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Hostile Work Environments Don't Work For Anyone
One of the most unreported and uninvestigated issues in any workplace is the hostile work environment. Usually the harasser is someone of a higher rank and does his dirty work behind closed doors or intimidates any witnesses who knows of their behavior. The harasser does not have to have positional power though, that person can also be someone with the social power to ostracize and intimidate others making the claim more difficult to prove. Surprisingly, the harasser can also be a subordinate whose nastiness makes them difficult to interact with. Further still, a complaint doesn’t have to come from the target, a witness of the misbehavior can be so offended by the conduct that it rises to the level of a hostile work environment for them. The risk associated with speaking up explains why many people decide to live with this conduct. Some of those risks are negative evaluations, a negative reputation among senior executives, or termination. Rather than take the risk, people usually suck it up and deal with it hoping to outlast their tormentor or that someone else will report it. While they wait, the intensity of the behavior and the stress caused by it steadily increases causing detrimental performance and health outcomes for employees.
First you need to understand what a “hostile work environment” is and evaluate whether or not your experience applies. Generally, courts define these environments as those that alter the reasonable expectation and conditions or terms of employment to such an extent that the employee is uncomfortable and is unable to complete their work. The courts have been clear that off handed comments, teasing, or petty slights don’t meet the criteria, it has to be pervasive and targeted on a member of a specific group. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 requires that the employer has to have 15 or more employees and that the behavior targets people in a protected class such as sex, race, color, national origin or religion. The responsibility rests with the organization to respond to all such complaints with an investigation and intervention where needed. Not responding to a complaint is a violation of law that the supervisor and the organization can and will be held responsible. Yelling, teasing, snapping, belittling, harassing, and public shaming, are a few of the behaviors that are not expected at a normal workplace and are violations of an employee’s rights and your employer has the responsibility to protect you. When your employer neglects that duty, the government will sanction them through organizations such as the Office of Civil Rights (OCR) and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).
If you feel as if someone is creating a hostile or offensive environment for you at work, gather evidence such as notes, and names of witnesses and other victims and report it. Be sure to write as much of your experience down as possible, the more detailed notes you keep, the stronger you case will be. Further, your notes keep your emotions from derailing your message while describing a very emotional experience to your superiors. Emotions are natural and expected from the victim, when reporting your experience you need to clearly articulate your story. Your notes help keep the message clear while you go on the emotional rollercoaster of reporting this behavior. Men usually are not articulate enough about what they are experiencing. Without enough detail about what has happened and its impact on the employee, the reality of your work life isn’t effectively conveyed to the listener which can cause your case to be viewed as a series of petty slights. Women (of course, not all) generally respond by shutting down, getting angry, or crying. Because of biases held by many managers, these cases can be dismissed as an emotional overreaction or exaggeration. To avoid these perceptions, write down everything and log what it looks like compared to the treatment of others and how it made you feel. Also, it is unlikely that you are the lone target of the harasser, the courage you display in speaking up will encourage others to speak up.
Have you told another supervisor? Keep records of that. If your employer does not respond they can be seen as complicit in your claim. Do you have copies of your evaluations or reviews? Often, harassers will give good evaluations as a bribe for your silently enduring their bad behavior then spend the rest of their time making you miserable. Everything you’ve experienced is important. The descriptions of Hostile Work Environment does not distinguish whether or not the harasser “meant to” be offensive, only that the environment was made offensive. So the “I didn’t know”, or “that’s how I motivate”, or the “I was just joking” explanations do not relieve the harasser of responsibility for their offensive conduct.
The responsibility for the work environment lies with every individual at work. Manage yourself and you will be okay. In cases where individuals cannot manage themselves, it is on the organization to correct the behavior through sanctions or by terminating that individual. You likely have a chain of command in your organization or union representation, take advantage of your resources. You do no one any favors, especially yourself, by enduring misbehavior or by not speaking up when you witness others living with violations of their civil rights. If someone brings a harassment complaint to you, take it seriously and investigate it. Do not look at it as a threat, instead as an opportunity to improve. Dismissing their experience marginalizes employees and communicates this behavior as acceptable to you making things worse for everyone. A quick and comprehensive response communicates to the organization that their experience is important to leadership, and it empowers people to speak up when they feel maligned. The goal is to improve the experience for clients, customers and employees, consistently do that and you will SOAR!
William A. Brown
September 29, 2019
https://www.wikihow.com/Prove-a-Hostile-Work-Environment
https://www.workitdaily.com/hostile-work-environment
