Should employers be concerned about the street harassment their employees face going to and from work?
Yes, while employers aren’t legally obligated to do anything about commuter harassment, they should care about it.
1 – Commuter harassment contributes to job turnover when people get so sick of the harassers along their commute that they decide to quit (this happened to 9% of respondents for a survey I conducted for my book).
2 – It can cause a decrease in work productivity if harassment in the morning makes an employee too upset and distracted to do their job.
3 – The harassment can also mean fewer people are willing to stay late to work or to attend networking events or meetings because of the fear of harassment on their way home.
I wrote about commuter harassment for Forbes.com last year and this past spring, Business and Legal Resource, Inc. (BLR), a leading human resources organization, wrote about it, too.
On Monday, while I was on a business trip in Connecticut, I had the opportunity to meet with some of the staff at BLR. We chatted for about 45 minutes about commuter harassment and they were very interested and open to the idea that employers SHOULD care about the harassment employees face during the commute. In fact, BLR was so interested in the issue that they conducted a short video interview with me for their website, where HR professionals across the country can view it and learn more about commuter harassment.
In the video clip, I offer a few recommendations for what employers can do. The Forbes.com article details a few, too. So view it and feel free to share it with HR representatives at your job.
Have you faced street harassment during your commute? What impact has it had on your job? Has your employer ever addressed that type of sexual harassment?
