Sexual Harassment of Males in the Workplace

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Recently I was asked to comment on sexual harassment of males in the workplace, a topic not too often discussed. We generally think of male-on-female harassment when the topic of workplace harassment is the topic of discussion. However, harassment, sexual, non-sexual, physical, verbal and non-verbal forms, and may be targeted to members of the opposite or same sex. Harassment may come in the form of various media including electronic, photographic, and even artwork maybe considered harassment.

According to statistics published by the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the number of harassment cases filed by males declined from 15,889 in 1997 to 12,696 in 2009 or 20%. However, the number of harassment cases filed by males as a proportion of ALL harassment cases filed rose from 11.6% in 1997 to 16.0% 2009. Of course this DOES NOT indicate an increase of sexual harassment of males in the workplace, rather it is correlated to the decline in the number of harassment cases filed by females during the same period. By extrapolation from the same report, we can calculate the number of harassment cases filed by females for the same period to be  136,974 in 1997 to  79,350 in 2009.

It usually falls to an organization’s Human Resources function to monitor and deal with workplace harassment issues, whether or not they are sexual or non-sexual in nature. It is a sad commentary that schoolyard bullies often grow up to become office bullies. As with most things in life, prevention is a far better approach than trying to fix the problem after the fact. In today’s lean and leaner staffs, management does not have the luxury of staff productivity diminished by distractions and lowered morale. With the majority of today’s cell phones photo and video enabled, the loss of an organization’s goodwill, not to mention possible legal action, is just a Facebook or U-Tube positing away.

Organizations would be well advised to adopt a “no-tolerance” rule for workplace harassment along the same lines that many have done for substance abuse and violence. This may require revisions and updates to existing organizational written policies or the creation of such policies if they do exist today. Initial and ongoing education and training for employees at all levels within an organization, from the loading dock to the corporate suite, is essential to help to define what constitutes harassment, and the avenues for redress. Clearly communicated channels and alternative means for reporting suspected harassment, including those, which allow for the employee being harassed to remain anonymous. Something to consider, harassment can come from individuals other than employees such as vendors, providers, contractors, suppliers, and even customers.

True to form, even the EEOC maintains an anti-harassment policy by publicly stating that:

“[The EEOC] establishes policies and procedures to help the EEOC maintain a workplace free from unlawful harassment. It … establishes a system of accountability for ensuring a workplace free from unlawful harassment. … ensure that appropriate officials are notified of, and have the opportunity to promptly correct hostile or abusive conduct”