According to Pro-consulte, the platform for managing psychosocial risks at work, harassment is the 4th leading cause of workplace stress in France. While it accounts for only 8% of reported stress factors, it is the one with the most harmful psychosocial ramifications.
Workplace harassment is the deliberate creation of an atmosphere that makes you feel uncomfortable, intimidated, or offended. It undermines an employee’s dignity and creates a humiliating, intimidating, offensive, or hostile work environment. Harassment is a crime, and the employer is obligated to protect the physical and mental health of their employees and ensure their safety. It is the employer’s duty to prevent cases of professional harassment and to react promptly in the event of an incident.
Types of workplace harassment
Workplace harassment can take many forms, all of which are illegal and affect not only an employee’s well-being, workplace safety, and productivity but also harm the company’s brand image and professional reputation.
The following is a list of the most common forms of harassment that employees may encounter in the workplace :
- Moral harassment – repeated actions leading to a deterioration in the working environment (infringement on rights and dignity, harm to physical and mental health, threats to professional development).
- Verbally, this includes incessant criticism, repeated sarcasm; bullying, humiliation; slanderous remarks, insults, threats; or conversely, the refusal to communicate at all.
- In terms of directives, this includes sidelining the employee by progressively stripping them of their functions, prerogatives, and company-related information; giving no instructions or contradictory ones; depriving them of work or giving them an excessive and unreasonable workload; assigning meaningless tasks or tasks unrelated to their job functions.
2. Discriminatory Harassment – biased behavior towards a person due to their gender identity, sexual orientation, ethnic origins, religious beliefs, age, or disability.
3. Sexual harassment – unwanted sexual advances, including inappropriate touching and gestures, sexually charged jokes, questions, and remarks, sharing and posting of sexually suggestive photos or pornographic material, and sexual quid pro quo.
4. Cyberbullying – using digital technologies to engage in various forms of harassment, particularly via social media, emails, chats, or forums.
In addition to damaging the company’s reputation, workplace harassment has numerous negative effects on employees. It can lead to serious psychological problems, psychosomatic symptoms, and physiological disorders. Employers are obligated to put an end to any incidents of harassment occurring within the professional sphere, whether at work, during work-related events, business trips, or company-sponsored social events. Employers also bear full responsibility for preventing harassment within their company. Here are four practical and effective tips for preventing harassment in the workplace :
- Establish a zero-tolerance anti-harassment policy.
- Offer specialized courses explaining what constitutes unacceptable behavior in the workplace.
- Create a work environment in which harassment is unlikely to occur.
- Ensure that all employees clearly understand how to report harassment.
