Harassment comes in many forms, and it is important to understand how to defend against them. Employers may have strategies and policies in place for dealing with workplace harassment. However, new ways of working remotely have allowed new angles of harassment in the digital sphere.
With enough awareness and documentation, you may curb harassment in the workplace and in the digital workspaces you and your peers share.
Be aware of the risk
As ADP discusses, instances of digital harassment are on the rise as more workplaces shift to remote work situations. Many employees introduce personal details about their life just by sitting in a Zoom call in their living room as opposed to a neutral meeting room. Details about a person’s religion, sexual orientation or gender identity may all show up in frame from personal decoration. Some employers or employees may harass others over these details through jokes or threats.
Document it
Digital tools are available to help you keep tabs on potential harassment. From screenshots to call recordings, you may be able to gather up sufficient evidence to support your claim.
Report it
Employers have a duty to enforce their harassment policies when broken, whether that harassment is physical threats, jokes or unwelcome, sexual conduct via text or pictures. With enough documentation, they may have methods of disciplining the offending employee or protecting a victim employee from further harassment.
When these methods fail, when employers do not pursue a solution or when employers are a part of the problem, there are other options to pursue justice.
