Eighteen months ago, our managementteam had a meeting and announced a new agency initiative. We wouldbe rolling out our new “Embrace” initiative, designed to radicallychange our culture. We told the staff to expect some changes.

Every office deals with sexual innuendo: jokes, whispers,inappropriate Internet videos and audio files. Our mission becameto “out” this behaviour.

We developed a new set of rules: Sexual references were nowencouraged. If you could make something blue, do it. If a teammember missed an opportunity to make a double entendre, it was upto you to nail it.

We reviewed a list of “That's what she said” jokes andencouraged staffers to come up with their own.

We laid out several more rules, but the point of the change wasto allow the sexuality of all our team members to shinethrough.

It took about a week for the new culture sunk in, but my, didthings change.

Our female employees started wearing low-cut tops and shortskirts. Our male employees shed their ties, unbuttoned their shirtsand used product in what little hair they had left on theirheads.

But Carl, our 23-year-old producer, wasn't going with the flow.He stayed in his office with his door shut. 

As the HR manager, I noticed this and asked Carl out to lunch totalk about his bad attitude toward our newinitiative. 

At lunch, Carl opened up. “Mr. Thompson, I don't like this newculture. The employees touch me on my shoulders and arms. I feellike a sex toy. And Maggie has a picture of herself topless on abeach from last year's vacation as her screen saver.”

We decided Carl was not a good fit with our new culture. WhenCarl and I returned to the office, he cleaned out his things andgave me his notice.

Sexual harassment still a risk

In case you haven't guessed, the events you just read in thisextreme example aren't real. What is real, however, is that sexualharassment is alive and well in our offices today.

Sexual harassment or a sexual environment cannot be tolerated intoday's workplace. The instant access of today's connected worldhas allowed for all things to be readily available to our staff,including inappropriate jokes, articles and photos.

Related: Read “ProfessionalLiablity Trends“

Think back 10 years ago to when EPLI was the hot coverage. Howmuch time did you spend with your staff and clients discussingsexual harassment and working through the warning signs andconsequences of poor decisions in an office environment?

Today, it seems that most carriers routinely throw EPLI coverageinto their BOP or package forms at a minimal level. Our industryhas moved on to focus on the threats of such things like cyberliability and identity theft.

In reality, the risk of a sexual incident has never been higher.I am astounded at the behavior of some of the offices andmanufacturing companies I prospect. Clearly, their currentinsurance provider has not visited with them about this topic forsome time, perhaps rationalizing that now that they have coverage,the point is moot.

My partner and I were talking the other day about her previousjob selling equipment. One of her clients had offered herIndianapolis Colts tickets with the caveat that she attend the gamewith the owner of the tickets. “You know, you could sell a lot morehere if you got more active with some of the staff,” he said. Shedeclined the offer, went directly to the manager and the employeewas fired.

In my partner's previous insurance agency, one of her customerservice agents was continually getting extra attention from one ofher field reps. After months of innuendo and advances, the employeetold management about the situation. Management took a strongstance and the rep was removed from the agency. 

If the agency hadn't responded promptly to the situation, theemployee could have had a case against the agency and the carrierfor their lack of action.

One of my friends who owns a very progressive advertising firmfound out that mixing business and pleasure can cause majorheadaches.

About 6 months ago, the firm held a retreat where folks from allover the country came to a centralized location and spent the daycollaborating on team-building activities. 

Related Read “AddPlay to Work“

At night, dinner was served and so was alcohol. The outcome wastwo of the firm's top sales people connected in a “nonprofessional”way. The fallout was tragic. Both employees soon left the company,leaving a void in the owner's sales team. 

“Mark” owns a software development firm. His employeesoccasionally travel together to job sites and spend weeks at a timedoing on-site work, heading home to see their families on theweekends. 

During a recent site visit, two of Mark's employees began arelationship that ended up causing havoc in the office when the“couple” returned. 

These examples push the boundaries of sexual harassment and leanmore toward personal choice, but the environment in both firmsprior to the events was an “anything goes” atmosphere. I can't helpbut think this free-wheeling attitude helped lead to the poordecision making of the employees who engaged in bad behavior.

Establish Protocol

As owners and managers, we are responsible for continuallyreinforcing a workplace of zero tolerance when it comes to overtpersonal connections. Keeping the conversation alive about thedownsides of poor decisions in the workplace might just help avertsome of the issues my friends experienced at their firms.

Related: Read “Leavingthe Nest“

As an owner or manager of an agency, this is a subtle reminderthat most people do not want to be harassed. Even the slightestirreverence can be taken out of context and open your agency up fora lawsuit. 

If you have not addressed this topic lately, share this articlewith your staff. Show them the absurdity of this fake agency andthen have a meeting to discuss and describe yourculture. 

Remind folks that your office is a professional environment,repeat the ground rules for what is and is not acceptable, andremind them that if a line is crossed, they will be subject to athree-step disciplinary protocol: 

1. The offending employee receives a verbal warning if any and allsexually related jokes, stories and nuisance are observed at thecompany.
2. Upon a second offense, a written warning outlining the offensewith the signature of the employee is put in the employee'spersonal file.
3. Upon the third offense, the employee is terminated.

Have the meeting and remind employees of the process. Sexualharassment or a sexual culture cannot be tolerated in your workuniverse.