Workplace Harassment Prevention Training—as Essential Today As Ever Before

With so much going on in the world today, it becomes difficult to prioritise what to focus on and when. What we need to realise is that in these turbulent times, the personal and situational factors that give rise to, or contribute to, the potential for harassment and bullying may become more pronounced.

The fact of the matter is that workplace harassment prevention training must remain at the top of our training agendas. As we navigate through a season that requires us to redouble our efforts to safeguard the health and wellbeing of our employees, there is no better time to continue to focus on addressing and preventing these issues.

Facing These Challenge In The Workplace

Workplace harassment prevention for employees and bullying prevention training will ensure that people face the “enemy” with the right level of knowledge. People will understand the true nature of the problem, its causes, its consequences and the pervasive extent to which it exists. 

All the questions we have needed answers to are now available. They empower us to deal with destructive and unacceptable behaviour in more effective ways.

When we are allowed to consider the causes and consequences of harassment and bullying, as well as where our accountability and responsibility sit in addressing these deep-rooted issues, change can begin.

Capacity building, on a personal level as well as an organisational level, is the goal.

It is only through comprehensive training and the right tools, processes, programmes and resources that the first steps can be taken towards creating and adopting sustainable strategies to eradicate harassment and bullying in the workplace.

Knowledge Gives Us Power

We must accept that there is no cure-all for harassment and bullying given its broad-ranging causes, which include diverse socialisation, shifting power dynamics that lead to dysfunctional behaviour, moral laxity, emotional and psychological stress and cultural differences. 

The problem is complex, with many challenging dimensions. Despite this, with greater awareness through training, there is much that can be done to achieve meaningful progress across prevention, response, victim protection and recovery.

Online anti-harassment training is particularly helpful for creating confidence through shared experiences. We quickly see that we are not alone in trying to discern exactly what constitutes harassment and bullying and by getting expert input on how to tackle these, we unmask the types of harassers and bullies.

Identification of the unacceptable is brought to light. 

We identify “macho men” group behaviour, where lewd jokes and gestures or displays come together to create a hostile environment, which is one of the most extreme examples.

We also dive into the greyer areas of the “gallant” harasser, who disguises advances with excessive compliments that embarrass or the opportunist who steals begrudged kisses and hugs. 

We must be particularly cautious of those with compulsive or serious psychological problems, as they tend to plan and strike carefully in private. 

Once workplace harassment prevention training is well-established in the organisation and people are more comfortable to “come out of the closet” and confront the unacceptability of these destructive forces, the work begins. 

We need to be on guard and our responses need to evolve in line with the propensity for harassment and bullying to become more covert or sophisticated. We cannot be naïve and believe that superficial or short-term fixes will suffice.

We need to realise that an ongoing search for remedies is essential to inoculate ourselves from the multiple variants that we now understand to be the hallmark of disease control.

Especially where certain people suffer from certain issues, winning the fight against harassment and bullying will take determination, creativity and perseverance.

 That’s why workplace harassment prevention training is crucial.