Dear HR Executive,
Let’s face it: When HR pros worry about sexual harassment, they’re usually more concerned with harassment against rank-and-file employees than against supervisors.
But supervisors can and do experience harassment – especially female ones.
A new study, led by University of Minnesota researcher Heather McLaughlin, found that female supervisors are actually more likely than regular female employees to suffer harassment.
In the study of 1,000 young adults, about half of females who had held supervisory roles at work reported they were harassed. By contrast, one third of frontline female employees said they’d been.
The study didn’t explain why harassment of female supervisors is so common.
An anti-power trip?
But some of the interviewees believed that men who harassed supervisors weren’t sexually attracted. Rather, the harassers were offended that women were in positions of authority and were trying to tear them down.
Obviously, it’s part of HR’s job to make sure no manager’s authority is unfairly undermined. Is anything like this happening to female managers in your organization?
Dave Clemens
Editor-in-Chief
Human Resources Rapid Learning Center
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