Canadian HR Reporter - Sample Issue

CANADIAN HR REPORTER November 27, 2017 8 NEWS terms of people coming out and speaking out about how they've been treated." "ere is a wider recognition that things such as verbal com- ments, inappropriate jokes that make people feel uncomfortable, that these sorts of things can lead to a sexualized or poisoned work environment," said Monkhouse. "Now would certainly be a good time to be able to review those policies for any company, given the headlines and the attention this has received recently." Struggle continues Despite all that's been done to reduce incidents of sexual harass- ment in the workplace, it con- tinues to rear its ugly head, said Suzanne Hiron, senior commu- nications advisor at the Canadian Human Rights Commission in Ottawa. Unwelcome behaviours can be physical (for example, touching or embraces), verbal (demeaning sexualized language, sexually ex- plicit jokes), non-verbal (unwel- come staring, sexual gestures), written (offensive messages) or graphic (sexual posters), she said. Employers are responsible for providing a workplace free of sexual harassment, but often em- ployees remain afraid to speak up and complain. "ey're afraid of retaliation," said Hiron. "ey're afraid of what could happen to them. Will they be believed?" It is well-established that wom- en are more likely to be victims of sexual harassment than men, as are members of the LGBTQ com- munity, she said. But although sex is more prev- alent in society than ever before, men need to realize it is still un- welcome in the workplace, said Stephen Hammond, a workplace behaviour expert in Victoria. "Guys are still being driven by their libido; a lot of them don't think that what they're doing is sexual harassment," he said. "(But) even if you see it everywhere, there's got to be a dividing line." A blurring between the roles of friend and professional continues to occur, and can often lead to sex- ual harassment claims, according to Erin Brandt, associate at Kent Employment Law in Vancouver. "At the most innocent level, sometimes it's inadvertent, that somebody was perceived to be a harasser may think that they're being friendly, and that their comments or their actions may be perceived by those around them to be sexual or unwanted in nature," she said. "ere's a line between discomfort and sexual harassment, and it is difficult to figure out where that line is. But, ultimately, even if conduct is not sexual harassment, it may still be inappropriate and unwanted." Built-in power differences con- tinue to exist at workplaces and some people will always abuse that, said Monkhouse. "It will take a lot of time to eradicate." HR's responsibilities Policy, training, understanding, leadership and corporate culture are each extremely important in the work to eradicate this type of abuse, said Kathryn Coll, man- aging partner at HR Atlantic in Charlottetown. "Anybody can slap in place a policy… but it's not going to mean that anything is going to change," she said. "is issue is tied really closely to the values of an orga- nization and workplace. Is it OK that these things go on, or is it not?" "If you're a diligent employer out there these days, you know that you have to have that policy in place, but that doesn't mean your organizational culture aligns with it. I think that's the most impor- tant piece." Leadership has to demonstrate an unwillingness to tolerate sexu- al harassment, then support that stance through actions and behav- iours, said Coll. "When you have that, I think that then incidents of harassment — whether they're sexual or oth- erwise — will start to diminish within organizations." In Ontario, companies are re- quired by law to have anti-sexual harassment policies in place, said Monkhouse. "It's very important to have an active working policy for sexual harassment and also general ha- rassment in the workplace that explains in clear terms how com- plaints are to be done, what will happen afterwards, and allows for an impartial investigator to be ap- pointed," he said. Many Canadians work for smaller businesses, making it very important to name the person to whom issues should be reported, as well as a backup person in cases where the primary contact could struggle to be impartial, said Monkhouse. Companies with HR depart- ments likely have anti-sexual ha- rassment policies in place, said Brandt. e trickier part is always im- plementation, which makes situ- ational training and proactive dia- logue important as well. Manage- ment needs to be aware of what behaviour they should model in order to foster appropriate work- place culture, she said. "It's context-dependent and I think each workplace needs to look at 'What is our culture? Who is the lowest common denomina- tor here, and how can we avoid making someone uncomfortable, even it that makes our workplace a little bit more stiff?'" "In a lot of companies, you'll see these problems in the absence of HR managers," said Brandt. "I don't think it's solely on the shoul- ders of HR managers to fix this problem… It's about education and shifting our culture." Ultimately, responsibility falls on management as a whole, not just the HR department, said Hammond. And while training helps to re- inforce