By Indiana Lee, Contributor
Nearly three-quarters (71%) of women in the restaurant industry note that they have been sexually harassed at work at least once during their time in the industry. This is incredibly disheartening considering it’s unlawful and, often, traumatic. Although women may be disproportionately affected, this applies to all genders. Everyone has a right to safety at work.
Restaurant managers play an integral role in eliminating sexual harassment from the workplace. Keep reading for guidance on creating a safe environment for all your restaurant workers and ridding your workplace of sexual harassment.
Understand the Ins & Outs of Sexual Harassment
First, you must understand what sexual harassment is and what it can look like in order to protect your restaurant’s staff from it adequately.
Sexual harassment includes any unwelcome sexual advances or behaviors that create an uncomfortable working environment for an employee. This can look like:
An employee repeatedly asking another employee out when they’ve already said, “no”
A worker getting groped or otherwise inappropriately touched by another
An employee getting called sexually explicit names
Employees receiving unsolicited sexually explicit photos or messages
A manager telling an employee their job is on the line if they don’t engage with them sexually
This is not an exhaustive list. Any situation that causes an employee to feel uncomfortable should be taken into consideration.
You should also familiarize yourself with situations that could lead to sexual harassment. For example, let’s say you’re having an employee event at your restaurant, and alcohol is provided.
An event like this can lead to an employee over-indulging in alcohol, affecting their inhibitions and impairing their thinking skills. This may cause them to make choices that lead to sexual harassment. Understanding circumstances like the above will help you come up with better preventative measures too. In this case, it might be enforcing a no-alcohol policy for healthier work events.
Make Your Sexual & Other Harassment Policies Clear
Detailing your “no-tolerance” stance and defining policies for protection against sexual harassment is critical. Create unified communications about sexual harassment policies to help keep your restaurant employees safe and on the same page.
Your sexual harassment policies should be clear and consistent across all departments. Also, ensure they’re accessible in a central platform that houses all of your policies so your employees can refer to them whenever needed.
Make It Easy to Report
Reporting sexual harassment shouldn’t be complicated for your workers. Instead, it should be a discreet, easy-to-navigate process. You can make the reporting process available online, in person with HR, or both. The form they fill out should be simple, and your employee should be informed of the next steps in the process.
Assure your employee that you’re treating the incident with the urgency and attention it deserves. Also, let them know you’re there to support them throughout the process and after a resolution is reached.
Create a Detailed Investigation Process
When an employee reports a sexual harassment incident, you must take action as quickly as possible. Ensure you have a detailed investigation process to reach the best conclusion.
Hiring a third-party investigation team is a smart way to go. Or, you can go through your internal human resources team and ask that they launch an investigation into the incident.
At the very least, they should talk with both parties involved and collect any evidence that supports either side. Then, management and company leaders should review each party’s statement and supporting evidence thoroughly. After that, you should have enough to conclude what happened and decide what to do about it.
Hold Offenders Accountable
Many restaurant workers don’t report sexual harassment because they don’t feel like anything will be done about it. There’s also a fear that the person who sexually harassed them will retaliate against them and make work miserable.
Let your workers know that you have their back by holding offenders accountable. When you go through your investigation and find an allegation true, make swift decisions about consequences and impose them sternly and immediately.
Let the employee who brought the allegations forth know you’ve concluded the investigation and consequences have been dealt with. And, ensure they come into contact with their offender as little as possible if you decide to keep them on your team.
Develop Genuine Relationships with Your Employees
One of the best defenses against sexual harassment is developing genuine relationships with your employees.
Having real relationships with your employees makes it easier to notice when something is wrong. In addition, your employees are more likely to come to you when something is wrong when they have an authentic relationship with you.
Make an effort to get to know each of your employees. Take advantage of formal and informal meetings to learn more about them. Also, allowing the relationship to unfold at its own pace is essential to ensure your employees don’t feel pressured to give details about themselves they aren’t ready to divulge.
Build a Positive, Healthy Restaurant Culture
A positive, healthy restaurant culture is like a force field around your employees, protecting them from sexual harassment and other uncomfortable situations. Your employees will feel much more comfortable reporting sexual harassment and other issues when honesty, open communication, and ethics are embedded in the fabric of your restaurant culture.
A healthy restaurant culture also brings employees closer together. As a result, they’ll be more likely to stand up for each other and speak up when they see something wrong.
Start in your recruiting and hiring process. Strive to only bring employees on board who align with your restaurant’s values, mission, and commitment to protecting everyone in the workplace.
Then, you can work on fostering two-way communication. Continuously build the authentic relationships mentioned above. Care about your employees' mental and physical well-being. Really listen to the needs of your workers and learn how to accommodate them best. This will not only foster a positive company culture, but it will also help you retain top employees.
Conclusion
There’s no place for sexual harassment in any workplace. Do your part as a restaurant manager to “eighty-six” sexual harassment and ensure your employees come to work in the safest environment possible. The tips above can help get you started.
