Are we ready to create a safe work environment? – Women In Connection – Columnists – Opinion

by time news

2023-06-07 08:59:16

I recently commented in an article about the importance and need to address gender equity in organizations from a cultural perspective, since major transformations depend on humans and we are the ones who must promote and adapt to them.

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And it is that advancing in terms of gender equality not only compromises having a balance in leadership positions, closing wage gaps or flexibility and conciliation. Achieving real progress in this area involves having a conducive work environment. Let’s ask ourselves: how safe is it so that both women and men can fully develop in the workplace and can transcend in our professional career?

in his book the brave organization, Amy C. Edmondson says that a safe environment is one where the opportunity to speak is valued; where there is an atmosphere of trust and respect; where you can ask for help, take risks, raise ideas, express discomfort without feeling threatened. This psychologically safe environment is essential for the full realization of talent and we can only achieve it if we break the paradigm of silence. But what do we mean by “breaking the paradigm of silence”? Let’s see it from the perspective of Workplace Sexual Harassment (HSL). According to the Elsa 2022 study, led by the consulting firm Gender Lab and the IDB, in seventy organizations in Peru, Colombia, Bolivia and Nicaragua; comments or jokes of sexual or sexist content, comments about physical appearance, comments or jokes about sexual orientation and gender identity, are some of the typical manifestations of HSL in our region, before which we must not remain silent.

How safe is it so that both women and men can fully develop in the workplace and can transcend in our professional career?

For decades people have been adopting and normalizing certain types of behaviors depending on the environment in which we develop and this makes us “accept” behaviors that may make us uncomfortable, but which we find difficult to talk about or simply reject.

It is practically impossible to isolate an organization from the reality of a society, it is made up of people who come with behaviors and belief systems. It is here where it becomes very important to work on issues such as the prevention of HSL from the cultural sphere of organizations, because they, due to their role in society, have the responsibility of mobilizing behaviors under which they want to manage their raison d’être in order to way, be sustainable over time.

The question arises: How prepared are organizations in Colombia to prevent HSL? Taking this issue to a Board of Directors is perhaps not easy, nor usual; I recommend some actions that can be useful to face it and go further.

First, it is necessary to investigate whether or not there is a problem related to HSL in the organization, for which the perception of talent must be collected. From my experience, and one of the main findings when we set out on this path, there is no common understanding of this concept or its manifestations.

Second, creating a prevention system which implies a lot of education and establishing a process to address cases, reviewing the legal regulatory framework of the country and international practices or regulations. Finally, you must measure and count the results, that is, do accountability.

Finally, and most importantly, a safe and trusting environment must be developed, where everyone can raise their hand without being mocked, judged, discriminated against or rejected.

CATALINA MORALES LLANOS
Miembro de Women In Connection

(Read all the Women In Connection columns in EL TIEMPO, here)

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