How to Handle an Employee Sexual Harassment Complaint

How to Handle an Employee Sexual Harassment ComplaintHow to Handle an Employee Sexual Harassment ComplaintWhen an employee complains that he or she is experiencing sexual harassment of any type, the employer has a legal, ethical, and employee relations obligation to investigate the charges thoroughly. The employer cant decide whether to believe the employeebut must take him or her at their word. If an employer hears rumors that sexual harassment is occurring, the employer must investigate the potential harassment. It can include hearing gossip from other employees.It can involve instances in which noninvolved employees or friends of the targeted employee bring up the subject with Human Resources to help their coworker or friend who is embarrassed to go to HR.It can also include any instance in which an employee tells HR about questionable behavior that they have witnessed. These are examples of how seriously employers must take sexual and any other form of employee harassment that is or may be occurring in their workplace. As an HR staff person, one of the most common requests that will occur when you are approached by an employee to talk is that they want to tell you something, but you must first promise to keep it confidential. Employees do bedrngnis well understand confidentiality in HR. You must be prepared to answer that request by responding that if you can, you will keep the matter confidential. Some issues you are required by law to pursue whether the employee wants you to pursue the allegations or not. Sexual harassment is one of them. How to Handle Sexual Harassment in the Workplace Before a complaint is filed, make sure you have posted and informed all employees of your organizations policy relative to sexual harassment. It wont be tolerated it will be investigated.Provide several different ways in which an employee can make a formal charge or complaint. You will not want to make complaints to the manager or supervisor the employees only vorkaufs recht as this may be the individual about whom the employee needs to complain. Human Resources offices are an excellent option. So is the CEO, president, or company owner unless they are the harasser. A manager is also a good option if he or she is not involved. Assign a staff member to own the complaint. This individual should be knowledgeable about the organization, the people in the organization, and the history of the organization.Map out a plan that covers the important people and situations to investigate from the initial complaint. Plan the investigation, based on current knowledge.Talk with the employee who is complaining. Guarantee that he or she is safe from retaliation and took appropriate action in reporting the incident or general situation no matter what the results of the investigation found. Inform the employee that you need to know immediately about any retaliation, purported retaliation, or ongoing harassment the employee experiences.Ask the employee to tell you th e whole story in his or her own words. Listen with care take notes to document the conversation thoroughly.Write down relevant facts such as dates, times, situations, witnesses, and anything else that seems relevant.Tell the person accused that a complaint has been filedand that no acts of retaliation or unethical actions will be tolerated. Ask the person to be patient while you conduct a thorough investigation. Assure the person accused that a fair and just investigation will be conducted on their behalf as well as that of the accuser.Interview any potential witnesses in the same manner. Ask open-ended questions and seek facts that support or disprove the employees allegations.Interview the person who is accused of sexual harassment. Apply the same listening and respectful approach you accorded the person who filed the complaint and the other witnesses.Take all the information you received and attempt to reach a decision. Make the best decision that you can with the information you have. Consult with other HR colleagues to do the right thing. Consult with an attorney to ensure that you are looking at the whole situation fairly based on the evidence you have. Make sure the attorney supports the direction you are taking.Based on all of the documentation and advice from colleagues and your attorney, make decisions about whether sexual harassment occurred. Provide the appropriate discipline to the appropriate people, based on your findings. Make work or assignment setting adjustments, or change a reporting assignment if necessary.Recognize that you are not perfect no situation can be perfectly investigated. Even when harassment may have occurred, and you believe it may have occurred, you may have no facts or witnesses that corroborate a complainants statement. Assure that no further incidents occur by following up, and documenting your follow-up with the employee who made the original harassment claim. Keep documentation separate from the personnel file.Afford th e employee, who may have been wrongly accused, the same courtesy of follow-up and documentation. Adjust working situations fairly where necessary for the comfort and productivity of all. Tips to Consider Legally, the employer will want to avoid any possibility or appearance that the employees complaint was disregarded. Respond immediately.Ethically, the employer will not want to allow such behavior to exist in their workplace.The trust, morale, and fair treatment of employees are at stake. An employers actions send powerful signals about what another employee can expect in similar circumstances.You may want to consider reposting and reiterating your sexual harassment policies across your whole workplace. Let the circumstances guide your judgment. In all cases, make sure that you write and keep complete and accurate documentation. Employees who are unhappy with the results of your investigation may take additional legal action. DisclaimerPlease note that the information provided, while authoritative, is not guaranteed for accuracy and legality. A worldwide audience reads the site, and employment laws and regulations vary from state to state and country to country. Please seek legal assistance, or assistance from State, Federal, or International governmental resources, to make certain your legal interpretation and decisions are correct for your location. This information is for guidance, ideas, and assistance.

