Before social media, harassment, sexual or otherwise, was pretty much confined to office hours. Now, work and personal life have become so entangled that what happens at work no longer stays at work.
“Our employees are connected 24/7,” says Jeffrey Miller, labor and employment partner with Brennan, Manna & Diamond. “Our employees get to know more about each other than they should know.”
Speaking to a DisruptHR Cleveland audience, Miller offered a few real world examples of workers posting offensive or provocative content. “How many likes or comments or inappropriate comments does it take to create a hostile work environment?” he asked. “We speak in hieroglyphics. I can’t wait for my first emoji harassment case because I know it’s coming.”
“If you as an HR manager or as a supervisor are on the chain with offensive content on it, you could potentially be pulled into the situation,” he warned.
“We have to make sure that we’re able to prevent the harassment, to avoid the harassment, to minimize it,” Miller said.
His three step advice comes at the end of his 5 minute talk.
Note: In partnership with DisruptHR, TLNT presents some of the best Disrupt presentations from events across North America and now the world. Disrupt talks are modeled on the TEDx concept: Short, to the point talks on all things HR — talent, culture and technology.