Harassment Solutions Inc.

12/17/2018

Every time I think, "it's time to stop working Stephen. After all these years of education and legislation, there's no need for your skills." Actually, it's rare when I think that because almost every day there's something new. If you are a woman, or anyone who cares about women, read this investigative Globe and Mail article and I dare you to not get your heart racing...with anger. Now I'm a lawyer, so most of the comments are allegations and everyone gets to have their say, but numbers don't lie. Read the parts of the article which show how zero, I mean zero, female emergency room doctors were hired under the leadership of Dr. Marco Duic. And then, "praise the Lord" one month after the Globe began its investigation, a female doctor was hired. Women in this country continually and systematically are denied employment opportunities on the chance they may have kids. Well, back to work for me I guess...

A physician credited with reducing emergency wait times has been subject to allegations of gender discrimination and questionable billing practices

12/10/2017

Thank goodness for the free press, exposing the problems with issues of sexual assault and sexual harassment. With strong evidence, it is making police departments and governments wake up to do a much better job. We must expect better to address misogyny and treat women better.

10/18/2017

Is there something in the water that I'm missing?

Wealthy Canadian investor Marc Faber has been kicked off two corporate boards for writing in a business newsletter, "thank God white people populated America, and not blacks. Otherwise, the U.S. would look like Zimbabwe, which it might look one day anyway, but at least America enjoyed 200 years in the economic and political sun under a white majority." I can't say a word because anyone reading this doesn't need my words. You have your own.

How about professor Michael Marrus, who resigned after 30 years teaching at the University of Toronto's Massey College. When the head of Massey College, (they call this position "Master") joined a group of students, Marrus said to a Black student, "You know this is your master, eh? Do you feel the lash?" Again, no words need to be said that you're not already thinking.

And then there's the guy who's trying to be the premier of Alberta, Brian Jean who referred to Quebec's support of Bombardier, "re****ed."

These are just 3 of the worst that I've noticed in the last 3 weeks. (Donald Trump is on another scale.)

Perhaps I just went to different schools, but I don't recall having to be educated not to say these things. I don't mean to be a snob or better than anyone...it just seems some things are truths which don't need to be taught. Among some educated, powerful and wealthy people, I guess it's back to school.

10/10/2017

Speaking Truth to Power

When someone is being sexually harassed, it's not easy to speak up against someone who has the power to fire you, or give you opportunities. My last post was about Harvey Weinstein and a select few Americans with great power to wield. Of course it's not just about Americans with power. More than three years ago Jian Ghomeshi, "star" of CBC Radio's Q left his job. Shortly after that we found out about all his inappropriate behaviours at work (there were other behaviours outside work). A subsequent investigation showed that CBC employees were afraid to speak up, even with all the policies to protect them, and even with unions to protect many of these employees. His "star" power allowed people to excuse very bad behaviour, as if it was a trade-off to get someone of his quality. In the end two senior managers were fired because they knew enough, but didn't do enough in response.

I'm not beating up on the CBC...this can and does happen at all kinds of Canadian workplaces. Your workplace can have all the policies and protections you want, but if people have seen enough evidence to question how these policies are supported, very few people will speak up. There are many things people want in a workplace. If you can get employees to speak up when things go wrong...you are among a select few who will have employees feeling comfortable to speak truth to power. For some reason, it's not easy.

10/06/2017

There is no way anyone reading this has NOT seen a movie produced by Harvey Weinstein. He and his brother are about as big as you get in Hollywood, as well as big producers on Broadway. So when the New York Times revealed yesterday that Mr. Weinstein has settled sexual harassment claims from at least 8 women, it was news, but not a surprise. Sexual harassment can be prevalent when you have someone with a great deal of power, willing to abuse it. What caught me by surprise is that I thought, "hmm, a big liberal and Democrat."

