There are a variety of types of harassment, but most often people tend to think in terms of sexual harassment, as they have read about this in the media.
We’re talking about one category here and that is the one where someone asks for sexual favors in return for a promotion at work, or something similar. This type of harassment is classified as the most difficult one to deal with by staff, as the person doing it is usually their supervisor.
The person committing this kind of faux pas is likely a supervisor who is being very open about what s/he wants from the person in return for a raise etc. Sexual harassment comes in many different forms, but no matter how it is perpetrated, it is wrong and needs to be stopped.
As indicated above, this type of harassment happens when the actions are linked to a worker’s term of employment lasting or not. The actions may be implicit or explicit and are usually carried out by a person who has authority over the employee. Not only is this kind of behavior hard on the employees, it does nothing for the company’s reputation if word of something like this got out on the street.
Of the two categories of sexual harassment, the quid pro quo one has a lesser standard of proof in order for action to be taken. Any time harassment stalks a workplace, the company must immediately act to not only investigate it, but to put a stop to it.
Any company with a staff member, who has been accused of sexual harassment, needs to find a reputable investigations firm and hire an investigator to deal with this issue.
This is not the time to worry about how much something like this may cost. You need an investigations firm who not only knows what they are doing, but writes their reports in such a way that they are admissible in court if need be. While it might cost less money to have a harassment investigation done internally, the ramifications of in-house favoritism might not look good for the company.
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