Category Archives: impacts of corporate diversity training

Stress and bullying go hand in hand…

October 6, 2011bullying, Discrimination, diversity training consultants, diversity training programs in companies, impacts of corporate diversity trainingleahhollis

Stress and bullying go hand in hand…

We might have thought bullying was one of those things we endure as kids, but it is no coincidence that during a recession and season of budgets cuts, bullying has taken a serious foothold in schools and in the workplace. Stressful situations breed bullies as it triggers insecurity and the need to have absolute control in these stressful environments. Ironically, the last thing a stressful situation needs is a bully who brings more stress to the environment.

Bullies bring emotional and psychological attacks to staff who then spend time fending off the threat, instead of time focusing on being productive. Why then don’t organizations crack down on bullies if they are so destructive?

1. Bullies are often the boss, welding control, even threatening targets with demotion or job loss if they don’t comply with
unreasonable demands.

2. Organizations often protect their management, even when management is wrong, therefore targets subordinates quietly suffer and plan an escape instead of addressing the problem.

3. Staff often makes excuses: there is not enough time, or not enough energy to address the toxic personality.

Patricia Berkly LLC offers some organizational solutions to help everyone maintain a healthy work environment. The time spent to put protective measures in place will help to maintain quality and productive employees.

1. Establish a culture of zero tolerance with strong anti-bullying policies. Be clear about what behavior is acceptable and the steps the organization will take to protect itself from a bully

2. Follow that policy. Too often organizations craft wonderful policies, yet fail to follow them, or apply them inconsistently.

3. Offer regular and consistent training. With natural attrition, any staff needs training. Such training will also empower staff as a whole to address bullying as the grassroots level.

4. Establish information interviews with staff as a standard operating procedure. In addition to other aspects of the operation
which need attention, this standard procedure could also uncover incivility in your workplace.

Protecting your organization from bullying is everyone’s responsibility. For more information, visit Leah Hollis, the President
and Founder of Patricia Berkly LLC a diversity training and consulting group. Dr. Hollis has conducted several lectures and
assisted clients with this issue. Her group is at www.diversitytrainingconsultants.com –

Sticks and Stones…

September 22, 2011Cultural Diversity Training Workshops, diversity training consultants, impacts of corporate diversity trainingbullying, discrimination, harassmentleahhollis

Sticks & stones break your bones…
But words can break a heart…

Given the unfortunate deaths of various students in the last year, several states, organizations and school districts are committing to anti-bullying training.

As no child will thrive in a hostile environment, the same applies to the workplace. Workplace bullying, much like school bullying, is on the rise, and intervention must be put into place to avoid a possible lawsuit or complaint.

The targets of bullies tend to be those outside of the mainstream in either schools or the workplace. In schools, they are typically children with disabilities, who are overweight, those with BiGala parents, etc. In the work place, they have a different ethnic or racial background and they usually sit outside of the power structure.

Patricia Berkly LLC recommends two types of inventions to quell workplace bullying:

1) Group training. When a culture is trained to identify, quarantine and eradicate bullying, the workplace is a safer place. Patricia Berkly training would assist staff members in identifying bullying and empower staff to address it head on. Further, training would include policy analysis and implementation. While staff may be trained, the organization also needs to have an early alert system, a sanctuary where targets can report issues, and a clearly defined organizational time line to address the problem.

2) Individual interventions. Patricia Berkly LLC will work with individuals to create candid interventions for those who exhibit bullying tendencies. Individual interventions would include developing strategic solutions to comply with the organization’s anti-bullying and anti-harassment policies, also establishing a leadership action plan for productive engagement with his or her staff.

Guard against bullying in your work place. Have proper training and intervention s to create a positive, inclusive and productive workplace.

The Perfect Storm… Discrimination, Retaliation, Lawsuit, Settlement

September 9, 2011Discrimination, diversity training programs, diversity training programs in companies, impacts of corporate diversity trainingcultural diversity training, diversity training activities, diversity training consultantsleahhollis

The Perfect Storm… Discrimination, Retaliation, Lawsuit, Settlement

A discrimination law suit is much like a perfect storm… it can come from all four directions, and wreck an entire organization

Let me tell you a story.

Imagine an older staff member has been passed over for a position. While the organization might have its genuine rationale for choosing the younger candidate, our colleague over 40 is still dismayed. Perhaps the younger candidate has more direct experience, or more education. Nonetheless, your older staff member takes issue with being passed over. He then files an internal complaint that specifically invokes Title VII legislation by stating he feels he was passed over because of his age.

The organization is now at a cross roads. Whether the complaint is valid or not, our over forty colleague has invoked Title VII protections. Here is the forecast of the perfect storm. The organization can get mad, and immediately take a defensive posture, claiming there is no way that age discrimination exists, simply because there are policies against it. Nonetheless, the organization conducts an investigation and interviews a number of people. Once the investigation is complete, the complainant is transferred to another department because his manager doesn’t want to deal with a complainer.

