Prevention of "Sexual Harassment" at the Workplace - Can Training Help?

With the workforce becoming increasingly diverse, a variety of ethical issues crop up at work. One of the biggest challenges is sexual harassment. "Sexual Harassment" is characterized by annoying sexual advances, gestures, communications and other acts aimed at others. The recipient feels that these actions are a violation of their rights and hamper their work. Since the past decade, there has been a universal awareness and acknowledgement that "Sexual Harassment" does exist and is widely prevalent at the workplace. There have been several measures which have been introduced at the workplace by Governments, employers’ and workers’ associations all over the world. Legislations, awareness campaigns, counselling and training of employees have been some of the measures to fight and prevent "Sexual Harassment" at the workplace. The Me-too movement has brought several skeletons out of the closet. Though validity of all cases have not and cannot be established, such situations push the case for stronger awareness programs regarding what acts could be construed as "Sexual Harassment". This conceptual paper aims at highlighting how training employees and employers can help in the prevention of "Sexual Harassment" at the workplace. Based on the analysis of literature, this conceptual paper aims to present a theoretical framework indicating the importance of training as a preventive intervention to stem sexual harassment. Hence a conceptual framework to depict the frequency, duration, methodologies and target audiences of various training interventions and the expected outcomes of the same has been developed.