<p>Professionals are taught to constantly update their corporate policies to create a safe work environment for every employee.<br />
Recently, it&#8217;s become important for HR departments to implement new protocols for sexual harassment and social media abuse.<br />
Both problems have become increasingly prevalent in recent years and<br />
are somewhat connected in that the former can be exacerbated by the latter.<br />
The consequences of not updating policies for sexual harassment and social media can be dire.<br />
If companies don&#8217;t prevent sexual harassment, workers won&#8217;t feel comfortable in the office and may target potential attackers.<br />
Additionally, employees can waste valuable time and damage a company&#8217;s brand on social media.<br />
So, businesses must have the proper standards in place to prevent negative behaviors.<br />
<strong>Sexual harassment in the modern workplace</strong><br />
A common misconception is that only women are sexually harassed at work.<br />
The stereotype is borne of the idea that men dominate the corporate arena and condone lewd behavior toward the fairer sex.<br />
This image is false and is a narrow view of sexual harassment.<br />
The generational shift is another factor that impacts sexual harassment in the workplace.<br />
For example, the way your Gen-Y employees view &#8220;aprropriate&#8221; language or discussion can be very different from your Baby Boomers.<br />
You have to have a consistent policy in place that everyone understands.<br />
Nolo points out that anyone can be sexually harassed. A male intern can be harassed by a female executive and vice versa.<br />
Sexual harassment affects every employee regardless of his or her age, rank or gender.<br />
Additionally, sexual harassment has proliferated in the digital age. Associates can send lewd pictures and messages to each other through text messages and social media.<br />
HR departments need to take a proactive approach to sexual harassment and make it a key part of HR Training.<br />
The company policy should be regularly reviewed and updated to ensure that every it accounts for new technology and emerging trends.<br />
The consequences of not stamping out sexual harassment can be extremely.<br />
For instance, an employer can be open to lawsuits if it doesn&#8217;t protect victims from their attackers.<br />
Additionally, Nolo notes that some states require companies to regularly offer sexual harassment training.<br />
<strong>Social media: a growing problem<br />
</strong>It&#8217;s wasy to think that not bad-mouthing a company on the social media sites would be common sense.<br />
But just like anything else, you shouldn&#8217;t think it can&#8217;t happen to you. It probably happens more than you think.<br />
<strong><br />
</strong>According to Forbes, companies should create in-depth social media strategies to prevent their images from being harmed by employees.<br />
HR departments should monitor posts to ensure that workers aren&#8217;t being offensive or overly critical when talking about a business.<br />
However, creating a social media policy is a difficult task because of what is federally regulated.<br />
Forbes also reports that the government protects workers who are &#8220;venting&#8221; about their employers.<br />
If you notice that someone is being critical on Facebook or Twitter, you don&#8217;t have to always fire them on the spot.<br />
Depending on the circumstances, you can create an open dialog and ask the worker what he or she thinks can be done to help the situation.</p>
<h5>Featured images:</h5>
<p><span class="license">License: Royalty Free or iStock</span><br />
<span class="source">source: www.istock.com</span><br />
Scott Murray is the Social Learning Evangelist for TrainUp.com, the web’s largest career marketplace.<br />
He is also a contributor to the Training Insights Blog, a series of blogs dedicated to career and professional development.</p>

Two HR Policies That Should Be Updated Right Now
