3.10 Provide sexual harassment training to all employees and managers including survivor-centered approaches to prevention, reporting, and response
Content
Description of Best Practices
Provide sexual harassment training by a very skilled and qualified practitioner only, who understands all nuances of sexual harassment prevention and survivor-centered[1] response, to all employees, with an emphasis on managers and men to socialize the policy, how to prevent to it, respond to it, and report and address it with related grievance management,[2] including:
- Information on policy foundations, aims, and principles
- Clear definitions of what constitutes sexual harassment and gender-related harassment
- Principles and norms of professional behavior expected in the workplace
- Survivor-centered approaches include providing independent third-party emotional/mental counseling support options separate from reporting mechanisms; victims/survivors choose when, how, and if they would like to make a report with the support they need; trained professionals conduct independent third-party investigations outside the organization; and perpetrators are appropriately punished
- Grievance management mechanisms and consequences for violations
Training provides opportunities to discuss and learn from each other; if women don’t feel comfortable participating in mixed trainings, provide single-sex trainings, but ensure that nuances about incidents that cultivate empathy and understanding are provided on an anonymous basis to both
Assign managers responsibility to monitor, prevent, and respond to sexual harassment with training on various survivor-centered tools and approaches available for their use
Conduct sexual harassment climate surveys on a regular basis to monitor progress and identify remaining issues
Challenges of Implementation
Traditional/historical acceptance of inappropriate behavior may function like social filters and may limit the learning
To accept and learn behavioral change needs a variety of different learning forms and often more than one learning event
Co-educated groups may be tricky to lead due to the sensitivity of the topic and issues for potential survivors to express themselves, especially when perceived violators may be in the same room with survivors
Single-sex trainings limit opportunities for potential perpetrators to learn
Unskilled managers and HR personnel may not have depth and breadth of training to appropriately handle questions and comments in trainings that place responsibility or blame on women or victims of sexual harassment (e.g., trainee signaling the need for a Dress Code Policy targeting women to dress more conservatively, and trainer unable to respond and correct this as wrong within a large group setting), which may reinforce existing harmful stereotypes and attitudes, and cause more harm
What Success Looks Like
Employees and managers awareness are increased, with improved skills to prevent and respond to sexual harassment in the workplace with a survivor-centered approach
Potential victims and survivors know about reporting and grievance management mechanisms and are using them
Potential perpetrators’ awareness increased about expected behavior and consequences for misconduct
Victims of sexual harassment and GBV are supported emotionally and mentally by trained professionals and are empowered to make their own decisions on what is best for them, including whether or not to file a formal report
Independent investigations outside of the organization
Perpetrators are appropriately punished
Employees increasingly report that the work environment is perceived as conducive and safe, and the conduct of colleagues and managers is respectful
Reporting on sexual harassment may increase in the beginning with awareness
Incidences of sexual harassment decrease over the long run as employees understand what constitutes sexual harassment and the consequences
Results of sexual harassment climate surveys improve over time
Resources and Tools
Guide: Survivor-Centered Approaches to Workplace Sexual Harassment and Other Forms of Gender-Based Violence (USAID)
Case Study: Dominican Power Utility Moves GBV out of the Shadows (USAID)
Example: Policy on Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (USAID)
Course/E-learning: Preventing Discrimination and Harassment (Diversity Builder)
Training Resource/Tool: The Iceberg of Sexual Harassment (NAS)
Report/Study: Addressing Gender-Based Violence and Harassment (EBRD, CDC & IFC)
Article: Reflecting on One Very, Very Strange Year at Uber (Susan Fowler)
Article: Our fight against sexual exploitation, abuse, and harassment (UNHCR)
Blog: What does a Survivor-Centered Approach to Workplace Harassment Look Like? (Medium)
[1] SURVIVOR CENTERED. A survivor-centered approach facilitates a process in which a victim can become a survivor. It prioritizes the best interests and needs of the person who has experienced harm and returns power to the victim at every stage of the grievance management mechanism and process. It recognizes that a person can experience harm even if the offender did it unintentionally. It also recognizes that the impact of an action is more important than the intent of the person who acted. (Adapted from USAID and Lindsey Jones Renaud)
[2] GRIEVANCE MANAGEMENT. Regulates all processes for receiving, investigating, responding to, and closing out complaints or grievances in a timely, fair, and consistent manner. (Source: Inc.com, Grievance Procedures)