Harassment

JF12 · January 2005

I want to bring in a professional speaker/someone that specializes in talking to group of employees about sexual harassment what defines it and why we need employees to report it etc. Does anyone have any names or companies that do this? Any help is appreciated.
Thanks

durasupreme · January 2005

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 01-20-05 AT 02:06PM (CST)[/font][br][br]Do you have an Employers Association or something similar near you? They may provide on-site training programs, and our experience has been very positive in working with them.

JF12 · January 2005

Thanks for the information. I will have to look around.

System · January 2005

Try the group that carries your liability. You may get an attorney pro bono. Perhaps your own legal firm will provide the training.

marc · January 2005

We had our outside lawyer, who specialized in HR, conduct a seminar for us a couple of years ago. Great results and she supplied an excellent perspective on the legal costs and several precedents established for our judicial district - live case examples that were real eye openers for our line supervisors.

Also, your local SHRM chapter will have lots of HR type consultants who would do back flips to get their foot in your company's door - perhaps even to discount their rate for the opportunity.

JF12 · January 2005

Sounds great. I have some great ideas to go off of.

Thank you

Don D · January 2005

I want to echo the recommendation that you have a labor attorney do the presentation. I've been around the gamut (or do you go through a gamut?) with all sorts and types of presentations. From in-house to a local association, to a fellow HR Manager, to an attorney to several attorneys. The attorney is the best of all possible choices in my opinion.

Not only can an attorney deliver a seminar tailored to your timeframe, pocketbook and industry needs; but, another critical angle is that he/she will present case results with judgements and awards. That last part gets the attention of senior management. AND SENIOR MANAGEMENT SHOULD ALWAYS SIT THROUGH THE SAME TRAINING, MANDATORY! Nothing is more likely to get senior management to 'feel your pain' and allow you to spend a little money now rather than a lot later. If nothing else, they understanding spending three hundred bucks now as opposed to three hundred thousand later.

Finance types, Controllers in particular (and I'm making Marc fidget and he'll chime in) are loathe to allow HR Managers to contact labor attorneys about ANYTHING. Hopefully they are not in your food chain. They see this as getting in a stationary taxi and letting the meter run while the passenger files his nails. Nothing could be more wrong-headed. Getting attorneys involved in training and avoidance periodically saves a company's bacon.

Try this. Tell the attorney, "Give me a price on two 40 minutes presentations on sexual harassment. Including case law, awards, how to avoid. company and individual liability and what supervisors should know. And then I want you to throw a third one in for the same price. E-mail me a simple rough draft of your seminar agenda. I'm shopping."

marc · January 2005

Ok, I am fidgeting, but perhaps not in the way you imagined. Having been high enough in the food chain to have overseen a couple of labor law litigations, and having had to arrive at a "contingent liability" number for financial statements on more than one occasion, I am a big beleiver in gleaning expertise from those who have it.

Amazingly enough, those contingent liability accruals have a significant impact on discretionary bonuses. For any level of management that gets in on that pot of dough at the end of an accounting cycle, and sees how their personal share gets reduced, you make an unforgettable event that they will strive very hard to never repeat.

Talk about an effective training tool!

Dutch2 · January 2005

I must agree with the above. I have personally given dozens of these seminars/training classes over the years, but we seem to always have the best results when we bring in the "expert" from outside the company. You know those that live at least 30 miles away and carry a briefcase with them when they arrive and you have to pay them to do again what you have already done. I try to have someone from outside the company come in every two or three years just to really push the message home and then I fill in with the training courses each year in between.
Good Luck.....

System · January 2005

JF12, if you're anywhere near Chicago, you could try the lawyers who write Illinois Employment Law Letter:
[url]http://www.EmployersCounsel.net/bios/ilemp.shtml[/url]

James Sokolowski
HRhero.com

Don D · January 2005

James: That makes me wonder. Whatever happened to the attorneys who would post answers when people from their states posed questions? It's odd that they all disappeared about the same time. What's the (real) scoop on that?

Harassment

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