Angela Osborne on Harassment and the Remote Workforce [Podcast]

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Post By: Adam Turteltaub

The workforce has moved online and harassment has followed, reports Angela Osborne, Regional Director of Guidepost Solutions. In fact, from the data she has seen, it has actually been increasing.

Some employees are feeling more emboldened in this remote environment, and they are aided by the fact that with online harassment it can be difficult to identify the perpetrator. Imposter profiles, burner phones and anonymous postings to online forums make it extremely difficult to find out who the bad actor is, especially for in-house teams that are less familiar with the required forensic work.

And, if that weren’t enough to worry about, physical threats remain since it’s relatively easy to figure out where a colleague lives.

So, what should organizations do? In this podcast she recommends setting expectations for proper online behavior in the virtual environment, including what constitutes virtual harassment.

Also critical: making it easy for victims to come forward. Help them identify what is harassment, how to report it, and how to operate safely online to protect themselves.

Listen in to learn more about how to manage an old problem in a new environment.