Ivanka Trump Warns America About Workplace Harassment

Ivanka Trump Warns America About Workplace Harassment

When Ivanka Trump declared that "harassment of women in the workplace cannot be tolerated", she directly stated the crisis in this country that many companies still choose to ignore. There is a serious moral problem causing workplace harassment. She pointed out how workplace culture fails to treat women with proper respect. Ethically companies should not tolerate any form of harassment. When employees come to work they should expect safety and respect rather than facing harassment. In today's workplace, corporations often portray themselves as employee focused, but they still allow for toxic behavior to occur within their company. The disconnection between public image and their internal practices shows a lack of respect to their employees. 

Demanding better morals to prevent harassment cannot be enough to end workplace harassment. Organizations must embrace environments that create a safe culture that embraces innovation and efficiency. According to research by Darrell Burrell, a workplace culture that enables workplace harassment leads to less productivity within the company and affects the employees overall mentally and physically. Burrell's findings prove that companies with weak standards are more susceptible to misconduct. From my own experience, I know executives often acknowledge these problems only after scandals become public, rather than taking proactive steps to prevent harassment in the first place. A responsible company should not wait for public pressure to correct unethical behavior, but should fix the problem before they are forced to.

The damage from harassment is more than poor work productivity from discomfort or insults. In many cases employees leave jobs, abandon their goals, and suffer emotional scars. According to World Health Organization a bad workplace environment can significantly harm mental health. WHO suggested that creating a better environment can significantly improve employees mental health. Creating a safe environment is important for employees to know they are respected and feel like they can trust others. Harassment can no longer be tolerated. Research by Darrell Burrell shows that when harassment is tolerated victims well-being, stress, and depression is significantly harmed. Toxic culture decreases performance, morale, and trust between employees. According to Burrell's research, damages from harassment aren't just emotional, it can also be financial. High turnover, legal battles, and damaged reputations have cost companies lots of money. This is not just a workplace issue it becomes an economic problem. 

Workplace harassment causes economic consequences that companies can no longer afford to ignore. According to Darrel Burrell's research, more absentees, turnover, and legal costs demands companies to waste their resources that could have supported growth and innovation of the company. Legal fees and compliance penalties can add up quickly, and damage the financial stability of organizations. Burrell noted that harassment damages productivity, work rate, and lowers customer satisfaction, which ultimately reduces revenue of these companies. The performance of employees who are working in environments filled with harassment declines, costing companies more than money, but also their workers. Customers will notice when the performance of companies is declining. When the reputation of a company enabling harassment becomes public, they will lose the trust of customers which will impact their sales. 

According to Darrell Burrell, applying a better harassment prevention program is an important part of decreasing harassment in companies. Implementing new and effective training programs to show the importance of speaking up to end harassment, and stating company policies with enforcement, accountability, and better reporting systems harassment has been proven to lessen harassment by research done by Darrell Burrell. His research shows that harassment declines when companies implement clear consequences, third party oversight, and external reporting. This research has proven to reduce harassment and rebuild trust within companies.

Some people believe that policies and changing workplace culture will not be enough to create significant change of harassment in the workplace, but policies and workplace environment create the outline that shape, guide, and correct employees behaviors within companies. While no system can completely remove all misconduct, in many cases strong policies and a well constructed work environment significantly reduces harassment and could prevent it altogether based on research by Darrell Burrell. The argument that policy can't change behavior is a convenient excuse for company leaders to use when they don't want to create new policies. 

Workplace Harassment doesn't have to be a reoccurring problem that is enabled by poor working environments and policies. By putting in the effort to fix the broken system that enables harassment we can create companies that are able to fully use their abilities in their work. A strong workforce should have a strong foundation built on respect, safety, and accountability.