If you experience sexual harassment or witness it, you should make a report to the appropriate official. You do not have to report the incident to your supervisor first, especially if that is the person doing the harassing. Before you report a problem, you might want to try some self-help techniques, using the DO’s and DON’Ts listed below. If you do follow these self-help suggestions, remember that sexual harassment is an organizational problem, and the employer wants to know about it so it can take prompt and appropriate action to ensure that no further incidents occur, with the present victim or other employees, in the future. Report incidents immediately, especially if they are recurring. Employees who promptly report harassing conduct can help their organization as well as themselves. One comprehensive survey by the American Management Association reported that roughly two-thirds of internal reports result in some kind of discipline being imposed on the alleged harasser, with even more internal reports resulting in either discipline or counseling.
Do
- Admit that a problem exists
- Tell the offender specifically what you find offensive
- Tell the offender that his or her behavior is bothering you
- Say specifically what you want or don’t want to happen, such as “please call me by my name not Honey,” or “please don’t tell that kind of joke in front of me.”
Don't
- Blame yourself for someone else’s behavior, unless it truly is inoffensive
- Choose to ignore the behavior, unless it is truly inoffensive
- Try to handle any severe or recurring harassment problem by yourself -- get help.
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