In addition being concerned about rising expenses, attracting customers and staff turnover, small business owners are now worried about how to avoid sexual harassment in their own workplace.
Dozens of them gathered Monday to listen to experts discuss the fallout of the #MeToo movement at the monthly membership luncheon of the Naperville Area Chamber of Commerce at the Hilton Lisle/Naperville hotel.
“There is hypersensitivity out there right now,” said David Carpenter, vice president of human resources for Securitas USA. “We try to keep it in context. My responsibility as an employer is to sit down and facilitate a discussion, create an environment to discuss people’s boundaries. It’s uncomfortable.”
While many applaud the #MeToo movement for empowering victims to share stories of sexual harassment, business owners are concerned about their liability since claims are expected to increase this year. One audience member admitted that trying to respond to a new enlightened workplace is “scary,” especially to a small business owner who has no human resources department or legal team.
“It’s very difficult for employers. I don’t think anyone’s intent is to alarm but to be proactive, to talk about best practices,” said Leah Setzen, partner at Grunyk Family Law.
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Panel moderator Nicki Anderson, president and CEO of the Naperville Area Chamber of Commerce, said she developed the idea for the discussion after receiving an outpouring of response to a newsletter article she wrote claiming that sexual harassment is rampant.
“One in four women and one in 10 men experience harassment in the workplace,” said Anderson, quoting statistics from the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
While allegations have toppled the careers of more than a dozen high-profile men in the past four months, the panelists focused on the impacts beyond Hollywood.
“It’s not a popular topic, but it’s necessary to keep the conversation going and create a safe environment,” Anderson said.
The panelists agreed that sexual harassment can range from unwanted compliments to repeated groping. “From a corporate standpoint, any time anyone feels uncomfortable in the workplace, that requires some attention,” Carpenter said.
Setzen said courts have found employers liable even in cases when the harasser “had no supervision over the employee harassed. It can be third party harassment. It could be a customer.”
Carpenter said the best way to prevent problems is to encourage any offense, no matter how minor, be brought into the open before it becomes more severe and widespread.
“The #MeToo movement is a lot of pent up frustration: How did we not see the signs? Be aware as a leader and engage employees and have an open door policy. A lot of it has to do with observation,” Carpenter said. “Anytime you see an employee’s behavior change, a good leader engages that employee.”
Kevin McCarthy, dean of students at North Central College, said it’s important not to judge the accuser.
“It’s one of the only crimes where we say, Are you sure that happened? Why did you wear that dress? That’s victim blaming. Think about a person in a car accident. You ask, Are you OK? Not, You didn’t use your blinker,” McCarthy said.
“Take everything seriously,” Carpenter said. He said his large company offers a hot line for complaints of all kinds, and 8 percent of those calls “are harassment-related.” He said nearly all of those are resolved “at the field level. Very few went to formal action … because we knew about it. We would much rather do that than go through a formal process or the EEOC.”
Anderson said there is a lot of “confusion” about what constitutes sexual harassment. One result of the #MeToo movement is many employees are “worried about telling someone they look nice or hugging someone,” she said.
Setzen said the legal definition requires the actions are pervasive.
“Pervasive is something small that happens frequently, when you do it every day and the individual doesn’t want that comment,” McCarthy said.
McCarthy said it’s also important to act on the information. “The college allows an individual who has come forward to lead the way on what happens next. … Previously, you made a report, and it went into a black hole. We had no resources,” he said.
“It’s important to ask: What do you want? Do you want to go home?” added Carpenter. He said that’s a better response than “go back to work, and I’ll get to it in a few days.”
Setzen said all firms should “talk to an attorney about procedures. Do you have a manual? Even if you’re a very small business and have only one employee,” it’s important to put in place some standard training, procedures and responses, she said.
Diane Moca is a freelance reporter for the Naperville Sun.