27 Good Work Habits for a Successful Career

27 Good Work Habits for a Successful Career27 Good Work Habits for a Successful CareerGood work habits are essential for anyone who wants to succeed in his or her job, whether it is an after school or summer job or one that is a step on the career ladder. They increase your productivity and job satisfactionand help you have better relationships with your babo and coworkers. We asked experienced professionals and parents what good work habits they would tell young adults they must have. Here is their advice 1. ?Take Criticism Well ? Your bosss feedback is valuable. He isnt necessarily criticizing your performance because he dislikes you. He may be trying to help you succeed. 2. ?Dont Gossip Dont contribute to the gossip mill andremain neutral if your coworker tries to pull you into it or talks behind another colleagues back. 3. Be a Problem Solver, Not a Complainer If you have a complaint about something, always have ideas about how to make it better. When you turn negativ ity into positive action, you will sound professional instead of whiny. 4. Be Dependable Always go to work when you are scheduled to be there. Only call out if you are trulysick. 5.Be Willing to Go Into Work If Your Boss Asks If your boss asks you to come into work when you are not scheduled, be willing to make every effort to go. You should also be cheerful about it (or pretend to be). 6. Allow Extra Time for Everything Always build a buffer into commuting time, as well as your timeline for working on a project. 7.Be Prepared to Not Know Everything You certainly wont know everything when you first start out, and you will still have more to learn even as you move up in your career. 8. Put Your Phone Away While at Work Texts and notifications that pop up on your cell phone can be a big distraction while you are working. Check your phone only during breaks. 9. Dress for a Better Job Dressingfor the position you want lets your employer visualize you in that job. 10. ?Ask for Help and Offer It as Well No one, no matter how talented, can do it all alone. If you need assistance, dont be afraid to ask for it. Realize others may require it too but may hesitate to ask, so offer a hand when you can. 11. ?AlwaysDo Your Best When your boss assigns a task, perform it to the best of your ability. 12. ?Be Kind There is nothing to be gained by not being nice to others. When you are kind, it will make others happy, and they will have goodwill toward you. Be especially kind to those who seem the most miserable. They may really need it and it could have a positive effect on them. 13. ?Do mora Than Is Required and Do It With a Smile and a Positive Attitude While doing more than your boss or customers expect may get you recognition, more importantly, it will give you experience and personal satisfaction. 14. Never Say Its Not My Job Be ready to pitch in when you are needed. It may involve doing something that isnt in your job description , but you will demonstrate that you are flexible. 15. Look at Problems as Opportunities, Not Challenges When problems arise, solvingthem gives you the chance to showcase your strengths and sharpen your skills. 16. Keep Personal Problems Out of the Workplace Beware of extensively talking about your personal problems. What you tell your coworkers could influence their perception- and your bosss- about your ability to do your job and it could make you the subject of workplace gossip. 17. Ask Questions If youdont understand how to do something, or how something works, get clarification. You may feel foolish asking what you consider a silly question, but that is much better than making an avoidable mistake. 18. Always Proofread Your Work It may take a little longer to look over your work, but it is muchbetter to catch yourerrors before someone else does. 19. Dont Forget That Work Is Work While it is important to like what you do, you will be terribly disappointed if y ou expect your job to be fun and games all the time. There are things you will need to do that wont be glamorous, but as they say, thats why theyre paying you the big bucks. 20. Make Sure You Understand Company Policies If you dont know what they are, get the facts from someone whose job it is to know them, for example, the human resources department. If you ask a coworker instead, he or she may give you the wrong answer, and you will bear the consequences. 21. Dont Be Afraid to Say I Dont Know If someone asks you a question and you truly dont know the answer, rather than giving out misinformation, be honest. Say you arent sure, but you will find out. Then do it. 22. Be ?Organized It is impossible to do good work if you are disorganized. 23.Prepare for Your Day Arrive at work early and get ready for the day by anticipating what you will have to do while you are there. Do not get flustered by last minute changes. You may have to modify your plans. 24. Never Ask a S ubordinate or Colleague to Do Something You Would Not Do Delegate tasks if you have the authority to do sobut dont expect anyone to do your dirty work for you. 25. Smile, and When Things Are at Their Worst, Smile More Smiling makes you feel better and it makes others feel better. Of course, dont smile when it is inappropriate to do so, for example when something tragic happens. 26. Listen to Understand, Not React When someone is talking, listen carefully. Dont think about how you are going to respond, but instead, try to absorb what the person is telling you. You can ask questions later. 27. ?Stop ?Procrastinating Putting off doing your work, even a project you dread, wont make it go away. You might as well get it over with. 150 Watch Now 8 Habits Holding You Back at Work

