Sexual Harassment: Assessing the Need for Corporate Policies in the Workplace

Sexual harassment is more than a social issue; it impacts on worker productivity, employee communication and organizational morale. These are direct costs to industry, combined with indirect costs such as worker discontent, absenteeism and stress. Discusses the challenge for management to respond to educating employees before charges are filed; this includes policies, training programmes and punitive measures. Cites the controversial nomination of US Supreme Court Justice, Clarence Thomas, which galvanized women′s groups, who believe that he had engaged in prior harassment of an assistant, as a case study worthy of examination. In addition, a survey of several hundreds of men and women underscores differences in how gender affects attitudes towards appropriate behaviour in the work setting.