Funny how my stereotypes will automatically think this has to be someone on the "right" of politics, like Bill O'Reilly or Donald Trump. Since I've read about, and written about sexual harassment for more than 25 years, you think my mind would tell me that anyone can take advantage of someone sexually, regardless of their politics or their social causes.

One of the most prominent examples is former U.S. President Bill Clinton. Technically his encounters with Monica Lewinsky might not have been sexual harassment, but the power imbalance certainly puts it in the ball park. And then a huge American Democrat is San Diego's former mayor, Bob Filner, who didn't last long as mayor due to his horrendous exploitation of women at work.

Most guys on the right, left or anywhere in-between are decent people. Even those who may be tempted aren't going to cross the line into sexual harassment. But for those who do take advantage of their power, politics rarely is a factor. Power, and the abuse of power, often makes it so much easier for someone to get away with sexual harassment.

09/19/2017

Last week’s decision to suspend Hamilton judge Bernd Zabel, made me think that things are changing…a bit. This decision to suspend judge Zabel for one month without pay for wearing his Donald Trump hat into court the day after Trump won the U.S. election, was rather surprising. A Canadian judge has to do something really bad or stupid for the rather small-c conservative group of judges who make up Canada’s Judicial Council to take strong action.

However, this suspension comes just a few months after federal court judge Robin Camp resigned for his inappropriate questions and comments made during a sexual assault trial in Alberta in 2015. Camp resigned before he was about to be thrown off the bench. If memory serves me right, Camp is only the third Canadian judge to resign before he would have been thrown off the bench…and that’s since 1971 when the Judicial Council was created.

So yes, things may be changing…but I find they are only changing a tiny bit, when it comes to inappropriate behaviours in the workplace. Most people aren’t judges, but these two examples are a sign that at the very top, where there is a lot of scrutiny, there seems to be much quicker responses to bad behaviour than in the past. CEOs such as Uber’s co-founder Travis Kalanick who resigned less than 3 months ago, started with postings of sexism and sexual harassment within their ranks. Another example involving a CEO comes from Google. No, their CEO Sundar Pachai didn’t do anything wrong, but he came home from a family summer vacation last month to deal with the firing of a software engineer who sent out a widely-circulated memo basically saying women aren’t fit for the stressful world of high-tech.

I could go on with lots of high-profile firings or damage control due to inappropriate comments and actions in the workplace, but I think you get the idea. What I’m finding is that now that our world is all about “brand,” whether you like it or not, action will be taken if the brand will be harmed. So at the top, whether a CEO, a judge or someone lower down but getting high-profile attention, there’s a better chance action will be taken to save the “brand.” In the case of judges, the judicial system can no longer be seen as being out of touch with reality or Canadians may disregard the decisions of the courts. For the non-court world, everyone else is afraid a bad post or tweet will lose sales or customers.

I think there’s still enormous progress needed to be made in the everyday parts of the job…with people who aren’t CEOs or similar. Too often I’m still called on to help managers deal with inappropriate behaviour they don’t know how to address, or are surprised bad behaviours are still the “norm.” I’ve been in this business for 25 years now and I truly expected there would be a lot less bad stuff going on at work. Considering we have so much legislation, so many workplace policies and so much education about what’s good and what’s bad, I thought we’d have been much further along. Good job security for me, but not so good for those who have to endure bad behaviour or just idiots.

When a workplace discourages bad behaviour and responds quickly to bad behaviour from the bottom to the top, then no one has to worry about harming your brand. In fact it enhances your brand and as corny as it sounds, people will want to work there and stay there. It just takes a little work.

