By Nhu Pham

They came, they listened carefully, and they left with a new understanding of why it is important for organisations to have a clear policy on workplace sexual harassment.

AWARE launched its Workplace Sexual Harassment programme in late April to a full house of more than 60 participants – mostly human resource (HR) managers and executives – from 46 different organisations.

The launch included a preview of the workshops AWARE is running in June for HR professionals and others about how to deal with and reduce the risk of sexual harassment at the workplace.

Pei Rong Sim, a senior HR executive at the Singapore Management University, summed up the view of many participants when he said: “It’s a good introduction.  It gave us knowledge of how to move forward and create a sexual harassment policy. We do not have one and after this session I realise it is important to have a policy in place.”

More than half of those who attended the event said they believe that sexual harassment occurs at their workplace, and that they would be keen to have formal training for their management and staff in workplace sexual harassment issues.

Corinna Lim, AWARE’s Executive Director, said: “I am extremely encouraged by the turnout at the launch and the response to the session. I am glad that HR managers are taking a keen interest in this topic.

“I do think that our workshops are timely and the market is ready for this. Many of the attendees and their colleagues have signed up for the full workshop and we look forward to working with more HR people and organisations to tackle the problem of sexual harassment at the workplace.”

AWARE will run two workshops in June, one on June 17 aimed at HR professionals and other managers (FULLY BOOKED) and the other on 22 June for employees. For more information, call 6779-7137 or visit the special section on sexual harassment on AWARE’s website.