what I realized and witnessed, is these are the topics that need to be addressed during the sexual harassment training. These topics are purposely aimed at educating the employees about sexual Harassment and possible ways to handle such cases. These topics will also educate the employees on how to conduct themselves and learn what it is that they were doing wrong (Bierema, 2014). They will learn how to fix the situation and be able to stop other workmates who are major perpetrators when it comes to sexual Harassment. It is very important that the employees understand what it is they are doing wrong because they either do not know, or do not care about their actions. The discussion on these topics will rectify the problem that is currently happening in the business workplace.

(a) Company Policy

The company policy, and code of ethics, which will be the first slide and second slide to begin the training needs to be stated so the company and all of its employees understand what is expected of them. The employees must understand that in the company policy and code of ethics, any case associated with sexual Harassment will not be tolerated. The employees need to understand that violators of this policy, and code of ethics will be dealt with accordingly. The employees also need to understand that under company policy, all sexual harassment cases will be taken seriously. Each case will be thoroughly investigated, no exceptions. The company policy also need to state what type of punishment will be handed out to violators of sexual Harassment.

Any manager or employee who discriminates the other by differences creates a serious problem for the success of the company. Such discriminations not only hinders the performance of the victim but also the overall output of the enterprise. Any employee or manager who breaches this policy will, therefore, be subjected to disciplinary actions including termination of the contract of service.

(b)Meaning of Sexual Harassment

This sexual harassment policy applies to all the employees or supervisors, the customers, and any other person that our employees come to contact with during the discharge of their duties. Employees need to understand what sexual Harassment consist of. They need a clear and concise definition of sexual Harassment and how it applies to the things they say to other employees. This will give them a better understanding of what sexual Harassment is. The instructor needs to ensure that he clearly identifies what sexual Harassment is and answer questions for any employee that has one.

(c) Types of Sexual Harassment

Sexual Harassment is not just verbal. There are many other types of sexual harassments and the employees need to understand what they are. The employees might think that what they are doing is okay. It is not, and needs to be addressed. This will open the eyes of some employees, and make them think about some of the things they used to say to other employees.

(d) Stopping Sexual Harassment

During my Assessment of the business workplace, I noticed that employees were being sexually harassed and the other employees either laughed, or did not say anything. This part of the instruction will teach employees to stop sexual Harassment when they witness it. It will teach the employees to stand up for their coworkers. It will also teach the employees to protect their work environment and do what is right, legally, and morally, even when no one is watching.

                                                                    (f) Reporting

The employees need to learn the reporting process as well. They need to know who to call in case they are in this type of situation. When employees do not know what to do, they let the sexual Harassment continue. Teaching the employees how to report violations, will help them combat sexual Harassment and realize that there are agencies that are out there to help them along with the small businesses HRD.

All the workers in the Company have the right to dignity and the right to have that dignity obeyed and respected. The victims of such acts have the right to sue both the company and the offender by contacting the relevant agency. Further, the victims are encouraged to report such incidences to the appropriate disciplinary department of the company for actions to be taken. In attempting to shun sexual Harassment, all the employees of the Company have the responsibility of ensuring that our workplace is sexual-harassment-free.

(g) Types of Reports

Once an employee knows how to report violations of sexual Harassment. The victims need to know what type of reports that they can file. The employees need to learn the different types of reports so they know exactly what type of report they want to file. This will ensure that every employee know exactly what they want to do if they turn out to be a victim of sexual Harassment.

(h) Retaliation

This is very important and needs to be emphasized emphatically. Employees needs to know that it is against the law for an employer or boss to retaliate against them for filing a report. This is one of the biggest reasons sexual harassment violations do not get reported (Birdi, 1997). Employees need to know that they are protected and cannot be retaliated against, in a capacity for reporting acts of sexual Harassment. This point of the training needs to be hit hard so the employees understand that nothing can be done to them for reporting sexual harassment violations received the training.

Evaluation

(i)Training Evaluation

The business organization will need to set aside 5 days to conduct the training. From day one to three will be the initial training days and from day four to 5 will be the makeup days. The training dates must be set in stone by the business managerial body so that every employee can receive the training. The company’s managerial body must set the dates for what employees will get trained on what day. The training ratio is 1 instructor to 20 employees. This type of class is better taught in a small group capacity (Collier, 2015). Training this way, allows everyone to receive the proper training and ensure that the message is getting across that sexual Harassment will not be tolerated and needs to be stopped. During the week of training there will be no appointments, or meetings of any kind unless it is an emergency. In order for this training to happen and be enforced, the small business owner needs to ensure that the employees understand the importance of the training.

(ii) The Barriers to Training Evaluation

After setting the training program, the next step is assessing the possible barriers that might hinder the progression of the training. This is the most important part of the training program because this will show whether or not the training program will be a success and possible remedies. The emphasis needs to be put on the importance of the training and ensure that all cell phones are off or on vibrate. The employees must understand that horse playing or not taking the training seriously will result in punishment. The employees should also be informed that there will be a lot of question asked. The employees have to respect the questions that are being asked from other employees. The training should be thoroughly taught and the owner needs to ensure that every employee attends the training on the day they are supposed to get trained. There should be sign in rosters every day to ensure that every employee (Achampong, 2009).

(iii) The Behavior and Results

Assessing the Behavior and results is the first part of the evaluation phase after the training has been conducted. This is done by providing critiique sheets so that the employees can express how the training faired. They will make comments about the good parts of the training and what needs to be improved for the next training session (Kirkpatrick, 1967). Next, the owner of the company needs to conduct a climate survey to see if the work environment has changed and the behavioral issues that the company once had, is getting better. The owner will evaluate his company about six months after the training to give his employees time to implement the changes they learned from the training. That is when the owner will decide whether the training is working and the work environment is healthier, or he has to implement some more training along with personnel actions.

Training needs Assessment

The company was experiencing sexual harassment occurrence in their work environment and this constantly went unnoticed. This type of training on sexual Harassment should not be a one-time thing. This type of training needs to be done quarterly as it keeps the information updated for the employees concerning sexual Harassment. Every training session should be different and cover different topics concerning sexual Harassment with new presentations of what is going on at the current time in the workplace. The purpose of this training is to keep sexual Harassment from happening in the work place. This training package is just the starter for the type of training that needs to be conducted on sexual Harassment. It covers the basics and every time the company trains, the training should evolve to more heavily and exponential content. The more the employees know, the better. Having more training sessions will ensure that sexual Harassment will not happen in the work place. The less training you have on this subject, the more probable it is to have sexual harassment situations in the workplace. This type of training empowers those employees who were once scared to come forward and report violations of sexual Harassment, to step up and take responsibility and do the right thing. Having the knowledge to know what to do in a given situation gives the employee the power to know when to stop something or report wrongdoing. It also put the employees that were doing the wrong thing with an ultimatum, do the right thing and stop committing sexual Harassment acts, or have a nice day and good luck finding another job.

References

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