NO POLICY? WHY NOT?
Why a harassment, or even better, a human
rights policy, can help establish and maintain a civil, productive workplace.
"We
have no need for a harassment policy. We don't have any problems"
No Problems?
Perhaps not at the moment or at least none that you are aware of, but who
knows what is going on in the office down the hall, or on the factory floor?
Who knows what is going to happen next week?
Even if
you are not interested in dealing with this increasingly significant workplace
issue, by tomorrow you could very well have all sorts of problems:
-
headlines in
the media
-
disrupted productivity
-
your name on
a human rights complaint
-
union confrontations
-
customers deciding not to use your service/buy your product
-
a human rights adjudication hearing, in public, deliberating over the
conduct of your company
-
thousands of
dollars of costs, including lawyers' fees and awards to complainants
But
will a new and improved harassment policy prevent all of these problems?
If
you implement the policy with the message that it is neither window dressing
nor just another way to protect management, it can prevent formal
complaints going to the human rights commission. More importantly,
a good policy establishes a problem solving approach to workplace conflicts.
If
the policy is properly administered, it can help managers and staff resolve
complaints quickly and to the satisfaction of all involved. A good policy
can help prevent the disruption that comes with workers taking sides in
divisive, highly contentious conflicts.
OK,
we establish a good policy. What Now?
-
assign
a senior manager the responsibility for administering the policy
-
provide
training and arrange for a source of ongoing, accessible advice for that
administrator
-
brief
senior management and especially the senior decision maker regarding their
policy responsibilities
-
dependent
upon the structure of the policy, train all first line managers and supervisors
to act as advisors on human rights issues for their staff
-
arrange
training for managers and supervisors
-
conduct
information sessions for all staff
-
develop
and distribute a simple language information brochure on the policy and
its procedures
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