Sexual Harassment In The Workplace

Sexual Harassment In The Workplace

What defines sexual harassment in the workplace? How does fear of sexual harassment affect workplace relationships? What effect does this have on the workplace?

Gender diversity is among the types of diversity embraced in most modern workplaces in the 21^st century. Maintaining gender diversity in the workplace can be challenging due to issues such as sexual harassment and gender discrimination. Sexual harassment is any unsolicited sexual advances, sexual favours requests, and physical or verbal sexual conduct (Lockton, 2020). Based on this definition, sexual harassment in the workplace can be defined as any form of sexual favours, physical and verbal sexual conduct, and unsolicited sexual advances from an employer or colleagues. One thing that defines sexual harassment in the workplace is the unprofessional relationship between an employee and a supervisor or colleague in return for favours such as job promotions, a pay rise, and not being reported for violating the organization’s policies and procedures.

Another thing that defines sexual harassment in the workplace is a hostile work environment that exposes employees to verbal or physical sexual conduct, leading to an abusive work environment (Siuta & Bergman, 2019). For example, an organization may be ignorant about sexual harassment claims placed by employees, thus allowing employees to get away with sexual harassment. Employees may also be reluctant to report sexual harassment if the organization does not take any action to investigate and punish those accused of sexual harassment within the workplace, thus creating an abusive work setting.

The fear of sexual harassment has a significant impact on workplace relationships. For instance, employees in fear of being sexually harassed may keep their distance from the person or people they think could sexually harass them to prevent the risk of facing sexual harassment. The fear of sexual harassment also reduces trust among colleagues, leading to limited collaboration when completing assigned tasks. Employees who are in fear of being sexually harassed may agree with colleagues who they fear may sexually harass them to create and maintain a good rapport with them so that they can reduce their risk of being harassed. The fear of sexual harassment may also create tension among employees. For example, suppose an employee’s fear of sexual harassment affects their decision-making by forcing the employee to agree with the suggestions given by the person they fear. In that case, other employees may raise concerns about favouritism, leading to tension. In some instances, employees, in fear of being sexually harassed, may not be able to explain why they have to agree with a specific employee’s suggestions, increasing the possibility of conflict among employees and unwillingness to participate in decision-making. Therefore, organizations are responsible for setting policies that encourage employees to report sexual harassment regardless of the perpetrator’s rank in the organization. Employees should also feel free to express their concerns about the possibility that an employee may feel threatened by a coworker, supervisor, or leader in the organization to reduce the fear of sexual harassment.

The fear of sexual harassment also has a significant impact on the workplace. One of the impacts is reduced employee productivity. According to Kosec et al. (2022), employee productivity is linked to employees’ emotional well-being and job satisfaction. The fear of sexual harassment reduces job satisfaction because employees may feel unsafe in the workplace. It also negatively impacts the emotional well-being of employees because they are always anxious and stressed in the workplace because of the uncertainty of whether they will encounter sexual harassment. Another impact of the fear of sexual harassment on the workplace is decreased organizational performance due to reduced employee productivity. Employees are also less committed to the organization when they fear sexual harassment, especially if the organization does not have policies preventing sexual harassment or is ignorant about the sexual harassment complaints raised by employees. The fear of sexual harassment increases absenteeism because employees feel safer when not in the workplace. The main impact of absenteeism is reduced organizational performance because of delays in task completion. Organizations may also have to incur extra costs when hiring part-time employees to cover for the absent full-time employees, leading to high operational costs. The fear of sexual harassment also increases employee turnover due to stress and anxiety. High turnover reduces an organization’s productivity and increases operating costs because the organization incurs costs in hiring other employees. Another impact of the fear of sexual harassment on the workplace is reduced employee engagement. Employees fearing sexual harassment are less engaged in the organization’s activities, such as decision-making, and mainly focus on completing their assigned tasks, leading to detachment.

Sexual harassment is a major issue that significantly impacts the well-being of employees, their relationships with coworkers, and the overall workplace environment. Therefore, organizations need to focus on measures that can help prevent sexual harassment in the workplace, such as setting sexual harassment reporting procedures and punishments. Organizations should also create sexual harassment awareness programs to familiarize employees with different types of sexual harassment and how to deal with coworkers who exhibit behaviours that could lead to sexual harassment. Employees are also responsible for reporting any sexual harassment incidents within the workplace to address the issue effectively.

References

Kosec, Z., Sekulic, S., Wilson-Gahan, S., Rostohar, K., Tusak, M., & Bon, M. (2022). Correlation between employee performance, well-being, job satisfaction, and life satisfaction in sedentary jobs in Slovenian enterprises. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(16), 10427. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph191610427

Lockton, D. (2020). Employment law. Macmillan Education.

Siuta, R. L., & Bergman, M. E. (2019). Sexual harassment in the workplace. Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Business and Management. https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190224851.013.191

ORDER A PLAGIARISM-FREE PAPER HERE

We’ll write everything from scratch

Sexual Harassment In The Workplace

What defines sexual harassment in the workplace? How does fear of sexual harassment affect workplace relationships? What effect does this have on the workplace?