Sexual Harassment in the Digital Age

Course Description:

It’s difficult to imagine how different our lives would be today without digital and online communication.
Take social media as an example. This incredibly valuable tool, which hardly existed 20 years ago, has since helped countless people reconnect old and foster new relationships, both inside and outside the workplace.
Yet, one of social media’s great benefits—the ability to share and connect with others, often a broad audience, without being in the same room—also creates new challenges if people feel empowered to express themselves and speak more freely than they do in face-to-face communication.
Sometimes, boundaries and appropriate conduct become less clear when communication occurs via social media and other digital and electronic platforms.
That’s why today’s training session, which will cover best practices for preventing sexual harassment via social media and other means of digital communication, is so important.
During this training session, we will start by talking about sexual harassment in general. Then, we will discuss harassment specific to online communication.
We’ll cover rules related to behavior in and out of the workplace, provide examples of inappropriate communication, and discuss what to do if you feel you or a colleague has been harassed.

Why “Sexual Harassment in the Digital Age” Matters:

At the completion of this module, the participant will be able to:

• Define sexual harassment and identify behavior that could be inappropriate in the work context
• Identify forms of electronic communication, including the ones you typically use inside and outside the workplace
• Understand that workplace rules can still apply to activities taken on personal devices or accounts
• Know your rights with respect to personal electronic equipment and social networking accounts
• Know and defend your right to be free from harassment
• Recognize, prevent, and report behavior that could be considered harassment, whether online or offline