Respect in the Workplace Training

black women at work conference table microaggressions

Cultivating a respectful workplace is a priority for many organizations; reaching that point without guidance can be challenging. How can teams learn to value differences, communicate and collaborate in a respectful way, and avoid incidents of harassment and harm? Diversity Builder’s Respect in the Workplace training combines sensitivity training with harassment prevention. The goal of respect in the workplace training is elevate understanding about the differences that make each employee unique and how to best communicate and partner to ensure safety and avoid harassing or discriminatory behaviors. This course provides invaluable direction on these issues, covering sensitivity topics in the workplace as well as harassment and discrimination prevention. It also highlights how organizational values dovetail with HR development goals, facilitating employee engagement and participation.

Training Effectiveness

How does Diversity Builder help organizations and corporations build a respectful workplace? The trainers personalize the class to the work performed and the core values of the organization. The trainers facilitate engaging workshops that are interactive. Hands-on discussions with open dialogue, learning exercises, and realistic case studies bring the content to life for participants and increase effectiveness. Diversity Builder tailors the class to the specific work or industry of the organization with strong consideration given to the core values and mission statement. In addition to a general Respect in the Workplace course, there is a separate course with a managerial or organizational perspective for leaders. Diversity Builder has experienced and engaging trainers. Some specialty areas include leadership and organizational change and specializes in cultural competency and cross-cultural communication.

Learning Objectives

Gain an awareness of the unique identities within the organization
Recognize the benefits of supporting a culture of difference
Identify harassing behaviors and harm that may be caused by comments or actions
Know strategies to avoid harassment & hostile work environment
Identify examples of a hostile work environment or workplace bullying
Understand how to communicate in a respectful way
Create an action plan to build a respectful workplace

What are the benefits of Respect in the Workplace training?

With the demographics in the United States changing and diversifying so quickly, an understanding of differences and diversity of thought is essential to creating a respectful workplace. Increasing awareness of how comments and jokes may be hurtful to team members starts with training to proactively address these topics. Companies that prioritize a respectful work environment have been shown to outperform others in the same line of work or industry. Recruitment of the best qualified candidates improves with a culture of understanding and respect.

Benefits of Respect in the Workplace and Sensitivity Training

Attract Millennials and Gen Z employees, who want to work for organizations that have a diverse workforce and actively engage in initiatives to welcome and respect coworkers¹
Raise job satisfaction and an improved work-life balance²
Build a more innovative, creative workforce³
Reduce claims of harassment or discrimination
Reduced conflict and HR complaints
Elevated teamwork and performance

Furthermore, Respect in the Workplace training offers a space for employees to come together and build a community where they are valued and ideas are freely shared. Psychological safety empowers individuals on teams to know they will be heard and valued. There is a mutual respect and all employees treat each other with consideration and validation of their contributions.

fostering a positive and collaborative team dynamic where everyone feels comfortable sharing ideas and working towards common goals. Acknowledging and addressing barriers to building trust and relationships is the first step in cultivating a respectful workplace where employees of all backgrounds know they have the same access to opportunities.

^[1] Miller, J. (2021, February 18). For younger job seekers, diversity and inclusion in the workplace aren’t a preference. They’re a requirement. The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2021/02/18/millennial-genz-workplace-diversity-equity-inclusion/
^[2] Krentz, M., Dartnell, A., Khanna, D., & Locklair, S. (2021, September 20). Inclusive cultures have healthier and happier workers. BCG Global. https://www.bcg.com/publications/2021/building-an-inclusive-culture-leads-to-happier-healthier-workers
^[3] Hewlett, S. A. (2014, August 1). How diversity can drive innovation. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2013/12/how-diversity-can-drive-innovation
^[4] Rosanwo, D. (2022, February 24). Hue x Harris poll: State of inequity report 2022. The Harris Poll. https://theharrispoll.com/briefs/diversity-inclusion-workplace-state-of-inequity-hue-2022/
^[5] Field, E., Krivkovich, A., Kügele, S. (2023, October 5). Women in the workplace 2023. https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/diversity-and-inclusion/women-in-the-workplace

Participants will examine their own combination of identities and reflect on the associated benefits and challenges, creating empathy and connection with coworkers who might have also faced various hurdles or assumptions in their lives.

^[6] McKinsey & Company. (2022, August 17). What is diversity, equity, and inclusion? https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/mckinsey-explainers/what-is-diversity-equity-and-inclusion

Making Unfounded Assumptions

In addition, participants will learn about being quick to make assumptions that are unfounded or not based on facts. Most of the time, it is not the intent of individuals to make such assumptions about others or groups of people, yet the impact can be vast. The Respect in the Workplace class will provide techniques to interact with coworkers in a way that better facilitates getting to know someone across difference and build trust through communication and understanding.

