How to strengthen harassment training and improve workplace culture

Over the past several years, there has been a cultural awakening in the business world, pushing organizations to actively hold employees accountable for unacceptable behavior and improve their workplace culture. While some companies have made notable strides, the hard work of building and maintaining a harassment-free work environment is far from over.

According to a recent survey by employee feedback management platform AllVoices, 44% of full-time workers experienced harassment at work in the form of personal harassment and bullying, discriminatory harassment and bias, or online harassment and cyberbullying. Further, 48% have witnessed others experience harassment at work, 52% have not felt psychologically safe at work and 34% left a job because of unresolved harassment issues.

Even with the increase in remote work arrangements, harassment has not abated. All Voices found 38% of respondents still experienced harassment remotely, through email, video conferencing, messaging platforms or by phone. Additionally, 24% said harassment continued or got worse through remote work channels.

To achieve transformative change, organizations must go far beyond addressing blatant harassment and provide employees with the structure, support and guidance they need to navigate workplace interactions. That means providing education and training that can help change perspectives, build trust and empower employees to better understand and support one another.

Accomplishing this is key to creating an inclusive culture that can attract and retain employees, helping future-proof your organization by creating an environment that allows employees to collaborate, innovate and unify around a common purpose and shared ideals. This can also help combat the talent scarcity threats posed by the Great Resignation.