In this week’s guest column, Kamael Ann Sugrim, Co-founder and COO of People First RH, explores the topic of workplace discrimination during the COVID-19 pandemic, and provides tips to help you keep your workplace safe and inclusive for all staff.
Life as we know it is changing rapidly as a result of the coronavirus (COVID-19). Cities, states and federal governments are taking drastic measures to curtail the spread of the virus and asking citizens to #stayathome as much as possible. In compliance with this, and for the safety of their employees, companies have asked staff to work from home, accelerating the already growing trend of remote work.
While this rapid shift to remote work has created many sudden organisational changes, employers should also be aware of the increased risks of workplace discrimination and harassment during this time. This may include disparaging comments about a person’s ethnic origin, cyberbullying, or disclosure of private information. It’s already been broadly reported that there has been increased racial discrimination targeting people of Chinese origin.
TOP ADVICE
We know it’s a challenging and overwhelming time for HR/DE&I leaders, so the team at People First RH offers three tips to help you keep your workplace safe and inclusive for all.
1. Review, update and reshare your policies
Now more than ever, employers need to reemphasise and reinforce a zero-tolerance approach to workplace discrimination and harassment. Ensure that your policies are up to date and include guidelines for remote working. In addition, broadly publicise your policies and train all staff, particularly managers, about their responsibility to identify and prevent discriminatory behavior. In this challenging time of workplace disruption, it’s important to ensure that your entire staff is aware of your code of conduct and disciplinary actions to be taken for those who violate your policies.
It’s no secret that collaboration tools enable instant conversation and communication vital to the productivity of teams. With remote working, these tools are now becoming the fastest and most used way for colleagues to quickly engage. But there is a dark side to this. There is a growing number of legal cases involving bullying and harassment via messaging tools. Additionally, there is mounting evidence from HR/DE&I professionals and consultants that such technology is featured in grievances and disputes. Cyberbullying and harassment can happen on any internal online platforms and have severe consequences as we saw last year at luggage startup Away, where the CEO was asked to resign for disparaging comments on Slack.
2. Discuss cyberbullying and harassment with your employees
If you do not already have one, create separate and specific guidelines for workplace communication via online tools. Your guidelines should reinforce your zero tolerance toward discrimination and harassment, and include specific rules for sharing content, discussing non-work-related matters and use of language. Based on the EEOC categories that constitute workplace discrimination and harassment (see image below) – 5 of the 6 can happen online and while employees are remote working.
3. Create a safe communication channel for discussing workplace misconduct
In these challenging times, email and phone meetings are now the main channels of communication between HR/DE&I and employees – making their already bursting inbox and calendars now unmanageable. Important communications about workplace misconduct can get “lost” or inadvertently overlooked, creating greater employee tension during an already difficult time. It is now more critical than ever for organisations to have:
- A separate and transparent reporting process for workplace misconduct.
- A clearly internal workflow for how incidents will be managed and by whom.
- A recommitment to resolve workplace misconduct satisfactorily for all involved.
At People First, we understand how challenging and stressful this health crisis is both personally and professionally. We’re here to help so feel free to reach out.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
Kamael Ann Sugrim is Co-founder and COO of People First RH, a software platform resolving workplace discrimination and harassment. She has 20 years of experience in technology and social impact launching operations, expanding globally and developing new products at salesforce.com, SAP, Stanford University and Impact Hub Network (a social impact incubator with 100+ hubs worldwide). She is a frequent speaker and writer on culture and equality in the workplace and beyond.
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