A CEO hires a stand-up comedian to warm up employees before delivering the keynote at the company's annual all-hands meeting. But the comedian's set is anything but workplace appropriate. His "jokes" insult and offend everyone — Blacks, Hispanics, Jews, Muslims, women, LGBTQ+ individuals. Everyone, that is, except white men.It's clear your employees aren't amused. Some look angry and offended. Others walk out in protest.
Now imagine you're the CEO. What do you do?
🤔 Stop the comedian mid-set? The best option.
🤔 Address the situation during your remarks? Apologize to employees, make clear the comments don't reflect your company's values, and promise steps to prevent anything like this from happening again. This should happen whether or not the comedian is stopped mid-set.
🤔 Do nothing? A public relations and legal disaster waiting to happen.
Hostile work environments aren't always created by employees. Employers are also responsible for preventing harassment by non-employees. Ohio even has a regulation on point:
"An employer may also be responsible for the acts of nonemployees … with respect to … harassment of employees in the workplace, where the employer (or its agents or supervisory employees) knows or should have known of the conduct and fails to take immediate and appropriate corrective action."
Harassment is harassment, no matter who the perpetrator is. And as an employer, your obligation remains the same — take prompt, corrective action to stop the harassment and ensure it doesn't happen again. Anything less invites trouble—and a lawsuit.