How to Hack the Internet for a Faster, Better Job Hunt

How to Hack the Internet for a Faster, Better Job HuntHow to Hack the Internet for a Faster, Better Job HuntWith todays technology, employers use an impressive number of tools to find, analyze, judge and communicate with job seekers. If youve been on the hiring side of things at a mid-size or larger company, youve seen how many software solutions are bought and sold in an attempt to nail recruiting. Employers, with just a few clicks, can deutsche post dhl an opening to hundreds of job boards, gain powerful social data on all of their applicants and hire consultants to help them find just one right candidate.Why dont job seekers have access to similar tech?While there isnt a one-stop destination or tool to match employer power, there is the entirety of the web at your disposal. As job seekers, there are a thousand things we can do to keep up with the hiring game. It just requires a little organization to get started.Learn the companys playbook, like they would learn yoursA company can and will learn everything it can about you from your resume and your online presence. A recruiter will look at your LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook profiles when theyre public. Theyll probably do a Google search to confirm various details you put on your resume.Luckily, these same resources are available for you, the job seeker, to learn more about them. Look at the companys blog and social media accounts. Find vocal executives and employees on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook. Read articles they like, opinions they post and complaints they share. Its the easiest way to determine if the company and its strategy are strong cultural fits for you. Additionally, you will learn the companys pain points and will be able to address exactly why youre a strong candidate to tackle challenges with them.Read the press around them, like they read yoursIf youve ever been written about in a news article, for good or bad, then a company can easily find those articles online. You can and should do the same in return. More than just looking at social media profiles, like we mentioned above, scouring news-specific sources will give you a relatively unbiased look at events surrounding the company and how others perceive it.This is how you can determine if that company is going in the right direction and is worth your time. If the things you see in the press give you cause for concern, then you might not want to apply. If you do decide to apply, then these concerns are great things to bring up politely in an interview. Recruiters who dodge or sugarcoat your concerns might be giving you a strong signal that something is going wrong or that the company doesnt know how to fix internal issues. Just remember that you should take the good with the bad by congratulating them on and discussing their recent successes.Be alive on social media Recruiters will look at your social media accounts, and theres no way to stop them beyond making all your accounts private. Taking the privacy route, ho wever, closes off a strong avenue for personal advertising. Treat certain social media (Twitter and LinkedIn, for example) as your platform for creating a strong brand around yourself. Get involved in conversations with industry leaders. Tweet your opinions about articles. Offer unique perspectives on the topics that interest you most.Join professional communities for your field. Check out groups on LinkedIn and sites such as Quora and Growth Hackers. Post and reply to articles with valuable feedback. Brand yourself as a person who promotes conversation, adds value to the community and is an active parteicipant. Recruiters will notice, especially if you tweet out the various conversations that youre active in. Its your best gelegenheit to create a positive first impression before you get the chance to talk.Stay organized Companies use expensive software to track your applications, collect and store your information and communicate with you. They invest in this software for two reaso ns (1) they would be lost in a sea of disorganized information without it (2) they keep a live pipeline of their most impressive prospects ready for whenever they may need to recruit for an open position.You can tackle those issues the same way with companies youre in contact with, without the hefty price tag. Track your applications. Create a process to stay organized by saving all the information youve recorded in your research, categorized and sorted by company. Set next steps and due dates for important events and begin nurturing a relationship with different companies. Keep them in your pipeline as they keep you in theirs. You can take advantage of free online organizational tools to get your job search in order. The best companies and recruiting departments nail the organizational part of their process, and the same goes for the best job seekers and careerists.Stefan Mancevski is a co-founder at JobHero, a free web and mobile job search dashboard for job seekers to organize, o ptimize and upgrade their job search. Check out the dashboard and more great job search advice at https//gojobhero.com. You can follow Stefan on Twitter at smancevski and JobHero at gojobhero.