ASSOCIATIONINSIGHT
Portable Sanitation Association International News
BIWEEKLY EDITION JULY 8, 2020
Page 14
"Someone One Oughta Shoot a Few of 'em"…continued from page 7
4. You have a legal responsibility to protect employees from a "hostile and offensive" work environment.
Even if almost everyone at your company agrees on politics, protesters, and whether or not such-and-such is
real or a hoax, there's always the possibility someone sees it differently. As long as the dissenters are doing
their jobs as you have legally defined the duties, they are entitled to a work environment free of harassment or
intimidation.
Be sure you are not accepting offensive jokes, insults,
name-calling, ridicule or mockery in the workplace.
Although these activities may not rise to the level
of being illegal, allowing this sort of "humor" can
backfire by costing you money dealing with EEO
complaints. They can also result in bad reviews on
sites like Indeed or Glassdoor that turn off potential
employees. Again, this is where a company Code of
Conduct can help you.
Take Action
Whether someone is threatening to shoot people, not
minding if others shoot people, or just shooting off their mouth, these situations do not take care of themselves.
You need to lead. In the case of illegal or threatening behavior, the action you take could save lives. In the case
of inappropriate comments, stepping up and actively supervising will help create a positive culture that attracts
better employees, more customers, and discourages costly complaints or lawsuits.
In fact, in these cases, the best defense is a good offense. Have a Code
of Conduct, model the attitudes you want to see from the top down, talk
about how to handle things in team meetings, and reward the best behavior.
It may sound cheesy and not important in the middle of everything else a
portable sanitation
company needs to
cover. But it will pay
off in the end. At a
minimum, chances
are good that the
next time you hear,
"Someone oughta
shoot a few of 'em"
outside your window, the topic will be photography. v
