A powerful man takes advantage of his power to say or do things to young women around him that make them feel uncomfortable, vulnerable and violated. You’ve likely heard this story countless times before. And you’ve probably heard the same response from the accused before too. In the most recent case to hit the headlines, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo—like so many before him—pointed to generational and cultural differences in the workforce, apologizing and explaining that he was just being “playful” and that he “means no offense and only attempt to add some levity and banter to what is a very serious business.”
Generational and cultural differences are certainly a factor in this instance, as they are in most workplace situations. But things are changing. We are a society in flux. What was accepted even five years ago is no longer acceptable, and younger workers have higher expectations around respect, equity, and inclusion. They are speaking out and walking out to protest harassment, bias, and discrimination.
These new workforce dynamics are accelerating change. We now have activist shareholder lawsuits and new environmental, social, and governance (ESG) reporting metrics to create accountability. As we saw with Activision Blizzard, activist shareholders are demanding accountability for harassment and discrimination in a way that employers have not experienced before. At the same time, investors and other stakeholders are starting to require accountability through annual ESG reporting. We’re in a new era, with more accountability than ever before.
Here are four steps leaders can take right away to adapt.
Listen to employee perceptions on problematic workforce behaviors
There are always telling signs of toxic workplace culture. For example, when employees don’t feel empowered to say “no” to a manager. Perhaps people don’t feel like their leadership will respond to reported bad behavior, or that managers get away with bad behavior because of their authority. There are probably a handful of diagnostic questions you can ask employees, and, if they have an opportunity to answer safely (meaning, anonymously), their answers are very telling. But you can’t fix what you don’t measure. You can’t improve dynamics that aren’t visible, so the first step is to make problematic workforce behaviors visible at scale so business leaders can proactively change behaviors. Do you want to know what your workplace culture really is? Just ask.
Connect diversity and inclusion programs to respect (anti-harassment) programs
Governor Cuomo called out generational and cultural differences and he’s right. We have deep generational differences dividing our workforces. We also have gender, racial and cultural differences. Putting aside inappropriate physical behavior, which is pretty obvious and clear-cut, it’s hard to be sure you’re being respectful when different types of people have different views on what is “respectful.”
The law calls for a “reasonable person” standard. But what makes it reasonable for Gen Z, Millennials, and Gen X? Different life experiences mean that we interpret situations differently. For example, I’ve had several conversations with people who don’t see the offense in touching another person’s hair—or even believe that it really happens to people, typically people of color. I’ve had other conversations about when conduct is severe enough to create a toxic workplace. For younger workers, just one overly personal conversation is enough to create a toxic workplace, while a Gen Xer may shrug off the conversation as awkward and move on. Our different life experiences and perspective influence what we deem “respectful.”
As a result, we need to start approaching respect and harassment as interconnected to diversity and differences and start making everyone aware of how their co-workers view different actions and situations, and the differences in how people determine what is acceptable or not.
Teach every leader how to use their power responsibly
Understanding the implications of power is a core requirement for any leader and all too often, employers don’t think to train them.
Most, if not all, harassment situations involve an abuse of power. Most people accused of harassment don’t intend to harass their coworkers. They’re just not switching their perspective and thinking about the situation from a subordinate employee’s view. It’s too simplistic to say that harassment is always a case of right and wrong. There are a thousand shades of gray and it’s relatively easy for any leader to find themselves in a personal conversation with a subordinate that quickly becomes overly personal, awkward, and uncomfortable for the subordinate employee.
A typical power dynamic issue is when a manager/leader has a conversation about someone’s dating life. Or unthinkingly being candid about their personal situation. In the case of Cuomo, he shared that he was lonely. That could have come up in a casual conversation about the pandemic and the lockdown when everyone was lonely and feeling isolated. It would have been common for a manager to chime in and not realize their comment could be interpreted differently since it’s coming from someone in power. As a person in power, anything you say or ask is viewed by the subordinate employee in the context of the power dynamics and the job. So a casual comment about being lonely gets viewed as, “I want to date you,” or “I need your company because I’m lonely.”
Managers need to remember that a subordinate employee could be afraid to say “no” and will interpret all comments as a directive since they have no power. To redirect the conversation, leaders need to teach employees (and model the behavior) to say: “This is kind of awkward. Can we get back to work?”
Establish defined norms of behavior for all parts of the employee experience
Establishing clear norms of behavior in the employee experience is probably the most critical activity to creating a respectful, harassment-free workplace culture. This entails more than general and vague policies and procedures that people glance at during the hiring process.
Clarity means specifically detailing and modeling how people should act in all the primary touchpoints of the employee experience. Create specific expectations of employee behavior in order to foster a very specific workplace culture. For example, is there a specific method or language you want people to use when they find behavior rude or offensive? Or, is there a specific method people should use to de-escalate employee conflict? How about informing managers of problems? Invest the time to create clear behavioral norms and then model those behaviors so people gain trust that they know and can rely on those workplace guidelines.
The world is changing. Our workforce is changing. The levers of employer accountability are changing. Creating a workplace culture that is inclusive, respectful, and empowers employees to speak up about problem behaviors takes a consistent effort. But that effort will allow everyone to avoid repeating the “same old story.”
Janine Yancey is the founder and CEO of Emtrain.
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