Sexual harrassment in the workplace Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Sexual harrassment in the workplace - Article Example The writer believes that sexual harassment is a costly matter at company level and on a personal level for the victims. Consequences companies can face are in three levels: business consequences, legal consequences and personal consequences. Business consequences are such as low productivity among staff members. Sexual harassment reduces the victims’ morale. Some victims who were valuable to the company end up resigning from their jobs. Companies would also have to deal with unnecessary operational costs. In a hypothetical situation, these costs are identifiable when a senior member of the staff in the company goes on a business trip with a junior staff member. The senior member wants the junior member to satisfy their sexual needs and work related obligations. In that case, the cost incurred in funding the junior member’s trip is a waste of company resources (Prekel, 2010). The writer argues that the consequences also extend to a company’s reputation. For exampl e, the writer postulates a situation whereby somebody discovers that a company has cases of sexual harassment. The person finds out again that the management of that the company is lax in dealing with the harassment cases. The writer states that this revelation would dent the company’s image among clients and the public. Consequences under legal actions are such as costs the company will have to incur in litigation. By law, employers should account for any cases of sexual harassment under their purview regardless of their knowledge or ignorance of sexual harassment at the workplace. Another possible consequence could be that a harasser who has faced disciplinary action can take advantage of the fact that, the company does not have a clear sexual harassment policy to challenge the action taken against him. This reaction means that the company would have to incur the cost of defending their action in a court of law financially. On a personal level, victims get