Sexual harassment awareness in the workplace: An infographic

The law offices of Frank Nicholas handle sexual harassment cases, and felt it was important to share what they've learned with small businesses, including dental offices. Some dentist bosses may not be aware of the consequences, or even that they are heading down the road of sexual harassment.

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According to an article by Viki Mason on franknicholas.com, "In recent years countries around the globe have put laws in place to protect women from sexual harassment, but ironically, a surprising number are unaware of those measures. According to a report by AWARE, 67% of people polled were not aware that mechanisms even exist for redress of sexual harassment in their workplaces. Some workers, particularly men aren’t even aware of the ways in which sexual harassment occurs." The four most common kinds are shown in the infographic.

The article goes on to say, "In order to differentiate between a compliment on your new hair-do and an incident of sexual harassment, you must know two key factors – that the language or behavior used causes you to feel offended, demeaned, or compromised in some way, and that the behavior does not stop when you make your objections known to the offender and tell him/her to stop."

"People who are in supervisory positions should know that their relationship with employees has nothing to do with sex. It is their obligation to behave professionally at all times in order to protect themselves, their company, and their employees from embarrassment and scandal. When people behave professionally at all times at work or when dealing with co-workers in other settings, problems rarely occur."

To read Ms. Mason's article, visit franknicholas.com/sexual-harassment.