policy, it still comes down to taking action. "What an organization has to do is actually follow through with doing the right stuff," he said. "e moment you hear someone mak- ing an inappropriate comment, you shut that down… You do not worry about the feelings of that other person." "People can be told all kinds of stuff, but they won't do it unless they feel the organization has got their back… If you have an orga- nization in which people are will- ing to speak up and be listened to, then you're way ahead of the crowd," said Hammond. "e difficulty is that still not enough people are willing to speak up. at's tough, because that means you're speaking up against the boss, or against some policies or the culture." Handling of claims When faced with a workplace complaint of sexual harassment, HR needs to take it seriously and quickly determine whether or not the investigation can be handled internally, said Coll. "at can be about how seri- ous it is, who is the complaint filed against, and can HR truly be neutral in the investigation?" she said. "Does HR have the training to conduct the investigation?" "at's the challenge that HR faces. Are they appropriately trained to conduct this kind of investigation, and do they un- derstand evidence and credibil- ity, assessment of credibility and so forth? (Some departments) don't have appropriately trained staff to be dealing with this new world." Impartiality, sensitivity, and the ability to distinguish between which situations need external investigation are all key attributes for today's HR practitioner, said Monkhouse. Conducting internal investiga- tions can be as simple as asking questions, meeting with the par- ties involved, and taking copious notes, he said. "If done correctly — if you take sufficient notes and ask the right questions that are thoughtful, and you put together a report af- terwards — very frequently that investigation can be sufficient for minor complaints." And claims of this nature should always be submitted in writing, said Brandt. "You should make sure to document everything," she said. "Encourage the complainant to put their complaint in writing, so you know the parameters of your investigation." Additionally, more training is always helpful — for all parties involved, said Monkhouse. "Even if you find that there isn't merit to the complaint, there still isn't a real downside to having that person undergo training," he said. "Having additional training really protects you and fixes potential future situations." As for the ultimate ruling on specific claims, it's often up to the human resources practitioner to reach an appropriate conclusion — ranging somewhere between warning and termination — fol- lowing the investigation. "It is up to them to make a judgment call, and it is a difficult call to make," said Monkhouse. "at's a bit of the key part to be- ing in HR." 'e difficulty is not enough people speak up' HARASSMENT < pg. 1 Impartiality, sensitivity, and the ability to distinguish between which situations need external investigation are all key attributes for today's HR practitioner. "e more we can do to show- case what these modern facili- ties look like, the better chance they'll have of getting these young kids to consider a career in manufacturing." It's really important to show examples, according to Cé- line Razat, website contributor and senior project manager at Sculpteo in San Francisco, a 3D printing company. Razat volunteers for the group Women in 3D Printing to feature interviews and portraits of fe- male leaders in the industry. e group is striving to coun- ter the messages that are often featured in women's periodicals, for example. "What you can see on the magazines for women is mostly makeup; it's mostly you have to take care of your hair, you have to take care of your clothes, and when you see a magazine for men, you can get some really interest- ing information about technology or cars or how to go into space," she said. is is sending the wrong mes- sage to young girls, according to Razat. "There are two options: You have to be cute and the perfect woman, or the other option is you have to be a mother." North of the border, loozxk- ing to accelerate the progress of women with STEM, 3M Canada partners with organizations that support education programs for students, such as Let's Talk Sci- ence and Canada 2067, according to Amy Grant, HR business part- ner in London, Ont. "It showcases future work op- portunities in all fields related to STEM," she said. "We really believe in diversity as a competitive advantage, and that next generation of manufac- turing is around those technolo- gies like 3D printing and robotics and automation." "e diversity message really helps us remain competitive." Next steps e next step, according to Law- rence, is for the working groups to put more "tangible actions in place to support women to get into the manufacturing stream." "Our real vision on this is to help support, promote and in- spire women in manufacturing in Canada because we recognize — the working group members and CME and BDC — that we re- ally need a strong, vibrant, diverse workforce in manufacturing." Showcasing opportunities WOMEN < pg. 2

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