Empowered Employees Are Your Business’s First Line Of Defense
Ours is an era of heightened awareness, especially with regard to occurrences sexual harassment – thanks to the #MeToo movement. As a result, many employers have opted to take a more proactive stance when it comes to addressing questionable behavior in the workplace.
Today, more employees than ever before feel empowered to speak up when situations arise and, in response, it appears as though company leadership is taking employee reports more seriously. That being said, there have been some reports of negative outcomes associated with a hyper-vigilant culture, including a more guarded demeanor among employees who may hesitate to participate in casual and harmless behavior out of fear that it will be misinterpreted.
Read Also: Stay Out Of The Headlines With A Solid Plan To Thwart Sexual Harassment In Your Business
As a business owner, it’s your responsibility to provide your employees with a safe and respectful environment in which to work. It’s also important to facilitate a culture where team members can safely form connections with their colleagues. The best way to usher this type of significant change into your workplace is to formulate sound policies, engage in meaningful dialogue designed to educate employees of changes and develop training to address real-world scenarios while offering credible solutions. It’s also important to note that change of this caliber can’t be solely implemented by your human resources department. Rather, it will require the top-down support, ownership and enforcement of your entire leadership team
Beyond Sexual Harassment
Because of the large number of high-profile cases making news and social media conversation linked to the #MeToo movement, the topic of sexual harassment has demanded much of our attention. But when it comes to viable threats in the workplace, it’s hardly the only one worth talking about. Fraud, compliance matters, cybercrime, discrimination, ethics violations, safety concerns are all serious workplace issues business owners should be on the lookout for.
What’s really great about the fact that more employees than ever before are standing up to draw attention to questionable behavior is that it doesn’t have to stop at instances of sexual misconduct. Once your employees are empowered to say something if they see something (or if they find themselves in the middle of an inappropriate situation), you can encourage them to speak up if they notice other potential workplace issues. And, if and when they do see something, you can give them access to an anonymous, secure, trustworthy channel to report illegal, unethical and inappropriate behavior.
Give Your Employees The Proper Tools
Employees continue to be the primary reporting source when it comes to addressing issues in the workplace. In fact, according to the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners’ 2018 Report to the Nations: Global Study on Occupational Fraud and Abuse, when it comes to detecting fraud, for example, 53 percent of tips came in through an organizations employees. Furthermore, the vast majority of these tips were reported through the use of hotlines. Statistics indicate that, if they have access to hotlines, 46 percent of employees are more likely to make a tip. While only 30 percent of fraud cases were detected by employees leaving a tip at an organization without hotlines.
When you provide your employees with a hotline, it not only helps deter questionable behavior in the workplace, it sends a clear message that you value and respect your employees and that illegal, unethical and inappropriate behavior will not be tolerated.
While a hotline can be a terrific way to determine if a problem exists, employers need to be ready with a plan in place that addresses each possible scenario as well as any actions that will be taken. Additionally, businesses should offer training sessions that address the certain issues, intervention, accountability, ramifications, etc.
With this new founded heightened awareness, comes the need for businesses to adopt policies and tools designed to protect employees and business assets from an ever-growing list of risks. Email Rea & Associates to find out how our fraud specialists, HR consultants and policy experts can help you protect your business.
By Renee West, SHRM-SCP (New Philadelphia office)
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