Here are some of the influences that impact assumptions:

History, culture, and upbringing
Personal attitudes
Stereotypes among friends and family
Fears and misperceptions
Previous experiences

The facilitator will highlight best practices for communicating inclusively, such as avoiding sweeping statements or jokes about specific groups. Employees will come away from this training understanding how assumptions and stereotyping factor into exclusionary practices, positioning them to make their workplace a more welcoming environment.

Microaggressions in the Workplace

Understanding and avoiding microaggressions, which can lead to distance between colleagues, is key to respectful working relationships. Diversity Builder includes microaggression training in several courses including Bystander Intervention and Harassment Prevention. Microaggressions are smaller (but harmful) words, behaviors, or environmental factors that reflect bias. While these instances might seem minor, they take a heavy toll on marginalized individuals. Women who change their behavior at work in an effort to avoid microaggressions, for instance, are three times more likely to consider quitting and four times more likely to be consistently facing burnout.⁷

As Derald Wing Sue wrote in Scientific American, people of color are also hurt by microaggressions:

“Microaggressions are constant and continual in the life experience of people of color. They experience these offensive behaviors every day from the moment they awaken in the morning until they go to sleep at night and from the time they are born until they die.”⁸

Avoiding microaggressions and other instances of othering are crucial in creating an inclusive workplace. Looking at case studies, in which participants put themselves in the shoes of a person facing microaggressions at work, is highly beneficial in understanding the devastating impact of microaggressions. After this section of the course, employees will know how to recognize and avoid microaggressions, contributing to a more supportive workplace.

Defining Harassment, Discrimination, and Bullying, and Best Practices to Avoid Them

In addition to microaggressions, the training also describes more extreme instances of hostile behavior such as harassment, racial and gender discrimination, and bullying.

Unfortunately, harassment is often poorly understood or downplayed. Unwelcome words or actions based on any protected category (race, gender, religion, etc.) qualify as harassment. When this becomes severe or pervasive enough that a reasonable person would find it intimidating, hostile, or abusive, or workers are required to accept the behavior in order to stay employed, it becomes illegal. Harassment can take many forms but often includes jokes, intimidation, physical threats, name calling, objectionable objects or pictures, or actions that interfere with carrying out assigned duties.⁹

^[7] Field, E., Krivkovich, A., Kügele, S. (2023, October 5). Women in the workplace 2023. https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/diversity-and-inclusion/women-in-the-workplace
^[8] Sue, D. W. (2021, March 30). Microaggressions: Death by a thousand cuts. Scientific American. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/microaggressions-death-by-a-thousand-cuts/
^[9] U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. (n.d.). Harassment. https://www.eeoc.gov/harassment

The course provides a detailed examination discrimination, encouraging participants to consider whether various scenarios describe illegal harassment as defined above. Those facing harassment often deal with many negative outcomes, including psychological harm, decreased workplace productivity and disengagement, as well as physical symptoms (headaches, exhaustion, and more).

Like harassment, workplace bullying is often excused or ignored. Look out for the following behaviors, which constitute workplace bullying:

Undeserved criticism or blame
Being treated differently than the rest of the team
Isolation or social exclusion
Being sworn or shouted at or humiliated
Practical jokes
Excessive monitoring or scrutiny

These have no place in a respectful and affirming work environment. The facilitator will emphasize the importance of targeted employees and bystanders alike in pushing back against discrimination, harassment, and bullying, with specific actions and scripts to use in these situations. However, those engaging in harmful behaviors should also take responsibility for their actions. This can take the form of listening to the harmed party, acknowledging one’s mistakes, and acting differently going forward. This will foster healing after a harmful incident and enable employees to act in positive ways in the future.

Respectful Communication Strategies

Finally, the facilitator will provide effective strategies for respectful communication between teams and coworkers. The four-point sequence strategy, for example, can assist in consulting diverse perspectives when making decisions and avoiding groupthink. Here are the steps:

Point A: Explore what the team knows and what can be learned from the team’s various experiences
Point B: Identify emerging themes and start developing potential solutions
Point C: List pros and cons for each solution and describe what a good solution would look like
Point D: Consider who else could have valuable input and analyze how other teams and departments will be affected

Participants will identify opportunities to apply this framework to their own work. They will also learn best communication practices such as approaching coworkers with empathy, affirming others’ perspectives (even in the case of disagreements), showing humility, and providing feedback on facts instead of emotions. In coordination with the DEI topics covered previously, this empowers employees to return to their workplaces with the tools and techniques to work effectively and respectfully with each other.