Will #MeToo turn into #NotHer? Movement may come with unintended workplace consequences

At the one-year mark, the #MeToo movement's impact is easy to ascertain in the number of powerful men brought down by revelations of their sexual misconduct, including the likes of Harvey Weinstein, Matt Lauer, Les Moonves and Charlie Rose.

Less obvious but even more far-reaching in the workplace are the movement’s unintended consequences.

Human resources professionals say #MeToo has increased awareness of harassment, made it easier for victims – female or male – to report offensive behavior and prompted enhanced employee training, especially among larger corporations.

But they also point to some negative effects, like confusion about workplace etiquette and, paradoxically, the possibility of fewer opportunities for women, as male executives struggle to adjust to the new rules of engagement.   

The confusion stems from cultural differences in a country as vast and diverse as the United States. What may be regarded as an inoffensive hug or compliment in one setting could be interpreted as a come-on in another.

Johnny C. Taylor Jr., president and CEO of the Society for Human Resource Management, said he grew up in South Florida around Latinos who were expressive and dispensed hugs freely, and also among Southerners who often used terms like “honey,’’ “sweetheart’’ and “sugar’’ with their acquaintances.

In some workplaces, those practices now could form the basis of a severe reprimand.

“What one does in one culture, in South Florida – Miami – is very different from what’s acceptable in Des Moines, Iowa,’’ said Taylor, who writes the weekly “Ask HR’’ column for USA TODAY. “It’s not as simple as, ‘Here’s the national standard.’ It requires different interventions giving cultural nuance, geographic nuance, and then your big one is age.’’

Indeed, men of a certain age appear to have the most difficulty adapting to the new work order. A Pew Research Center poll conducted in February and March revealed 66 percent of adults 65 and older believe it’s now harder for men to navigate workplace interactions.

The survey also indicated 51 percent of Americans believe the increased focus on sexual harassment and assault has made it more difficult for men to know how to interact with women at work. Only 12 percent said the interactions would now be easier.

Experts report increasing reluctance from men in positions of authority to hire or work closely with women, in some cases declining to hold one-on-one meetings with female employees.

“It’s not a good thing,’’ said Kellie McElhaney, founding director of the Center for Equity, Gender and Leadership at UC-Berkeley’s Haas School of Business. “It’s further disconnecting women from networks that we’ve already been excluded from. There are solutions, but I think right now men are a bit paralyzed.’’

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A poll directed this year by LeanIn.org and SurveyMonkey found nearly half of male managers are uncomfortable participating in common work activities with a woman, and senior-level men are 3½ times more hesitant to have a work dinner with a junior-level woman – and five times more hesitant to travel with one for work – than with a junior-level man.

Male managers also have grown significantly more uncomfortable mentoring women than before, the survey said.

“We’re literally having executives say, ‘I’m really nervous about hiring a woman, particularly in roles like EAs (executive assistants), that’s such a personal job … I’d just as soon hire a male,’’’ Taylor said. “It has become a risk-management conversation.

“We must figure out from an HR perspective how to minimize that, because we don’t want men penalizing women for fear.’’

Some believe the pendulum in workplace interactions has swung too far, further pushed to the edge by a politically charged climate in a country led by a president, Donald Trump, who has been accused several times of inappropriate behavior toward women. Accusations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh only added to that environment. 

However, University of Maryland professor Neta Moye, an expert on human resources and leadership, says it’s nonsensical for men to fear being disciplined for making an innocent, inadvertent comment that could be construed as offensive.

“None of the stories that we learned about in the #MeToo movement was a small, one-time, accidental incident in which some man says to some woman at work, ‘I like your dress,’’’ Moye said. “These stories are of men who are knowingly, willingly abusing power, usually repeatedly, in order to get sexual favors from women.”

San Francisco chef and restaurateur Dominique Crenn has faced the issue from different perspectives. In the 1990s she left a job when she felt her harassment complaint was disregarded, and decades later she fired an employee accused of harassing others.

Crenn said she still frequently hears of abuses in the restaurant business, which from 1995-2016 was the source of more sexual harassment claims filed with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission than any other industry.

“When I look at this I say, ‘All right, there’s a MeToo movement. Now, how can we move forward?’’’ said Crenn, who will speak on the subject at this month’s StarChefs International Chefs Congress.

McElhaney said one of the steps companies should take is to clearly spell out their policies about dating co-workers, discouraging romantic relationships between employees in the same department and forbidding them between bosses and subordinates.

Peter Cappelli, professor of management at the University of Pennsylvania, goes a step further, saying office romance is on the way out because employers will start putting bans in place to avoid litigation.

“I think companies are going to find that trying to draw rules on how you should interact with each other is going to be more difficult and open them up to criticism from one side or the other,’’ Cappelli said, “so it’s going to be simpler to just say, ‘The heck with it.’’’

That may seem a bit draconian, considering human nature and the amount of time people spend at work every day. Interactions that lead to mutual attraction are likely to happen regardless.

In addition to some hard-and-fast rules and continued training, experts suggest companies implement common-sense solutions like increasing the number of women in leadership roles, holding meetings with doors ajar and encouraging handshakes instead of hugs.

Janet Zaretsky, a speaker and corporate trainer in Austin, Texas, said she has seen the empowering effect the #MeToo movement has had on women, as well as the negative effects like making some men reluctant to hire or work in close proximity with them.

But it was the Kavanaugh hearings that crystallized for her the notion that the cause needs to continue.

“There is still much work to be done to have victims’ voices heard,’’ Zaretsky said, “and to wake people up that their behavior has consequences.’’