Sexual harassment training for businesses continues evolving

Sexual harassment and assault allegations are surfacing around the nation and they all share one thing in common: public figures. So we wanted to know how professionals are seeing this problem handled when it’s ‘not so public’ — in a business environment.

We sat down with Wendy Bliss, a consultant who specializes in sexual harassment training, to see how this issue has evolved in her 25 years of practice.

“Companies in the past have been good about doing training,” she said.

But Bliss said the problem usually originates if complaints are only addressed once and then forgotten.

“Problems can continue,” she said, “If all the company is doing is disseminating the policy and doing a one time training — it’s easy for people to forget that it happened.”

The good news is, as we’re seeing these high-profile celebrities, tv stars, and journalists grilled with harassment allegations on the national stage, it’s changing how this issue is handled in the private sector.

“Victims of sexual misconduct, they’re coming out of the closet.”