Understanding Your Legal Obligations for a Respectful Workplace

Employ­ers have a lot on their plate right now and seem­ing­ly more urgent issues such as lay­offs, return to work pro­to­cols, man­ag­ing remote employ­ees, accom­mo­da­tion requests etc., can eas­i­ly over­shad­ow the oblig­a­tion to ensure a respect­ful work envi­ron­ment. How­ev­er, as the Cana­di­an Human Rights Com­mis­sion reminds us, the cur­rent stress that per­me­ates our day-to-day lives might be why employ­ers should place extra empha­sis on ensur­ing their employ­ees feel respect­ed and safe while working. 

Tra­di­tion­al work­place harass­ment train­ing has been focused on behav­iour at work. How­ev­er, online bul­ly­ing, poor video-con­fer­enc­ing eti­quette, harass­ment and dis­crim­i­na­tion occurs with alarm­ing fre­quen­cy out­side of the phys­i­cal work­place. Since the pan­dem­ic has changed the ways in which we inter­act with each oth­er at work, we need to look at and pre­pare for how we will do that respect­ful­ly. This online work­shop will address top­ics such as: 

• Respect­ful work­place oblig­a­tions in the phys­i­cal, remote and vir­tu­al workplace; 
• Exam­ples of harass­ment inside and out­side the phys­i­cal workplace; 
• Address­ing work­place harass­ment com­plaints dur­ing and post pandemic; 
• Mod­el­ling and enforc­ing respect­ful con­duct; and 
• Rec­og­niz­ing and address­ing employ­ee conflict. 

The facil­i­ta­tors are hap­py to take spe­cif­ic and anony­mous ques­tions dur­ing the online work­shop to address any ques­tions par­tic­i­pants would like to ask.

Online Work­shop — 2 hour