I was boarding a flight today when I heard the pilot comment, jokingly, to a flight attendant, “Ahhh, the good ole’ days.  When sexual harassment was nothing but a good time.”  It made me smile and wince simultaneously.   Although sexual harassment is hardly a thing of the past, many proactive companies have drafted a sexual harassment policy, implemented sexual harassment training, and are serious about investigation those claims and meting out appropriate discipline.  But some companies don’t take those critical last steps.   If you are the executive owner or manager of a company that has a policy and has training make sure that you are vigilant about investigating claims of harassment and discrimination, making finding (or not) and following through with discipline if appropriate.

Don’t get me wrong.  I’m not advocating for unilateral discipline and/or termination of everyone who is accused of wrongdoing in a sexual harassment/discrimination case.  The “A” answer is having a neutral third party (whether that is internal or external) and getting to the meat of what really happened and then carrying through with appropriate consequences with a finding of wrongdoing.  Fortunately (or unfortunately depending on your perspective) the good ole’ days are long gone.