Sexual Harrassment, Smoke and Mirrors

We’ve been inundated with news about sexual harrassment claims. To an extent, we’ve been pleased by the actions companies and politicians have taken to deal with those claims.  Obviously, some of the casualties are disappointing, some not so much.

However, its time to take a step back. Human actions are rarely so simple as cause-and-effect. Let’s play devil’s advocate for a moment.

First, not everyone who has been accused has fallen. Trump is still there. The judge in Alabama disputed the allocations, but almost no one in GOP leadership wanted him in office. Matt Lauer may have used very poor judgement on a number of occasions, but he was also the highest paid talking head on The Today Show and NBC wanted to cut costs.

Now we have tales of companies cutting holiday parties for fear of harrassment claims. Uber for one, but Uber has had a rocky year this year, so is this really about harrassment or about budget?

So when you see a company take quick action on a harrassment claim, ask yourself, is this really about sexual harrassment, or is it about internal politics, budget or something else? What’s really going on?

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Sources:

1. http://www.benefitspro.com/2017/12/15/sexual-misconduct-allegations-put-a-damper-on-holi?kw=Sexual%20misconduct%20allegations%20put%20a%20damper%20on%20holiday%20parties&et=editorial&bu=BenefitsPRO&cn=20171215&src=EMC-Email_editorial&pt=News%20Alert