The perfect storm still brews as every single person who participated in that investigation is also protected by Title VII. The transferred colleague now has a clear retaliation charge; because he was transferred after he made a complaint. If he views the transfer as a downgrade or unfair change, this age discrimination case now morphs into a retaliation charge. Further, if the participants in the investigation face adverse employment actions, demotions, transfers, even uncustomary poor performance evaluations, they too will have retaliation charges. As an organization can see, ill feelings about being passed over have quickly mushroomed into retaliation complaints which can cost easily $75,000 a piece to defend.

While the original complaint of age discrimination might not have yielded a finding in favor of the complaint, if the complaint is mishandled, the subsequent retaliation charges can embroil an organization for years. Patricia Berkly LLC helps organizations anticipate these problems and guides managers through sticky situations which can land the organization in court. The recent book Unequal Opportunity, offers details about these types of cases, and suggests solutions for managers. Visit www.diversitytrainingconsultants.com for more details.

What’s The Impact?

July 25, 2011impacts of corporate diversity trainingcorporate diversity training, diversity training, diversity training activities, impacts of corporate diversity training, patricia berklyleahhollis

The Impact Of Corporate Diversity Training

The Impact Of Corporate Diversity Training On Staff

The Impact Of Corporate Diversity Training On Staff By Patricia Berkly LLC

The impact of corporate diversity training is usually apathy from those forced to attend. Many see the impact of corporate diversity training as a free day out of work. Corporate diversity training is sometimes used to meet some regulation, but the true impact of corporate diversity training transcends traditional reflection on who endures workplace discrimination.

An adept trainer creates interactive and positive cultural diversity training activities. We all are either born into a protected Title VII class or we age into it at 40. Therefore, the impact of corporate diversity training should be to educate everyone to not only understand each other, but understand the federal regulations which govern every point of the employment process.

The impact of corporate diversity training should not leave the institution aggravated with time lost participating in these cultural training activities. Further, the impact of corporate diversity training should not be a onetime two hour workshop to attempt to fix an organization’s social ills over a fancy Danish. The impact of corporate diversity training should educate and empower all staff members. Such cultural diversity training activities should provide solutions and customized applications of Title VII.

When cultural diversity training activities are recast to embrace all instead of only validating the disenfranchised, the impact of corporate diversity training can indeed help all staff members. Further the impact of corporate diversity training should include a schedule beyond the workshop to include committees, mentoring, and a review of the positive influence on the organizations strategic mission.

When The Empire Strikes Back

June 2, 2011impacts of corporate diversity trainingcorporate diversity training, diversity training, diversity training activities, impacts of corporate diversity training, patricia berklyleahhollis

Impacts Of Corporate Diversity Training

Patricia Berkly LLC On The Impacts Of Corporate Diversity Training

Patricia Berkly LLC On The Impacts Of Corporate Diversity Training: Retaliation

In 2010, the EEOC reported an all time high number of retaliation complaints from employees. The impacts of corporate diversity training educates employers so they can avoid falling into this trap. The impacts of corporate diversity training could reveal the case of the woman who sued her company and the subsequent case of her fiancé who also had a retaliation claim when he was fired after HER complaint. The impacts of corporate diversity training would highlight that the Supreme Court decided in March 2011, that oral as well as written complaints can invoke a viable retaliation charge. The impacts of corporate diversity training would educate employers, document employment status changes and help the organization to avoid these costly issues. The impacts of corporate diversity training should move beyond feeling good about diverse groups, but educate on how to stay compliant with EEO laws.

Patricia Berkly, LLC has a 72 points risk assessment to highlight the impacts of corporate diversity training. We analyze the risk areas in an organization and help managers be better prepared. The impacts of corporate diversity training should not include putting people on edge; the impacts of corporate diversity training should also include real time education about the ever changing EEO employment policies. In turn, corporate diversity training would save a company money and protect its productivity. The impacts of corporate diversity training are priceless in the face of records numbers of EEO lawsuits. With changes in the retaliation laws in January and March 2011, the impacts of corporate diversity training should keep managers educated and aware of potential law suits.

For example, the impacts of corporate diversity training would let managers know that retaliation is not just about firing a staff member after a complaint. The impacts of corporate diversity training would educate managers to understand that a change in hours, work location, or uncustomarily poor performance appraisal for a complaining employee can also fall under retaliation. The impacts of corporate diversity training can serve to assist supervisors in managing a diverse staff environment. While it might be human nature to lash out at a person who complains, the impacts of corporate diversity training would educate companies of the cost when their empire strikes back.