Promoting Positive Workplace Culture

What you’ll read:

• The cost of a poor workplace culture on the bottom line
• How to improve compliance and performance
• Where to start building a positive workplace culture

For decades now, most employers and organizations have simply reacted to the laws about sexual harassment training and dealt with the fallout whenever noncompliance arose. We know now that this kind of reactionary, short-sighted attitude doesn’t work and that letter-of-the-law compliance training has little power to change a company’s culture, but a more forward-thinking, accountability focused approach just might. Breaking out old habits and patterns in the workplace isn’t easy. However, the only way to effect long-term, culture-level change in an organization is through a complete reimagining of what it means to be part of your organization’s mission, work, and community—and that’s just what our Core Reflection Tool can help you do.

It’s Time to Reinvent the Wheel

Reforming workplace culture isn’t about finding new ways to meet legal minimums with some clever new marketing slogans and splashy visuals—it’s about nothing less than making every employee at your organization feel safe, heard, and accepted as well as holding offending employees accountable for their actions. Sexual harassment training that works isn’t a one-and-done solution. Effective use of the Core Reflection Tool requires openness and engagement from every participant. With this tool as a guide, you can start the honest conversations that must happen before any real change can begin, and you can begin to understand—straight from your employees—how your workplace culture succeeds and where it needs to be improved.

Improve Compliance, Performance, and Workplace Culture at the Same Time

All of this may sound daunting, but at the end of the process, you’ll have gained much more than simple compliance with the law. According to IBM’s 2017 Employee Experience Index study, employees who feel “a sense of belonging, purpose, achievement, happiness, and vigor are more likely to perform at higher levels and contribute ‘above and beyond’ expectations. They are also less likely to quit.”

In a similar investigation, a 2015 Harvard Business Review evaluation showed that organizations that minimized the stress and pressure their employees experienced at work spent significantly less on employee health care costs, enjoyed higher levels of employee engagement and productivity, and had much higher loyalty than companies that opt for high-pressure, low-support environments.

If cold, hard figures are more convincing to you, Stanford Business estimates that workplace stress—which is always exacerbated by the presence of sexual harassment—costs employers up to $190 billion every year in health care costs. A workplace culture revolution will require time, commitment, and investment, but, done right, it will also unlock immeasurable productivity and creative potential that are unavailable as long as anxiety about sexual harassment and unnecessary job stress are allowed to remain.

A Brighter, More Productive Future for All Employees

Imagine what your organization could be like if every employee felt valued and safe enough to come forward with concerns about sexual impropriety. Picture how much more cohesive and productive your teams could be if everyone trusted one another and could work unimpeded by stress or fear of their coworkers. Envision how much more loyal your employees would be—how much less turnover and upheaval your company would experience—if everyone working there knew they could share their experiences honestly and openly without fear of retaliation or discrimination.

This vision of the future is possible, but only when we take the time to implement sexual harassment training that works instead of compliance training that is just a check in a box. If your company is ready to reimagine your workplace culture to create a trusting, open, and thriving work environment, contact AllenComm today for more information to discuss how you can implement principles from our Core Reflection Tool in your organization.  

As always, if you need to discuss a custom corporate training solution, email or call us now. We’d love to hear from you.