Report: Harassment Turns Any Company into a Toxic and Unproductive Work Environment

Workplace harassment is a shameful phenomenon that ruins great work and transforms any company into a toxic and unproductive environment.

Often, incidents go unreported, as victims may be unsure of what constitutes workplace harassment and what to do when they experience it.

Harassment becomes illegal in the following situations:

• If enduring the abusive behavior becomes a condition of continued employment.
• If the behavior is severe or pervasive enough that a reasonable person would consider the workplace intimidating, hostile, or offensive.
• If a supervisor’s harassment leads to a significant change in an employee’s salary or status.

Harassing behavior may include offensive jokes, inappropriate language, insults, physical assaults or threats, intimidation, ridicule, humiliation, or threats to publish offensive images, among other actions.

The harasser might be your boss, a supervisor in another department, a coworker, or even a non-employee.

Harassment can also occur during a job interview if the employer inquires about your race, gender, religion, marital status, age, disability, ethnic background, country of origin, or sexual orientation.

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Types of Harassment in the Workplace:

According to a report published by hracuity, there are several types of harassment within the workplace, as follows:

1. Sexual Harassment:

Sexual harassment is one of the most common types in the workplace, ranging from unwanted and offensive comments to unwanted physical advances and requests for sexual favors.

Sexual harassment can be verbal or physical, and both are discriminatory.

Examples of sexual harassment include unwanted touching, unwelcome sexual gestures, sexual jokes, comments, or questions, and requests for sexual favors.

To address this type of harassment, it must be brought to light. Although sexual harassment of women is more common, all genders can be both victims and perpetrators.

2. Discriminatory Harassment:

Discriminatory harassment involves unwelcome, offensive, or negative behavior or intentions toward an individual or group based on legally protected demographic characteristics.

This type of workplace harassment can be verbal, written, or physical. Workplace discrimination is illegal and should never be tolerated.

Other types of discriminatory harassment in the workplace include harassment based on disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, age discrimination, and religious harassment.

3. Racial Harassment:

Identifying racial harassment in the workplace can be complex. What one employee might call an “innocent joke” could be perceived as an intentional insult, or even a threat, by the person it’s directed at.

Racial harassment in the workplace may include: displaying racial symbols online or offline, mocking someone’s accent, making unwelcome comments about someone’s race, telling offensive jokes, using abusive racial slurs, and expressing intolerance towards any specific ethnic group.

4. Physical Harassment:

The degrees of physical harassment vary, but each is harmful regardless of its severity.

Even if the harm is not severe, any form of physical harassment is considered harassment and, in some cases, could be considered assault.

Forms of physical harassment include (but are not limited to): unwanted touching of skin, clothing, hair, or any other body part, damaging personal property, and threatening physical violence.

5. Cyberharassment:

Many organizations have transitioned to a remote or hybrid work model since the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, meaning employees are communicating digitally more than ever before.

Cyberbullying, or cyberharassment, includes actions such as posting threats or offensive comments on social media platforms, bullying the victim, often through a fake persona, and making false claims online. It can also include abusive remarks via work messaging platforms or email.

It is worth noting that while other forms of harassment usually require repeated offenses, a single instance of cyberbullying may be enough to be considered cyberharassment.

6. Retaliation:

Retaliation is also a form of workplace harassment, typically occurring when the harasser seeks revenge. It can take the form of discriminatory, verbal, or physical harassment.

Approximately half of employees fear retaliation when reporting workplace issues. This is one reason why it’s crucial to have a post-investigation aftercare routine in the workplace. Proper aftercare can help prevent and avoid workplace retaliation.

Organizations can also provide anonymous reporting tools to help employees feel more comfortable reporting workplace issues without fear of retaliation.