Here's Why McDonald's Has A Sexual Harassment Problem
Standards in the workplace are constantly changing. That's been the case for quite some time, but both the pace and the level of necessity have been picking up recently, particularly when it comes to sexual harassment.
Why? Some of the reasons are obvious shifts in cultural attitudes, the "Me Too" movement, new requirements when it comes to diversity in both hiring and the treatment of women and minority employees are just a few.
But the need for legal protection is one of the most concrete reasons, particularly when it comes to the issue involving restaurants and sexual harassment.
Want proof? Look no further than a recent decision by McDonald's to mandate sexual harassment training in the workplace, based in large part on a series of legal charges over the course of the last half-decade.
This kind of decision raises another series of questions, though-where do companies go for this kind of training, and who do they use to help them implement it?
That's where firms like EasyLlama enter the picture, it takes knowledge and experience to implement this kind of training effectively, especially when it comes to the specifics of compliance.
So let's look at all that in more detail. To do that, we'll examine some of the specifics of the McDonald's sexual harassment case, including examples from the charges and the issues that the company faces in getting effective training.
After that, we'll take a deeper dive into what compliance training companies do, and why EasyLlama is a particularly excellent choice.
The McDonald's Story
There are many reasons why McDonalds has chosen to implement this kind of training, so we'll start by but looking at two of the most obvious ones.
The first is the string of legal actions against the company. As noted earlier, over 50 employees have filed charges against McDonald's in the last five years, with those charges alleging both physical and verbal harassment. In some of those cases, retaliation was also cited as an issue when employees complained.
The specifics are unseemly, to say the least. They charge for lewd and inappropriate comments, unwanted touching, verbal abuse, and even physical assaults.
The second reason has to do with an incident that occurred at the top of the corporate ladder. In 2019, McDonald's fired CEO Steve Easterbrook when he admitted to having a relationship with a fellow employee.
McDonald's initial response to the problem was to start giving harassment training to the general managers who run the company's US franchises. The next year the company started an employee hotline, and McDonald's extended its training program to all 850,000 US employees.
Now the company is clearly trying to go further. Experts in the field have cited the need to teach bystanders about the need to respond to sexual harassment, and to ensure that women are being promoted properly to managerial positions.
In addition, McDonald's has announced earlier this year that it will start tying executive pay to meeting goals when it comes to both hiring women and minorities into management positions.
The Specific Training and EasyLlama
As laudable as those goals are, they're definitely not easy to implement. Compliance requirements for sexual harassment training and education can be complicated, especially since they can vary widely from state to state.
To start, companies like McDonald's need to know exactly what constitutes sexual harassment, and how to train specifically for the prevention of sexual harassment in the workplace.
This includes addressing existing biases, both recognized and unspoken, and spotting and anticipating trends and issues related to sexual harassment that need to be addressed, both now and in the future.
Moreover, companies like EasyLlama that provide this kind of training need to be well-versed in the educational methodologies that will work. They also have to offer competitive pricing in their training that includes the necessary features to meet the demand of individual workplaces.
Try our New York or California sexual harassment training videos to meet a mandatory deadline. EasyLlama is the simplest way to get all your employees compliant with the law.
Social proof and examples of success are also important. Many companies that provide this kind of training are inexperienced when it comes to sexual harassment, and they simply don't have the track record to meet the standards and needs of a huge company like McDonald's.
EasyLlama has that proof and those examples in spades. The most recent example is that the company was voted the #1 best sexual harassment training in 2021 by The Balance, which conducted an evaluation based on reviews of over 30 providers.
Awards like that speak volumes to the quality of EasyLlama's sexual harassment training, but the ultimate proof is to review the company's website, www.easyllama.com, and proceed accordingly. That's the best way to get the best training from a great company with the experience to make sure your sexual harassment training works and keeps your company in compliance.