MAKE SURE IT DOESN’T HAPPEN TO YOU
The last thing anyone wants is a harassment complaint contami-nating
a positive work environment. How can you do your part to
help the investigation to benefit and protect your organization as
well as prevent future complaints? Follow these nine steps.
1. KEEP IT CONFIDENTIAL
By the time the investigation process has begun, the require-ment
that the complaint be kept confidential may well have been
breached. That’s because at most companies, people work in close
quarters and can’t seem to help but talk – or whisper – around
the water cooler. While spreading the word may seem innocuous,
in harassment cases, confidentiality must be respected. Leaking a
story compromises the investigation by fueling rumours, tarnish-ing
reputations and tainting witness credibility.
2. BE TIMELY
If an investigation is warranted, you need to get on it – fast.
Otherwise, you may find yourself with an even messier problem
on your hands. The longer harassment goes on, the more likely it
is that someone will get harmed, confidentiality will be breached,
people will start taking sides and the organization will be held
accountable for exacerbating the conflict through delay. By hand-ing
the complaint to a neutral third party, you get the problem off
your plate, reduce further risk to the organization and avoid allow-ing
a backlog of complaints to pile up.
3. TAKE A PROPER COMPLAINT
Taking a proper complaint from an alleged victim of harass-ment
is easy if your company policy sets out clear guidelines. If
not, the complainant should simply state the facts – not alle-gations,
inferences or hearsay – and attach any supporting
evidence. If an investigator has to read 10 pages of allegations
to figure out what’s going on, that’s time and money unneces-sarily
spent.
4. UNDERSTAND THE INVESTIGATION
The investigator is not a judge and doesn’t provide legal or psy-chological
services, opinions or advice. Rather, this role is one of
neutral fact-finding. The investigator must be able to analyze all of
the evidence – including relevant legislation and any psychological
factors and office politics at play – and recommend best practices
going forward. The result is an unbiased report that contextual-izes
the incident, explores organizational vulnerabilities and offers
valuable feedback.
5. GO CASE-BY-CASE
There is no one-size-fits-all solution when it comes to address-ing
harassment. While your organization needs clear policies
and processes that all workers can rely on, each complaint pres-ents
unique challenges. When the parties, dynamics and history
changes, so does the analysis of the case as well as the findings
and recommendations.
legal words
THE BEST WAY TO HEAD OFF
HARASSMENT IS TO MAKE
SURE EVERYONE, AT ALL
LEVELS OF THE ORGANIZATION,
UNDERSTANDS
WHAT BEHAVIOUR IS
APPROPRIATE AND NOT
APPROPRIATE AT WORK.
nexusplexus / 123RF Stock Photo
16 ❚ MAY 2018 ❚ HR PROFESSIONAL
