Achieving a Respectful Workplace will discuss, but not focus on, blatant examples of harassment or legal issues. Instead, it will focuses on how to prevent and stop today's subtle and complex harassment, retaliation and illegal discrimination situations. Diversity and inclusion as well as micro-inequities in the workplace are also covered. The course is broken into several modules for easy navigation and understanding. A bookmarking feature is available to enable participants to take the course in more than one sitting.

This course will:

• Increase the employee’s understanding of the organization’s harassment and discrimination policy and complaint process
• Provide methods to identify unacceptable behaviors in the workplace
• Dramatize the impacts of harassment
• Explain how employer can help if an employee is a recipient of prohibited behavior
• Demonstrate techniques for personally stopping prohibited behavior
• Teach how to recognize and prevent retaliation

In addition, employees will understand the business case for diversity as illustrated by the changing population in the U.S. and be able to define diversity, inclusion and micro-inequities.

Diversity, Inclusion & Micro-inequities
The changing population in our country sets the stage for co-workers to become more knowledgeable and comfortable in dealing with differences. Being uninformed can lead to confusion and exclusion and cause barriers in the workplace and lower productivity. This module focuses on key definitions and how greater understanding can lead to mutual cooperation, collaboration and support.

Law’s Impact on Employer’s Harassment Policy
Most employees do not know that an employer’s harassment and discrimination policy is usually rooted in overlapping federal, state, and local employment laws and in court decisions interpreting these laws. During this module employees will learn the impact of employment laws and court decisions on employer’s discrimination and harassment policies and definitions of relevant legal terms. Federal law prohibits employment discrimination based on these protected characteristics: Race • Religion • Color • National Origin • Sex • Age • Disability • Pregnancy • Other Protected Charactersitics.

Federal law prohibits employment discrimination in: Recruitment • Hiring • Wages • Assignment • Promotions • Benefits • Discharge • Layoffs.

Courts interpret and apply these laws to determine if they have been violated. Most employers write and update their harassment policies and complaint procedures based in part on employment laws and court decisions. The employer’s harassment policy, not employees’ personal comfort, determines what behaviors are prohibited in the workplace. Policy or no policy, to realistically assist employers in achieving a harassment-free workplace, all employees must self-manage their behavior.

Employer’s Policy
All employees are expected to maintain a workplace free from discrimination and harassment. In this module, employees are provided with a copy of your organization’s harassment and discrimination policy and contact information.

Subtle to Hostile Work Environment Sexual Harassment
The employer’s policy against harassment provides guidance on types of prohibited behavior, but it does not identify every behavior. During this module, employees learn two methods for recognizing subtle sexual harassment and see how subtle sexual harassment can escalate and create a hostile environment.

The first method for recognizing subtle sexual harassment is the impact not intention of behavior concept. It asks people to identify the impact of their behavior instead of focusing on their intentions for doing that behavior.

The three-step process is an objective method for analyzing behavior to determine whether it has crossed the line when the recipient of the behavior has not said “stop” or “that is unwelcome.”

The three-step process, like any behavior assessment model or management technique, has exceptions. But it does provide a fairly objective method for recognizing subtle unwelcome behavior when no one has said “stop.”

Protected Characteristics Harassment
Sexual harassment is only one form of illegal discrimination and harassment that is prohibited by federal, state, and local employment law and by your organization’s policies as well. Individuals are protected from harassment and discrimination in the workplace based on any number of attributes known as protected characteristics. In this module employees learn how to recognize and prevent protected characteristics harassment.

How to Stop Prohibited Behavior
Employees learn that retaliation is not tolerated and that there are methods: being direct, I understand, but stop…, and personal coaching, for personally stopping prohibited behavior. Additionally employees learn how your organization can help if they are receiving prohibited behavior.

How to Recognize and Prevent Retaliation
In this module employees learn:

• How to identify and prevent subtle retaliation
• Reasons retaliation may occur
• The legal basis of retaliation
• Employers often have their own rules that prohibit retaliation against someone who files a discrimination harassment complaint or participates in an internal investigation