Undeniably, sexual harassment complaints at the workplace are extremely grave matters, which deserve nothing short of the company’s best efforts in resolving them. From a humanitarian standpoint, the incentives are obvious; the mere fact that the personal space of an employee has been violated in such a reprehensible manner should act as a stimulus to the company to ensure that not only do they address these instances in an appropriate manner, but more importantly, that they eradicate the very cause of these problems. To say that every business aims at creating a gender-neutral workplace where sexual harassment complaints are not given the chance to arise, is but a distant possibility.

Why is this not so at this very point? An easy answer that would pop into one’s mind is the generic “These corporate houses don’t care about anything except their profits. Why would they spend more money in creating a safe workplace, when they could spend much lesser in compensations that are paid in cases that are few and far apart?”. While this response is unsatisfactory on the face of it, even if it is assumed to be true, there are hidden harms that they have on corporations, and what they (allegedly) value the most; their profits.

The gold standard (ironically) of a company that does not care beyond two cents about cases of sexual harassment would have to be Uber, the bottom feeder of the tech industry when it comes to matters of law and ethics [1]. From treating their drivers as independent contractors, to avoid liability for their actions, to launching self-driving cars in California, without proper permits, Uber’s culture revolves around asking for forgiveness rather than permission. The nail in the coffin was when former Uber employee Susan Fowler Rigetti exposed the culture of sexism and harassment at the company. This was the initial push that resulted in a domino effect where dozens of female employees came forward with report of how they too had been wronged by the company in the past. These instances together, resulted in people losing their brand loyalty to a company that has lost its brand integrity.

It was not only the incident, but also the sub-par manner in which Uber addressed the issue which irked their customers and stakeholders. The fact that the investigators of the case are also involved with the company presents an unresolved conflict of interest. Concern regarding this issue was also voiced by early investors in the company. Beyond the stakeholders, customers have also lost faith in the company, which sparked the #DeleteUber campaign, which forced the company to automate the app deletion process[2]. Evidently, the issues of harassment at the workplace and the sub-standard manner of resolving them have led to Uber losing out on a large chunk of their profits, slowly, but surely.

Another such instance was when allegations of sexual harassment were levelled against Bill o Reilly of Fox News, one of the most widely watched television networks. In the aftermath of the accusations of sexual harassment against him, there was a sharp reaction as 27 advertisers, most of them major corporation withdrew their support. This has also sent the message that the stature of a company no longer matters as much as it used to, and that even the most powerful organisations no longer have an air of invincibility.

Such cases serve as appropriate examples where accusations of sexual harassment have been to the detriment of the company, especially over a period of time. The effects, however, are also seen in the close aftermath of the accusations. In 2015, a study of 50 sexual harassment cases in Chicago resulted in an average settlement of $53,000; a number which rose to $217,000 where the plaintiff went to trial and won[3]. And this is excluding the associated legal costs, which are definitely not a lean sum.

Even in India, there have been multiple incidents where instances of sexual harassment have not been dealt with in the appropriate manner. This has led to widespread criticism being levelled on them. The cases of sexual harassment that were filled against the higher ups in TVF and ScoopWhoop went a long way to counter the start-up culture of paying little attention to such instances. Complaints of sexual harassment that were earlier shirked off, as they did not fall in the urgent/important quadrant of issues that start-ups focussed on, are now being given much more attention, given the long reaching effects they could have, and the lost profits that the company could face.

Organisations are now in a much greater need to ensure that their workplace is a safe work space. However, their motivation to do so is due to more than just the fact that it is required by the law. They have seen first-hand in the cases of Uber and Fox News that even the most established names in the industry are not infallible. Start-ups can no longer shrug off their responsibility on the grounds that it isn’t pressing enough. And finally, the monetary drain on the resources of the organisation in dealing with such complaints would, if nothing else does, now force them to treat such issues as grave matters and give them the attention they deserve.

In a world where there are usually identical substitutes available for a majority of services provided, it is now much easier for one to quit using a service like Uber, purely for ideological reasons, without them having to make a substantial change to their lifestyle. This creates a much higher threshold for the companies to ensure that the workplace is employee friendly and that there is little to no leeway afforded for sexual harassment complaints to arise, else they would risk dire consequences.

[1] Uber’s sexual harassment case shines light on a start-up’s culture of defiance; Sam Levin; The Guardian; 21 February 2017. (https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/feb/21/uber-sexual-harassment-discrimination-scandal).

[2] #DeleteUber: Company automates account removal due to demand; Elena Cresci and Alex Hern; 1 February 2017. (https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/feb/01/deleteuber-company-automates-account-removal-due-to-demand).

[3]The Effects of Sexual Harassment in the Workplace; Josh Young; Workplace Answers; 01 December 2016. (http://www.workplaceanswers.com/resources/blog/the-effects-of-sexual-harassment-in-the-workplace/).