Workplace harassment is gaining visibility due to its impact on the organisation as it is one of the main reason for work-related stress. Workplace harassment includes bullying, belittling, shaming, being aggressive, discriminating or being abusive towards any employee. Workplace harassment is prohibited on the grounds of race, colour, religion, national origin, age, marital status, sexual orientation. It also includes unwanted sexual advancements, both verbal or non-verbal conduct in nature. Some ways you can deal with workplace harassment are
Understanding the nature of harassment
It is important to be aware of the type of harassment you are facing as it is easier for you to report. Carry out your research and understand the harassment in any way sexual in nature before complaining it under sexual harassment.
Speak up
Taking all of the abuse without speaking up displays no respect for oneself. You need to be straight forward and stern and speaking up and discouraging the behaviour. Remaining silent will not help you and you not trying to stop any kind of harassment immediately is sending the wrong message to the harasser.
Confront the harasser
It is a good idea to tell your harasser that the words you said to them are humiliating and offending. Explain to them the impact of their behaviour and how it affects you. Document the event and email the person, letting them know about your discomfort. This also acts a proof that you tried to stop the behaviour and warned them before taking any drastic step.
Document the incident
To report any case, you need to have solid proof of the incident. They are required to verify and authenticate your complain and to ensure the harasser also know about the complaint and the reason it took place. Also, there might be witnesses around the time of incident ask them to be proof of the incident. If the harassment occurred on an online platform, you can easily take a screenshot and provide it as evidence of the incident. You also need to understand the time and the place of the incident acts as proof of the complaint.
Take it to the HR
Now that you have collected all the evidence tried to confront the harasser and still, the harassment continues, you need to complain it to the HR or the management. They would have certain questions of why this incident might have occurred be truthful. They might be certain actions taken from their end and enquiry process might be set.
If still, the management is not able to solve your issue, it is time to take things into your own hands. As harassment either in the workplace or any other place is not acceptable. Take legal steps against the harasser and the company, if need may be. Generally, organisations are always up to solve these kinds of complaints as it disrupts the peace of the organisation and can break their image, which they try to avoid
