Unions form because employees feel managers are treating them badly. This is also the #1 reason that employees quit their jobs. It is crucial to implement and educate your staff on harassment prevention. Additionally, improving the workplace environment will not only improve retention, but it will also combat union formation. This can save the company thousands.
Train Management on Positive Employee Relations
Cultivating a positive workplace is essential to avoiding union formation. First and foremost, it addresses the employee’s feelings of unfairness.
Keep your employees highly engaged. Engaged employees are 87% less likely to leave their companies.
Next, create a partnership with your employees. Employees that feel valued are more likely to stay with the company. They also feel positive about their work.
- Allowing employees flexible work schedules.
- Pay employees to volunteer with a favorite charity.
- Allow for extended maternity leave.
- Reward high-performance employees with more vacation time.
- Social networking opportunities.
Harassment in the workplace can sometimes be difficult to identify. It doesn’t always include physical violence. According to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), workplace harassment includes offensive jokes and name-calling. It also includes slurs, physical assaults, ridicule, and offensive objects or pictures.
Types of Harassment
There are many types of workplace harassment. These include verbal harassment, physical harassment, sexual harassment.
Verbal harassment is consists of demeaning remarks, offensive gestures, and unreasonable criticism. It involves insults, unwanted “jokes”, slurs and hurtful comments.
This is one of the most difficult to recognize since there is no physical violence. It can take the form of yelling, cursing or inappropriate jokes. “
Psychological harassment consists of exclusionary tactics like withholding information. This mentally breaks down the victim.
Psychological harassment can also appear as taking credit for someone’s achievements. Impossible demands are another form of harassment.
Digital harassment (Cyberbullying)
Digital harassment is the latest form of harassment. It can take many forms from threats of demeaning comments on social media.
Unfortunately, social media harassment is very common in the workplace. People feel free to be meaner behind a computer screen.
This harassment is easily proven. Take screenshots and save emails on your personal computer. Essentially, you should keep a file of everything possible.
Unwanted gestures will be physical harassment. It can show up as touching an employee’s clothing, hair or skin or even take the form of assault.
If a situation becomes violent, employees should call 911 immediately. Employees should not intervene in the situation.
40% of female respondents and 14% of male respondents have experienced sexual harassment in the workplace.
Sexual harassment includes unwanted sexual advances and inappropriate touching. Sexual jokes and favors fall in the category of sexual harassment.
Often sexual harassment is disguised as inoffensive comments or mild banter. These are often accompanied by sexual gestures or tones. Ultimately, this can make it easy for predators to get away with their conduct.
Addressing Harassment Positively
The best way to avoid unions is to create a culture where leaders meet employee needs. This eliminates the reason for them to seek help from a third party.
Many unions claim that approaching management is a waste of time because the employer doesn’t care. But with strong leaders and good communication, you can build trust with your employees.
Open-door policies, good communication skills, and employee engagement are vital to building a union-proof culture. Once leaders are effective, employees feel comfortable addressing any issue at any time with them.
Steps to take:
- Implement Workplace Harassment Training
- Warn Employees of Consequences of Harassment
- Give Employees Warnings to Let Them Know When Behavior is Unacceptable
Harassment Prevention Training
Preventing unions from forming will save you time and money in the long term. If you make a point to address employee concerns fairly and reasonably, you can prevent unionization.
Unions target organizational weaknesses and employee fears. This comes in the form of job security, safety, training needs, compensation, working conditions, and decision-making fairness.
Unions can cost companies quite a bit of money. A union’s presence and external activities negatively impact business and job security.
Businesses can expect to spend $400,000 to over $2,000,000 on a single unionization campaign. Costs of unionization include attorney’s fees, travel expenses, and video presentations. It additionally includes lost productivity.
Check out the Respectful Workplace today to get cost-effective workplace harassment prevention training for employees and managers.