Understanding New York Sexual Harassment Training

Something undeniable about the business world right now is that more and more people are steering towards risk mitigation and prevention as a form of protection against potential lawsuits and other unsavory situations. Part of the reason for this is that once a scandal happens, it is almost impossible to recover from the reputation loss. If you have looked at a news article like this one in the past year, you will see just how true this is.

So, what routes are companies and organizations taking to prevent these sorts of things? Well, one of the big ones is training sessions. If you are in the New York area and would like to learn more about potential options and how it works, we will be seeking to answer those queries in this article.

Understanding New York Sexual Harassment Training

What is Harassment Training?

Simply put, it is a session provided either internally or externally by a company that seeks to teach basic principles such as what constitutes harassment and how to identify it or report it within a work environment. There are several goals besides that, though, that work in tandem with that. Primarily, we should seek to provide a workspace that our employees feel safe in.

What do I mean by that? Well, it is not exactly a secret that many people do not feel safe enough to speak up if they feel that they are getting harassed. In a similar vein, they may not feel like what is occurring is serious enough to report, even if it does fall within that definition. No one wants to be labeled a snitch or a drama queen, so cultivating an inclusive space is quite critical.

What is Harassment, then?

Part of the reason that sexual harassment training in New York matters is that if you ask someone to give you a definition of harassment in a workplace, they likely will have a difficult time identifying it or isolating a specific example. A lot of us underestimate how wide the umbrella is or have a hard time trying to figure out what certain terms mean, such as microaggressions.

So, training sessions are designed to assist with this. Harassment is a multi-faceted issue. For example, physical, sexual, and verbal harassment all can be serious issues in a workspace. Something else to keep in mind is that it is not only women that are impacted by it – men can be victims too.  

There are levels to it, of course. For sample, outright discrimination or bullying is more comfortable to catch than something like microaggression. These are much more subtle, and sometimes the perpetrators do not fully understand the harm that they are causing.

Is Training Necessary?

It might be tempting to believe that it is not a requirement, but depending on where you live in the country, it certainly is. You can understand more concerning: https://www.businessnewsdaily.com/9426-workplace-harassment.html. We would highly recommend that you investigate the laws of your specific state.

In New York, it is a requirement that all employers who have fifteen or more employees institute some form of training that covers these topics. So, in short, in states like this, it is necessary. However, We would say that even if it is not required by law, it is something very important.

Besides the risk of lawsuits, there is also the matter of employee satisfaction and happiness. We should be prioritizing this as well, even if it might not seem critical. That is because happier workers are far more likely to be protective. Creating a space where they do not have to worry about not being able to report incidents, or even where they simply do not need to be concerned about incidents at all is invaluable.

There will likely be more opportunities for collaboration and cooperation between departments, as just one example of the benefits you might reap. Just make sure that you prioritize training supervisors and managers as soon as possible. You see, many cases of workplace harassment are perpetrated by employees in places of power.

So, handling that before it becomes an issue is a good idea. Make it clear that you have a zero-tolerance policy towards that sort of thing. If you treat the session as a joke, they will take it as such. Be certain that you take it seriously so that they do as well.

In general, most organizations, businesses, or companies are going in this direction of providing more training sessions. It might seem like something boring to make your employees sit through, but there are many ways that we can make it more interesting. We recommend trying to make it an engaging session, or potentially outsourcing and finding a course that will keep the attention of your workers, so they take in the information.