05/24/2017

How about taking responsibility for your actions on the job? Former Victoria police chief, Frank Elsner, in banner headlines in this morning's paper is blaming everyone...except himself. When I was about to send in my book, The New Norm, last year to the printers, breaking news compelled me to include the events taking place in my city of Victoria. So I added the police chief's incident to my first chapter, "The New Norm doesn't let his libido get in the way of work." I quoted Elsner saying, "I'm humiliated beyond words, I'm ashamed of my actions, I'm better than that. I know better than that." Seems Mr. Elsner needs to reflect on his previous words and take responsibility for what he did...and no one else. If you read this article, you'll see that he's upset at the cost to the taxpayers for the ongoing and never ending investigations that are still going on, even though he recently resigned. Hey! I'm a Victoria taxpayer and I'm very upset...but even if there are more investigations than are necessary, Mr. Elsner has to remember who started this whole thing. Keep your libido in check and it won't cost anyone anything.By my calculations, I figure with us paying his salary, the numerous lawyers, investigators, commissioners and judges involved, I figure the costs will exceed $2 million. Amazing how simple little tweets can be so costly.

Former Victoria police chief Frank Elsner has launched a cannabis security-consulting business and suggests the allegations that ended his policing career were the result of “bad blood” created by . . .

05/24/2017

Did your mother ever tell you to "Watch your mouth!" Every once in a while, we slip up. I get that. But when an elected politician from Louisiana wrote on Facebook that people should be "LYNCHED", you know something is wrong. Republican state representative Karl Oliver can't get away with a simple slight...he was very deliberate and put the word in all caps. You'd think someone from the South would have some consideration for history and the horrible crimes committed against Black people. Social media is not the place to make stupid comments you'll regret later. Many people are being caught saying/writing stupid (to say the least) things and they are finding out there are consequences.

Following the removal of a statue of Robert E Lee in Louisiana, Republican Karl Oliver likens those conducting the ‘heinous and horrific’ work to N***s

05/01/2017

Every May Day (May 1st) I get caught off guard. This morning, thanks to a couple article in the paper, I had to think, “Right, it was 34 years ago today that I was arrested in communist Poland, interrogated for 5 hours, then two days later thrown out of the country for being a spy. Funny how it eludes me each year, but it does.

We can say those were different times, but just try having any dissent in Turkey, or Russia. Or how dare you be gay in the likes of Chechnya, let alone most of the Arab countries. As for women…well, let’s just say horrors are still done in the name of religion, culture or tradition, the likes of which send shock waves through our bodies.

So in Canada, after decades of fights, protests, legal challenges and reluctantly-passed laws, people still feel uncomfortable to assert the basic rights we have available to us. It’s a concern…to say the least. So on May Day, I encourage people at work to take a look at your policies and practises, and if something is lacking or glaringly wrong, then say something.

After all, we now live in a world where “brand” is everything (just ask United Airlines about that!). So even if your employer doesn’t want to do the right thing, protecting employees from harassment, bullying and discrimination, for the right reasons, perhaps you can get your employer to do the right thing by avoiding instantaneous harm to its brand. But I want to be fair. Most employers truly want to do the right thing. Very few are willing to be known to have a toxic workplace.

If you have a workplace where your policies will win a Pulitzer Prize for being so great, but people are afraid to use them, then you’ve got work to do. Managers should ask honest questions of employees about their willingness to speak up, and employees must be honest with their answers.

Go ahead, on May Day, this International Workers’ Day, get together and ask one another, what’s working, what’s not, and what do we need to do to improve our workplace.

04/18/2017

http://p.nytimes.com/email/re?location=pMJKdIFVI6og8d+ofNlzG+XwTHtUUd4Y&user_id=711253c8a21237f4cacc69d8f5b2af1d&email_type=eta&task_id=1491877248847471®i_id=0

Mostly they fear retaliation, and for good reason, research shows.

04/13/2017

Hello. I thought it's about time for me to get active on Facebook to help employees and managers create welcoming workplaces, free of harassment, bullying, discrimination and all the "weird" stuff that can happen at work. Having recently published my 3rd book, The New Norm, you might be interested in learning from the mistakes of others, and moving to "new norms." I feel like now, given the current climate of strange behaviours, that we should talk about workplace issues and how best to resolve them. I'll be posting live videos weekly, where you can ask questions and I'll help you navigate the best approaches. Stephen