A Leer, A Pat, A Joke, A Gesture, An Innuendo, A Kiss: Are You Prepared To Be the Next Social Media Blitz, Identified on #MeToo, or a Headline in the Newspaper?
Dr. Susan Strauss is a national and international speaker, trainer, consultant and a recognized expert on workplace and school harassment and bullying. She conducts harassment and bullying investigations and functions as an expert witness in harassment and bullying lawsuits. Her clients are from business, education, healthcare, law, and government organizations from both the public and the private sector.
Dr. Strauss has conducted research, written over 30 books, book chapters, and journal articles on harassment, bullying, and related topics. She has been featured on 20/20, CBS Evening News and other television and radio programs as well as interviewed for newspaper and journal articles such as Harvard Education Newsletter, Lawyers Weekly and Times of London.
Susan is the recipient of the Excellence in Educational Equity Award from the Minnesota Department of Education for her work in sexual harassment in education. She has spoken about sexual harassment at international conferences in Botswana, Egypt, Thailand, and the U.S. She consulted with the Israeli Ministry of Education, as well as with educators from Israel, England, Australia, St. Maartin, Bali, and Canada. She traveled to Poland and conducted research on sex discrimination and sexual harassment in Polish workplaces with Minnesota Advocates for Human Rights. She has consulted with health professionals in Beirut regarding violence in healthcare. Susan has a doctorate in organizational leadership. She is a registered nurse, has a bachelor’s degree in psychology and counseling, a master’s degree in community health, and the professional certificate in training and development. She has been involved in the harassment and bullying arena since 1985.
Harvey Weinstein, Matt Lauer, Charlie Rose, Al Franken, Garrison Keillor, members of Congress, and various State lawmakers have been accused of sexual harassment and/or sexual assault. But there is a difference between pulling one’s pants down in front of a female colleague at work and touching a woman on her buttocks during a photo op—isn’t there? What is that difference? Are both examples considered sexual harassment? What exactly is sexual harassment? Sexual assault? Questions and confusion abound with the current seismic national—and international—tsunami of women coming forward to disclose their victimization. The #MeToo movement is providing a platform for women’s voices to be shared as they tell their stories.
But it is not only famous powerful men, such as celebrities and lawmakers, who sexually harass women (and sometimes men), powerful men (and occasionally women) in every industry may find they either have in the past, or are currently guilty of aggressive propositioning, touching, or telling off-color jokes. Sexual harassment exists at every level from universities, to workplaces, to healthcare, and even in law firms. Antics or bad behavior such as this are unacceptable in the workplace and against company policy, but do these behaviors rise to the very high standard of illegal sexual harassment?
No matter one’s gender, everyone has the legal and ethical right to be free from sexual harassment and assault. So what prevention and intervention strategies have your organization created and implemented to address the epidemic of sexual harassment? Are those strategies working? According to the 2016 EEOC report on harassment in the workplace, 90% of those who say they were harassed never reported it or took formal action. Considering this sobering statistic, what will you do differently? Do you or your employer tolerate or ignore any employee who has a reputation for sexually inappropriate behavior? Perhaps he gets excused with comments such as “Oh, that’s just George, he doesn’t mean anything by it.” The EEOC also found that sexual harassment complaints are continuing to increase despite some organizations conducting sexual harassment training. They determined the type and format of training are largely ineffective.
Learning Objectives
- Differentiate between flirting and sexual harassment; illegal harassment versus psychological harassment; and bullying versus sexual harassment
- Discuss the effective elements in your organization’s prevention strategy
- Review complaint procedures that must be incorporated into your harassment policy
- To list the critical elements of sexual harassment training
- Identify the effects of sexual harassment on the target, the work unit, and the organization
- To discuss retaliation
- To list the steps to take if you are targeted by a sexual harasser
- To explain management’s legal and ethical responsibility in the prevention and intervention of sexual harassment
- Discuss the steps to take if an employee complains about an “old” incident of sexual harassment
Who Should Attend
- This webinar is appropriate for any industry or profession
- Human resources professionals, supervisors, managers, team leads, and all employees would benefit from this information
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$200.00
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