Preventing Alabama Workplace Harassment and Discrimination

What Can I Do to Prevent Discrimination and Harassment?

Although it has been addressed by many employers, it is a sad fact that workplace harassment and discrimination has continued into the 21st Century. Just because other businesses allow it to happen, however, that is not a reason to allow it to take place in your own company. Preventing discrimination and harassment can not only save your company a great deal of money in avoiding law suits or mediation but also ensures your employees have a safe, productive environment in which to work.

While some people may seek to harass and discriminate against others, it is all-too-often a subconscious action that many managers and employees do not even realize they are doing it. This is where proper training and coaching comes in to help prevent and handle hostile or discriminatory conditions in the workplace. An experienced Alabama corporate diversity trainer can help ensure your employees have a safe workplace to come to each day and help keep you and your managers out of the courtroom. 

Call the Guster Law Firm, LLC today at (205) 581-9777 to speak to an experienced trainer and discuss coaching and mediation options for your business.

Preventing Hostile Working Conditions Proactively

The best way to combat a hostile work environment is to get ahead of the situation and avoid it in the first place. Proactive steps can be taken during hiring and initial training to make sure your business is a place where your employees feel safe and confident to arrive each day. The best time to train your managers and employees on how to handle and avoid discrimination and harassment is before any complaints are filed. You certainly want to react to complaints appropriately, but it is better to get ahead of them and make sure there is no reason for a complaint to begin with.

An experienced Alabama corporate diversity trainer can work with your managers and other staff to discuss appropriate language and behavior in the workplace. This is especially beneficial for employees who may unknowingly say things or act in a way that is inappropriate. Such harassment may not be malicious, but it can be just as damaging to the health and safety of a work environment. Proper training before a complaint can also help protect your company against liability should an issue arise.

Holistic Prevention of Harassment and Discrimination

Proper prevention of workplace discrimination and harassment permeates each aspect of a business, and that is where a holistic approach truly shines. It begins with proper hiring practices and evaluations of prospective employees. Background checks can help ensure you hire new employees who do not have extensive histories of complaints against them for discrimination or harassment. Training of new employees, including diversity coaching, makes sure those who work for you understand that they are entering a workplace in which each person should feel safe and comfortable.

You also want to ensure there is open and meaningful communication throughout your business. Employees should feel safe to approach managers or supervisors with any issue and should understand who to go to should their immediate supervisor be part of the problem. Creating an environment of trust and communication, free of retaliation, is essential for ensuring your employees feel safe. When termination of employment is necessary for any reason, it is vital that discrimination and harassment still be kept in mind. Whoever handles termination must do so in a way that demonstrates that it is being done for reasons that are fair and equitable, without any indication of preferential treatment for anyone or discrimination against anyone.

Is Mediation an Option?

In many instances in which workers have complaints, mediation can be a productive and successful process to avoid a civil claim in a courtroom. A skilled Alabama mediator can work with both parties in a dispute and help resolve the issue in a way that both find equitable. Such a mediator may also be able to provide additional coaching and training to avoid future conflicts and disputes, not only between those two parties but with other employees as well. The Guster Law Firm, LLC offers mediation services and diversity training to resolve conflicts and help avoid animosity in the future.

The prevention of workplace harassment and discrimination requires a top-down approach that permeates every facet of a business or organization. Supervisors and managers who are properly coached and trained know not only how to avoid discriminatory practices, but can help guide other employees to be inclusive and create a safe and productive environment.

Call the Guster Law Firm, LLC today at (205) 581-9777 to talk about our corporate diversity training options and make sure your employees have the workplace they deserve.