Effect of acts of sexual harassment

Cases of sexual harassment in the workplace can have a lot of negative impacts on the morale, safety, and performance of employees.

Through bad word of mouth, the reputation of the whole business can be affected and labeled as an unsafe place to work in. In 2019 alone, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission had over 7,514 claims of sexual harassment, resulting in $68 million in direct settlements.

The effect of sexual harassment on a victim can be poor work performance because of mental trauma, a high tendency of dealing with depression, increased stress, sleeping disorders, and physical responses such as high blood pressure and nausea. This can also affect their self-esteem in a major way. A workplace in which sexual harassment occurs quite frequently, has a toxic culture, with unsatisfied and very disengaged employees. If you observe an act of sexual harassment, you can experience certain difficulties. This includes fear of being a victim and having safety concerns.

It also takes a toll on your mental and physical health out of empathy for your colleague. Your workplace will have systems in place to help prevent sexual harassment.

It will also have a mechanism for how to handle complaints so that you can report violations while staying anonymous. There will be designated members from human resources to speak to about these issues. Everyone deserves a fair workplace free of harassment, in particular sexual harassment. For this to happen, you have to know what sexual harassment is, and together with the whole workplace, work towards preventing it.

Next, you will learn how to protect yourself and others from becoming a victim of sexual harassment or perpetuating it.