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A lot of founders The weaker the harder it is learned People practice Can put their employees, their company at risk A costly legal hazard And leave their reputation indelibly stained.
Today’s employees are demanding Values based companies And come with a deeper understanding of their rights. If your HR shop doesn’t screen applicants with an eye on culture or communicate clearly with you about its implications Chief hireYour ability to steer your organization towards future success will be weakened.
Worse, if your head of HR isn’t trained to act impartially or empowered to intervene quickly, it can result in systemic problems which prevents the victims from getting justice. This forces the victims To obtain other remedies, which appear daily in viral callouts and highly publicized court cases.
Beyond Crazy headlines, many startups may see their financial value decline as they withdraw. If it is not an attorney’s fee and Settlement costs, it loses customers and potential partners due to negative coverage. Even if a lawsuit exonerates your company, mere accusations can come at a price, and extended court battles can expose sensitive internal company dealings.
Related: This entrepreneur has solutions to HR problems you didn’t know you had
To prevent this, you should focus on how to set up a respected and experienced HR team that is empowered to handle. Allegations of misconduct From the beginning, even if it involves someone from your executive team. It’s up to you to create a culture that supports calling out, investigating, and punishing workplace misconduct—then Harassment Or DiscriminationBullying or any other illegal activity.
When setting up your HR department, here are three steps to help you avoid misconduct arising in the first place – or, if it does arise, to ensure it is dealt with quickly and consistently.
1: Hire experienced HR leaders who share your company’s values
It can be difficult for HR staff to know which aspects of a complaint are true and which are not. Add in the way power imbalances occur between managers and subordinates, and HR can be caught between not only two employees but also higher-ups who want to simply fix the problem. If you are not hired HR professionals With experience navigating the necessary conversations and applying the rules evenly, you can be held accountable for any wrongdoings that follow.
As a founder, you should prioritize hiring HR executives who are strong and principled leaders. When interviewing potential candidates, ask them how they would handle difficult allegations and what procedures they would use to ensure fair outcomes for all parties. Based on their answers, you want to make sure they see eye to eye with your company’s values. You can also look for an experienced HR chief who has handled tough personnel charges before.
After hiring the right talent, you need to make it clear that they have the authority and responsibility to handle all allegations of misconduct equally, no matter who the accuser is — even if it’s someone on your executive team.
Related: Here’s how companies are ensuring women’s workplace safety
2. Create protocols that protect victims and your company, not the accused
National Women’s Law Centre Study found that up to 70% of those who reported harassment retaliated in some form. And 37% reported that nothing happened to the harasser after the complaint. But even when a company is engaged, many will still take the process to outside investigators and lawyers. This, too, lends itself to a predictable pattern and usually ends with a polite acknowledgment of the complaint followed by language indicating that the company has taken all steps required by law to resolve the complaint. What this really means is that they took as little action as possible to avoid liability.
Unfortunately for these companies, many experienced lawyers are waiting for this. They know that is likely to happen Harmful information In investigative reports and will use the discovery process to gain benefits for their clients. This can be prevented if the company takes proper steps from the beginning.
This requires, first, an impartial and unbiased investigation. There is no need to hire an outside firm for this. Victim claims can often be verified by interviewing key staff and reviewing written communications and other records.
Second, if the allegations are found to be true and serious, take swift action to apprehend the culprit Responsible. In many cases, that means terminating his employment.
To ensure that your process for investigating and adjudicating cases is respected by all parties, it should be based on protocols that treat all allegations equally. This will ensure that everyone involved – from the HR team to the executive, to the accuser, to the accused – has equal rights and responsibilities.
3: Empower HR to let go of toxic employees, even if they are high performers
Proper handling of the charge is rarely a problem when a low-level employee commits a crime. If an hourly worker engages in misconduct, companies are often considered to take appropriate action. But when it’s a high-value executive, decisions can be weighed against the value the employee brings to the company. This reflects a misunderstanding of the true costs of these individuals.
An abusive person in a management position can cost more than many realize through high employee turnover and productivity issues. half employees Those who leave their jobs are, at least in part, due to bad managers, and replacing employees costs the company as much as 50% of a person’s salary. In terms of productivity, A study found that teams with toxic managers produced 27% less revenue per employee than well-managed teams.
A similar effect can be measured for public companies. When a top official of a publicly traded company is called out for wrongdoing, Hit the company’s stock price A quick loss of millions or even billions of dollars in market cap can occur.
Protecting these abusive employees isn’t just wrong. It is costly and potentially fatal to your business. This is why it is important to make it clear to your HR department that it has the authority to terminate the employment of any employee based on the results of a fair investigation, whether they are high-ranking or high-performing.
You may think that none of this applies to you or that your company will never have allegations, but the numbers tell a different story. 60% of US workers Have experienced or witnessed discrimination in the workplace and unfortunately, 40% report retaliation after speaking up.
In each of these cases, the company exposed itself to potential liability. Increasingly, law firms are looking for opportunities to step up on behalf of these victims. You can protect your company and your employees by doing exactly that – protection themNot accused.
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