It may seem like the workplace harassment cases are always on the news, and lots of people are now coming forward and reporting the trauma that they have faced so far. It is not true that it is increasing now, it has always been happening, but it is only coming to enlightenment now because of social media, which makes the world a much smaller place. People who were getting harassed in the workplace were never coming forward to report it before, they either dealt with it themselves, or they ignored it, but now, after movements like #metoo, many people are feeling empowered to come forward and take a stand for themselves. It is especially important in the workplace to make it evident that everyone should be treated well and with proper manners at all times. Here I have listed out a couple of things to make the workplace safer for women.
- Awareness is very important. When one takes the responsibility of creating awareness of the safety of all the employees, people who have thoughts to harass someone will be on edge and may stop themselves. It is also essential to conduct sessions which does prove to be a great way to spread awareness. Companies usually hold seminars that talk about the consequences of sexual harassment, and these seminars do work, most of the time. Men and women do need to know what kind of behavior is acceptable. It is also essential that they know what kind of outfits are appropriate for the office.
- There should be an iron-clad and incredibly strict set of policies against sexual harassment. All of the employees that are working in the company have to read and be completely familiarized about everything when it comes to the war against sexual harassment. It states how an employee should behave towards each other and how they should behave with their superiors as well. The human resources department is usually the one that deals with all of the sexual harassment cases. If the company is against sexual harassment and is very serious about it, the company can probably fire the individual that has been accused of sexually harassing another individual within the company.
- It would be incredibly helpful if the employees had a cab facility that will drop and pick them from their homes and to the office. A lot of companies do provide this facility. The companies thoroughly vet their cab drivers and make sure that they will safely pick and drop their employees, on-time.
- Another important thing would be to provide the female employees normal work timings. Giving them a night shift may increase the chances of them not being safe.