Civility

Alyssa Milano requested her followers use #metoo just over a year ago. Since then, we have all become extremely aware of the scope of unreported sexual harassment incidents. Employers’ standards for preventing harassment have been raised.  The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s most recent guidance includes “create and maintain an environment in which employees feel comfortable reporting harassment to management.” The fact is people who are not in power are not comfortable reporting much of anything to management. Organizational psychology has demonstrated that people impose censorship on themselves when communicating upward even when their intent is constructive.  People impose this self-censorship […]

Employee retention may be the most important function of human resources today. Gallup reported 28% of today’s workforce will interview for other jobs this year.  A study of more than 1,000 adults across generations and industries in this country revealed lack of emotional safety will cause people to quit their jobs. Maintaining an environment where employees feel emotionally safe is a powerful method to retain employees.   Feeling emotionally safe is feeling valued and accepted enough to express and challenge yourself. On the contrary, people are inhibited in a toxic workplace with drama and infighting. The term, “hostile work environment” is […]

Elizabeth “Lizzy” Seeberg passed away on September 10, 2010. She was a 19-year old freshman at St. Mary’s College. Lizzy committed suicide ten days after reporting she was sexually assaulted by a Notre Dame football player. During those ten days, she received several text messages from members of the football team including, “Don’t do anything you would regret.” and “Messing with Notre Dame football is a bad idea.” And in her last ten days, Lizzy was interviewed several times by campus police as were several witnesses. However, the accused student was not interviewed until after Lizzy’s death. Six months after […]

More than a million people have shared their Twitter posts since Alyssa Milano encouraged survivors of sexual harassment and assault to publicly post their #MeToo status this past October. The last time sexual harassment came to the forefront was when Anita Hill spoke out about Clarence Thomas in 1991 at his televised Senate confirmation hearing.  Even though Thomas joined the Supreme Court; Hill’s testimony is credited for a dramatic increase in sexual harassment complaints with the EEOC. Companies should anticipate history to repeat. When a disaster hits the news, especially local news, employees should be reminded of the company’s position […]