Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Lawyers Believe Recession Could See A Spike In Sexual Harassment Claims

Sexual Harassment on the rise? What more do beleaguered employees and employers need?


In Human Resources Magazine, Sian Ryan, an associate in the employment group at Turner Freeman Lawyers, states there can be an increase in genuine sexual harassment, with perpetrators motivated by fear. Meanwhile, some victims of sexual harassment may simply be afraid to speak up out of concern for their job in the current climate, and not wanting to "rock the boat".

Joydeep Hor, managing partner of Harmers Workplace Lawyers, added that it was likely that in a high pressure environment there will also be a spike in legitimate claims of non-sexual forms of harassment, due to managers being required to performance-manage more rigorously than they otherwise would. "That performance management can easily be interpreted as bullying and harassment by employees," he said.

Read the complete article.

Sexual harassment is more than a legal issue. It is fundamentally a behavioral problem. How do you take on the behavioral challenge? Arm your employees and managers with the information they need to prevent sexual harassment and the tools that will help them to respond when incidents occur. Need training tools to keep it on the down side? See www.trainerstoolchest.com

Friday, April 17, 2009

Susan Boyle's "Surprise" Performance - Or Is Lookism Still Alive and Well?

Susan Boyle recently shocked the audience of Britain's Got Talent with her moving vocal
selection from Les Miserables. What was so shocking? Was it that she could sing and do it so well? Or was it that all us, the local and the national audience, never expected that beautiful voice to come out of the plain package presented before us? Watch Susan Boyle's moving performance.

Lookism and its real world impact has been a subject of study involving impressions, costs and lost and gained opportunities. Watch John Stossel tackle this subject head on in this compelling undercover camera segment called The Ugly Truth.

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Brown Eyes, Blue Eyes Exercise in Discimination Still Packs A Punch

Jane Elliott's brown eyes, blue eyes exercise is discrimination still packs a punch after all these years.

I recently came across this post in the Los Angeles Times written by a journalist who first saw Jane Elliott's exercise in discrimination as a 16-year old Korean adoptee of white parents, Jane's exercise had a transformative and lasting effect on her life.

"An Iowa teacher's 1960s classroom experiment on race changed my life. Now here I was, knocking on her door..."
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-blueeyes26-2009mar26,0,4792181.story


And Ms. Elliott has refocused her mission to include recent events such as the election of the first black president. How does that fit into her message?

If you're not familiar with her original classroom exercise or subsequent adult exercise, see www.trainerstoolchest.com
"An I"An Iowa teacher's 1960s classroom experiment on race changed my life. Now here I was, knocking on her door..."owa teacher's 1960s classroom experiment on race changed my life. Now here I was, knocking on her door..."