Thisheightened awareness of sexual harassment comes with tradeoffs: 60percent of male managers said they are uncomfortable mentoring,socializing with or even working alone with women in the workplace.(Photo: Shutterstock)

The beginning of the #MeToo movement in the fall of 2017 was awatershed moment for the issue of workplace sexual harassment. Overthe past 18 months, awareness has increased, complaints to the U.S.Equality Opportunity Employment Commission (EEOC) have risen andmany employers have enacted or updated workplace policies.

Most people agree the movement was long overdue. But has thependulum now swung too far in the other direction?

“I think there is good and bad,” said Denise Dudley, abehavioral psychologist and speaker in Southern California whowrote the book “Work It! Get In, Get Noticed, Get Promoted”. “Wecertainly have a heightened sense of what sexual harassment is. Weunderstand now that it's not just a man saying something as a womanwalks by on the way to a meeting. It's other things, too.

Related: New York and California take the lead on sexualharassment training. Who will follow?

“Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, which has been out since1964, says that sexual harassment has to be something that isunwelcome, severe and pervasive. How many times did it happen?”

EEOC statistics for fiscal year 2018 reveal how much things havechanged in the #MeToo era:

• The agency received 7,609 complaints, which was a 13.6 percentincrease from the previous year.
• Overall, workers filed 76,418 workplace harassment complaintsof all types.
• Nearly $70 million was recovered for complainants, up from$47.5 million a year earlier.
• Women accounted for around 85 percent of sexual harassmentcomplaints.

This heightened awareness, however, comes with tradeoffs. Sixtypercent of male managers said they are uncomfortable mentoring,socializing with or even working alone with women in the workplace,according to the website LeanIn.org. This is up 46 percent from the previousyear.

“The bad thing that is happening now is that I hear all of thesemen saying, `I don't think I can even talk to a woman' or 'I'm noteven going to have meetings with a woman in my office, becauseshe's going to say I harassed her',” Dudley said. “None of thatwould be sexual harassment unless you did something severe or keptcoming on to somebody.” Most employers likely are aware of thepotentially high cost of workplace harassment.

“If you get slammed with even one sexual harassment lawsuit,even if you have insurance, I guarantee that you and your HRdepartment will spend a lot of time on it,” Dudley said. “It costsyou in time and people if you any type of complaint.”

Employers may be less aware of other costs.

“There is a real cost, but there also are hidden costs thatmight not surface for a while,” she said. “What I see isorganizations not wanting to hire other organizations that have badreputations in this area. First, if you are a decent person, youwouldn't want to support someone who isn't decent. Second, theydon't want their own reputation tarnished. “The Internet andTwitter have changed so many things. Your workers can head to thebreakroom and say, `Guess what my supervisor just said about me”and post it on Glassdoor or wherever. That can be either good orbad.”

What practical steps should employers take to ensure they aredoing the right thing, both legally and from a human perspective?Dudley makes these recommendations:

Consider all employees. “We need to get aroundto understanding that the #MeToo movement is good for men, too. Howdid we get on the opposite team here? My male friends are decentenough to know that sexual harassment prevention training is goodfor everyone, including men. The good part is that we are aware ofit and have created vehicles by which anyone who is being harassedcan actually have a voice to register a complaint or observationwithout fear of retaliation.”

Revisit existing policies. “Most businesses,because of all this attention, have gone back and said, 'What areour policies?' A lot of organizations are on alert and have beenable to create a better system by which you can, if you have aproblem, register a complaint.”

Spell it out. “It needs to be really easy tounderstand. Put it in plain English. Mention Title VII, which sayssexual harassment is illegal under federal law. This needs to beeasy for someone to read and understand. It should be posted inplaces where people actually congregate.”

Personalize it. “I believe organizations shouldwrite their own policy. Take the law, but make it personal: 'Wehere at this company do not tolerate such and such. Here is what wedo.' Put it into user-friendly verbiage. If the employers wrote it,it means they understand it and endorse it rather than just puttingup a poster they never read.”

Start at the top. “The leaders have to know it,endorse it and spread it. If it's a personal thing our companywrote, it implies that we all agree with this.”

The #MeToo movement set in motion a nationwide discussion andcontributed to countless positive changes. The next step is to makesure that current sexual harassment policies are in place andunderstood by everyone to create a safe, welcoming workplace forall employees.

“My biggest takeaway right now is that everybody needs to calmdown and think about treating each other with kindliness,friendliness and equality,” Dudley said. “We all need to treat eachother as equals. Try to get back to an environment where we're notadversarial but all on the same team.”

Read more: 

• How CEOs have adapted in the #MeTooera
• 5 questions to help guide the overhaul of yoursexual harassment policies
• Constructing a workplace environment that rejectssexual harassment