How New Zealand tech companies can prevent sexual harassment
In light of the recent sexual harassment cases from Uber executives to major VC partners, there are obvious sexual harassment issues within Silicon Valley and the tech community generally.
Is this just an American tech issue or are there similar issues within the New Zealand tech community that have not yet surfaced?
While New Zealand is a leader in sustainability, rugby and setting up a business, how can New Zealand be leading the way in more inclusive diverse culture and prevention of sexual harassment? Below are three ideas on how to be a more inclusive organization and prevent a culture of sexual harassment.
1. Shift your mindset. Lead by example by practicing inclusion and not tolerating harassment. Think about the “jokes” you make in the office, how you talk about your colleagues and generally about women/minorities and the words you use. Pretend your wife/mother/grandmother were in the room — would they find your behavior appropriate? That is the standard you need to live by.
2. Hire more women/diversity into your organization. While you should never just hire someone based on gender or diverse background, you might rethink your hiring strategy. Do you have women/diversity on your team or on your board? While living in the Bay Area, the tech scene is clearly heavily white male based but New Zealand has been surprising similar. I am shocked to find NZ tech companies with their whole team and/or board made up of only white males. Credit Suisse reported organizations with at least one female board member yielded higher return on equity and higher net income growth than with no women on the board. What language are you using on your job description? This article provides some words that are helpful to encourage more female candidates to apply for jobs. This starts from the recruitment process and continues to company policies and promotions. Look at your team demographics and rethink your plan.
3. Take this seriously. The public reaction of these sexual harassment stories has lead to more action than previously, where the harassers resigned with more public support of the women who came forward. There seems to be some changing landscape and serious consequences for bad actions. However, it is still not easy to come forward as a woman who has been sexually harassed especially when she wants to be taken seriously, have a good reputation and able to raise money. If someone tells you about harassment, do not shrug it off but take the claim seriously and figure out a way to report this to the company’s HR. Do you have a way to report these claims? If not, you should think about a proper HR system. A harasser has probably done this more than once and not reporting this allows them to think this behavior is okay.
While the VC “code of conduct” that was drafted is a good start by providing “retaliation-free” reporting and calling out good and bad actions, there is still a long way to go. If you are a startup or an established company, work to think differently, bring more women/diversity into your organization and take all types of sexual harassment seriously. It would be great to see the New Zealand tech culture as a leader in an inclusive, harassment free environment.
