← Back to the Blog

Is This Love? At Work, It Might Be Harassment

Most employers (and, we would hope, their employees) have an understanding of what sexual harassment is.

Legal definitions and consequences have created some very clear, black-and-white explanations of what is and is not permissible in a workplace (and that is to say nothing about the ethical side of these behaviors). Quid-pro-quo harassment, retaliation, intimidation, and unwanted advances are all in the “obvious” category of inappropriate and actionable behavior. Our focus here, however, is on a different kind of sexual harassment entirely: the hostile work environment.

In many cases, “hostile” does not mean the overtly inappropriate situation it might imply. It’s less common that a leering, creepy coworker will offend other employees than it is that more subtle actions—often unintended—will make others uncomfortable. The dating coworkers who share a quick kiss in the office might not mean anything by it, but other employees are trying to get their work done and may very well find the display inappropriate. The key to addressing situations like this is to have a clear, thorough, documented harassment policy and to ensure that everyone receives training and fully understands it.

What Makes a Hostile Work Environment?

As The Blueprint points out, the hostile work environment is not necessarily always sexual in nature. Similarly, sexual harassment (and its many forms) doesn’t always come in the form of a supervisor inflicting harassment on a subordinate. So, what counts, exactly? The answer is that it’s not exact—it largely depends on the sensibilities of your own employees. However, for the purposes of creating an ironclad policy that creates a fair, clear idea of which behaviors to avoid, let’s attempt to define the behaviors that contribute to a hostile work environment.

Romantic relationships: Generally speaking, romantic relationships between leadership and subordinates are often considered inappropriate, due to the potential for conflict of interest and discord it may cause among employees. Some organizations create a disclosure policy, in which HR is aware of those relationships. Others allow them while requiring a “dating contract” that enforces against preferential treatment. However you choose to deal with relationships in the office, the issues of fairness and conflict of interest must remain at the forefront.

But beyond those matters, there is still the issue of the hostile work environment. Even if HR is aware of an interoffice romantic relationship, how does that benefit the employee who is distracted or grossed out by a couple using pet names for each other within earshot? Should other employees have to sit there and listen while two romantically involved colleagues discuss plans for their next date? And what about physical displays of affection? In one California grocery store, an employee received a write-up for hugging his girlfriend, also an employee, on the premises on Valentine’s Day. All it took was a complaint from one employee who felt uncomfortable about the exchange and felt it wasn’t appropriate in a place of business.

Your harassment policy should have clear guidelines speaking to all of these factors. In the example above, all parties involved would have benefited from a clear understanding of what kind of behavior was and wasn’t appropriate.

Individual behavior: A hostile work environment doesn’t need an interpersonal interaction to exist. The actions of an individual, even if they don’t directly involve a colleague, can still have a distracting or offending effect. Take, for example, an employee who brings in a “pin-up girls” calendar for his personal workspace. Though he is not sharing it with anyone nor asking anyone to look at it, the fact is that it is in a place where others may see it. An even more egregious example would be an employee who views sexual or pornographic material on their computer during their break. Just because they do not intend for others to partake or notice their behavior does not excuse it—both are categorically inappropriate.

Your harassment policy needs to strictly and explicitly forbid such individual behavior. Not only do these examples (and others like them) violate the use of company property or company premises rules (read how you can manually restrict such behavior here), but more importantly, they do contribute to a hostile work environment by introducing an unwanted experience that is sexual in nature.

Jokes: If anything is subjective, it’s our sense of humor. Is it possible that a PG-13 joke won’t offend anyone within earshot? Of course. But it only takes a complaint from one person who finds a joke distasteful to turn the mood. And there are many reasons an employee might not like a joke. Does the joke involve gender sidelining or disrespect toward a group of people (these jokes are often marked by the use of stereotypical language or imagery)? Is the joke overtly sexual? Or, worse yet, does the joke target another employee? Often, someone might say something truly hurtful only to attempt to cover it up with, “I was only joking!” It obviously depends on how the subject of the joke took it, right?

Your harassment policy needs to include language that explicitly states jokes of this nature are not to be tolerated. But, because of the large gray area that can be involved in something as subjective as humor, there is more to do. An anonymous reporting mechanism should be standard.

One of the most important tools at your disposal when it comes to creating a safe and comfortable work environment is the ability to anonymously report to HR, management, or other leadership personnel if an employee is feeling harassed or that the workplace is hostile. By creating a sexual harassment policy that covers not only the most obvious instances of harassment, but also accounts for other, less blatant behaviors, you can protect your people from harm while also providing yourself against legal action.

---

---