The best
way to approach this is to start with the final issue of why one should take action. Obviously,
sexual misconduct harms the company in several ways including opening up the potential for
lawsuits and reputational risk (as recently exemplified by the travails of Uber). Another major
issue though is its effect on human resources. Recruiting highly skilled workers is extremely
competitive and a company which has a reputation as a place with a toxic workplace culture will
not be able to attract the top talent.
The first thing to note is that this
company seems to have a large number of women reporting incidents of sexual harassment. Given
widespread under-reporting, if 20 percent of women report having experienced sexual harassment,
the actual incidence may be much higher.
Since change starts at the top,
probably the most important change one can make is empowering women in the company by promoting
women on all levels. Sexual harassment reflects power inequalities. A company with a dominantly
straight, white, male leadership is one which disempowers women and minorities. By working
towards gender equality, in which half of the Board of Directors, the executive suite, and upper
management is female, the company would create a more diverse workforce where a culture of
sexual harassment was less prevalent. An immediate step in this direction might be identifying
top female talent in your company and starting to mentor and groom outstanding women managers to
be promoted to executive roles.
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