Components of a Respectful Workplace
Everyone wants a respectful workplace (of course) but what does it take?
If you want a respectful workplace there are many components to it.
Harassment-free
A respectful workplace is free of harassment. By rights, harassment should be something that has gone by way of the dinosaur, yet it’s happening in most workplaces in Canada in one form or another. Harassment tends to involve receiving some kind of attention you don’t like and then you have to endure some kind of consequences for putting up with this unwanted attention.
For example, sexual harassment would include listening to sexual stories in the lunchroom if you don’t like them. The negative attention may include listening to stories you don’t want to hear and the consequences would be you not feeling comfortable in a space that is supposed to be for everyone’s enjoyment.
Harassment by law in Canada involves protections based on other human rights grounds such as race, political belief and place of origin.
Since intention doesn’t matter, employees or supervisors might be harassing others and not know it’s unwelcome. Therefore, it’s best to err on the side of caution, and don’t assume that people are happy with certain behaviours just because no one is openly protesting.
Discrimination-free
If you want a respectful workplace it needs to be discrimination-free. Who wants to admit that s/he is a bigot? Who would ever say, “I don’t want a woman working here”? When most people think of discrimination, they think of very obvious behaviour. Yet we all carry around stereotypes of people different from ourselves (and even parts of ourselves) and whether we like it or not, our thoughts will impact the way we treat people.
A discrimination-free workplace is a respectful workplace because it covers the basics, such as ensuring fair and equitable employment opportunities. However, it’s more than that. The workplace should reflect the community it serves. It should seek out barriers that have been unquestioned and accepted for years, and eliminate them.
It should make sure employees and clients feel comfortable being who they are. And since harassment is a form of discrimination, it should be respectful of what people say at work.
Dealing with Conflict
Conflict happens all the time and a perfect workplace is not one that is conflict-free; it’s one that deals with conflict appropriately when it arises. As a species, we don’t handle conflict well. In fact, let’s be honest – we stink at harassment. We want conflict to magically disappear so we don’t have to do anything about. That’s not going to happen.
Find out what is causing the conflict and start talking about it. Many disputes are from a misunderstanding. People should ask questions about what someone meant and try to address any wrong ideas. When it is clear what was meant, then we need to speak up.
Communicating Directly
If you want a respectful workplace you need to communicate directly. Dealing with conflict and communicating directly are like hand-in-glove. While everyone should feel they can get assistance, the best way usually involves talking directly with a person and letting him/her know how you feel. However, we’re afraid of what the person will say or think of us. Or we don’t want to rock the boat or ruin an otherwise good working relationship. So we don’t say anything directly and talk to others behind a person’s back, or we take out our frustrations on persons close to us, or worse, we try to run down an innocent squirrel.
There are many approaches to communication when dealing with a problem, but so much depends on your style, relationship with the person and the type of problem to address. For example:
- Talk about specifics. Don’t say, “You always do…” Instead say, “when you rolled your eyes at yesterday’s meeting…”
- Stay away from red-flag language that is easy to refute and gets people’s backs up. Calling someone a “bigot” won’t go over well, but telling him/her to stop with jokes about Aboriginals or Catholics doesn’t leave room for doubt or debate.
- Correct behaviours and leave attitudes to the person.
- Stick to the issue and don’t get sidetracked.
- Let a person know how it affects you, using “I” statements. “When you say women are token employees, I feel insulted.”
If you can’t communicate directly to the person, don’t feel you’ve failed. It’s a good route, but not the only one. Talk to others to get assistance – which might just give you the tools to talk directly.
Fairness
Fairness is at the core of a respectful workplace. People can take “no” for an answer. People can accept that their suggestions aren’t always implemented. However, what most people can’t accept is unfairness. Most people understand the principles of justice and when something isn’t fair, they lose faith in people and their place of work.
If input is important, make sure everyone has the chance to have a say. When a person is corrected for something they’ve done wrong, be sure that everyone in the same boat is given the same instructions or treatment. And while we all make friends at work, don’t let friendships get in the way of being even-handed in assigning work and opportunities.
Listening
If you want a respectful workplace, people at work need to be heard. Just like fairness, it doesn’t mean everything we say will be acted upon, but people want to have their say and know that all opinions are at least considered.
Listening is also a two way street. If we want people to listen to us, then we have to make sure we listen to them. If you are uncertain if someone really understands your point, become pro-active and ask them to re-phrase what you just told them. It can be done tactfully, such as, “I just want to make sure I got my point across. Can you tell me what you heard?”
Fun!
Fun isn’t just for personal time any more. A respectful workplace is a fun workplace. Sure, a place of work is not an amusement park (with obvious exceptions). And yet a place of work is not meant to be misery. With cautions about types of humour, don’t be afraid to share jokes or funny events from everyday life. Some places of work specifically schedule games or fun because they feel it helps with tension and it positively impacts on creative thinking. The time spent on scheduled fun can be easily made up with a more productive group and less down time on sick leave (believe it or not). Of course, scheduled fun can also involve after-hours events. But remember the wise words of Phyllis Diller: “What I don’t like about office Christmas parties is looking for a job the next day.” Even fun has its limits.
Next: Human Rights Protected Grounds in Canada
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