Harassment prevention training is a critically important component of an organization’s plan to prevent discrimination and harassment in the workplace. Workplace discrimination and harassment can lead to lawsuits that can do serious damage to a company’s finances and reputation.
Importance of Anti-Discrimination Training
Anti-discrimination training protects your business from disputes involving harassment, discrimination, and violation of federal and state laws governing the treatment of employees and coworkers in the workplace. It does this by
- Educating employees and managers on proper workplace conduct,
- Preventing discrimination and harassment, and
- Reducing the likelihood and/or success of harassment and/or discrimination claims and lawsuits.
Training should be done early—such as when new employees are hired—and then periodically afterward. Both employees and managers should be well versed in these issues in order to prevent lawsuits and decrease liability in the future.
Aspects of Effective Training
To be truly effective, anti-harassment training needs to be clear and straightforward. It should also include the following:
- Coverage of federal and state anti-discrimination laws
- Descriptions of what constitutes harassment and discrimination
- Connections to company policies, i.e. how a non-harassment workplace would look in your particular company
- Rights of employees, including confidentiality and protection against retaliation
- Rights of employers and managers
- Policies regarding treatment of co-workers, reporting misconduct, and so forth
- Benefits of an anti-discrimination, non-harassment culture in the workplace
In addition to the actual content, the manner of presentation is also important. Interactive teaching is best for maximum engagement and retention, ensuring that everyone involved gets the most they possibly can from the training.
Skilled Harassment Prevention & Anti-Discrimination Training Services
Harassment prevention training is often best done by an outside party because it limits issues of company bias while providing keen insight on key issues. Employment attorneys will have extensive experience with the legal side of discrimination and harassment issues, allowing them to provide highly effective anti-discrimination/anti-harassment training to your management personnel and employees.
At Simon Paschal, our experienced employment attorneys lead our anti-discrimination training program “Legally Speaking,” a highly engaging training program that is tailored to your specific company. For more information on “Legally Speaking,” contact our attorneys today.
