HR Works 109: Fighting Harassment Means Having Uncomfortable Conversations

If you want to combat sexual harassment in a meaningful way, you have to get comfortable having uncomfortable conversations. In fact, a major reason sexual harassment in the workplace still takes place has to do with the culture of silence that surrounds it. Additionally, if your employees are not trained to handle situations as they are happening, an opportunity to stop harassment in its tracks or redirect it toward something less damaging slips away. My guest for this episode of HR Works is an expert when it comes to training workplaces to both prevent sexual harassment and handle incidents when they do happen. Sarah Beaulieu is an author and a speaker and trains workplaces on sexual harassment prevention and response. Beaulieu just published a book, Breaking the Silence Habit: A Practical Guide to Uncomfortable Conversations in the #MeToo Workplace (https://sarahbeaulieu.me/breaking-the-silence-habit), and offers employees and managers a path forward to learn—and teach—the skills required for safe and respectful workplaces for people of all genders. Beaulieu writes and speaks frequently about sexual harassment and violence. Her work and expertise have been featured in the Harvard Business Review, the Boston Business Journal, Fox News, the Providence Journal, AskMen.com, Cognoscenti (WBUR), the Nonprofit Quarterly, Commonhealth (WBUR), The Chronicle of Philanthropy, the Good Men Project, HuffPost, and the Stanford Social Innovation Review. She’s been a featured speaker at TEDxBeacon Street and the Business Innovation Factory Summit. Beaulieu enjoys engaging and training audiences at a wide variety of organizations ranging from start-ups to larger companies and from national conferences for fraternity members to members of the Junior League.