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

 

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.
 

• 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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