As the wave of #MeToo stories have come to light over the past year, it’s become painfully clear that whatever organizations are doing to try to prevent sexual harassment isn’t working.
To Combat Harassment, More Companies Should Try Bystander Training
Bystanders don’t always need to directly confront a harasser to have an impact.
October 31, 2018
ICHIRO/Getty Images
Summary.
Training bystanders how to recognize, intervene and show empathy to targets of sexual assault has been found to be an effective way to increase awareness and disrupt assaults before they happen. Now, some companies are trying to use bystander training to combat sexual harassment as well. This strategy recognizes that, when it comes to workplace culture, everyone is responsible for creating it, every day, in every interaction. Bystanders don’t need to directly confront a harasser to have an impact; using humor to call out bad behavior (“What year is it? 1970?”) or even just changing the subject can help. Then, you can decide how to escalate the situation to a supervisor or HR.