Canadian HR Reporter

Canadian HR RepoRteR January 26, 2015 18 FeAtures Register today for industry recognized live or on demand webinars at the Carswell Professional Development Centre. www.hrreporter.com/cpdcentre Join a live 1 hour webinar during your lunchtime that includes a presentation and/or a panel discussion led by industry experts and a live Q&A session where participants can submit live questions to be answered by presenters. These accredited courses are aimed at professionals and employers looking to further their professional development within HR and contextualise acquired knowledge and skills in their workplace. Current industry partnerships include: • Human Resources Professionals Association • Human Resources Institute of Alberta • Human Resources Association of New Brunswick • Canadian Human Rights Commission DO YOU HAVE 1 HOUR TO SPEND ON YOUR HR PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT? THOMSON REUTERS CARSWELL PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT CENTRE WEBINAR SERIES Lyle Toop vice-president of human resources at Legal Aid Alberta in Edmonton The organization has about 250 employees o ne of the reasons sexual harassment continues to be a challenge is because individuals don't necessarily understand what behaviours are involved, according to lyle toop, vice-president of hr at legal Aid Alberta in edmonton. "Some are very obvious in terms of assault or physical contact, etcetera, but in terms of more the verbal side of harassment, we get a lot of cases where people either don't understand the behaviour is offensive because no one has told them or they haven't stopped the behaviour because they haven't been questioned about it or no one has spoken to them," he said. "Where this gets challenging for people is the behaviours that may be sub- ject to interpretation based on the relationships people have together in the workplace, whether it's good-natured joking that's misinterpreted versus something more aggressive and obvious." And social media complicates the issue, said Toop. "It's very difficult for the employer to manage that type of behaviour and it's one that's becoming more and more complex, particularly because it can explode so quickly with people 'liking' or promoting or retweeting… it's even more significant because that behaviour can remain unchecked for a period of time — it can build momentum before the employer might even be aware of it." At Legal Aid Alberta, training around the respectful workplace policy is workshop-based, he said. "So it's not just discussing the policy and having people sign it, but it's actu- ally talking about the issues and working through a couple of examples and getting the audience to think about some of the behaviours that may or not be harassing, just to open their minds to what these things look like." Allegations of harassment can't be dismissed, no matter what level of posi- tion is held by the alleged harasser, said Toop. "You can't discount that simply because everything else they do is so posi- tive… particularly if it's quite disruptive to other employees or it puts people at risk or the employer is condoning a behaviour that they know of because they don't want to address it because the employee's so valuable," he said. "It's critical, it's part of the overall performance for the individual and no one in an organization should be above the policy, regardless of their level." Building and maintaining the right culture definitely starts from the top, said Toop. It's about having the CEO talk openly about a respectful workplace, about zero tolerance for any type of harassing behaviour and reinforcing that message at town hall meetings or other types of regular communications, he said. "e word 'consistent' is probably one of the best things to keep in mind, ensuring that you're doing this consistently because when there starts to be some am- biguity about whether or not the policy really applies to all people in all circumstances or is really enforced, then it's not really policy anymore." Leadership is also important in explaining the pro- cess, for both sides of the equation, said Toop. Sometimes people don't know how to respond and are really uncom- fortable if an allegation or complaint comes forward be- cause they don't know who to report it to or they don't know if they have to make a decision before they raise it to the next level, he said. "For the leaders, it may not be a question that they don't believe that harassment can happen in the workplace or they don't want to address it — they may be uncomfortable about how to address it because it's very different than what they do on a day-to- day basis in their role, so they're really uncomfortable with that topic. "So (it's about) the more you can do to educate people and make it safe for people to bring forward concerns and understand that there is a fair process and that it will be taken seriously in the organization and dealt with professionally."

• Cover