Page 14 - ARUBA TODAY

A14 LOCAL
Tuesday 24 July 2018

App against harassment

and also strong enough to But Bosman explains there’s shows: the problem is big-
report cases.” existing regulation that ob- ger. With the app, the La-
ligates employers to take bor Department sees an
Workers can report via the care of their employees. opportunity also to collect
app which is not a formal “A safe and healthy work- data (anonymously). Be-
complaint yet, but more a place is not only providing cause they also think that
signal for help. As the app is work breaks or putting a the reported cases are just
not only an application but helm on for protection. It’s a tip of iceberg.
with a full support and pro- also preventing work re-
fessional network as back lated stress which is by the Medwork is a company
office, to guide and assist way occupational disease specialised in sick leave
the person feeling a vic- number 1.” management and health
tim of harassment at work. care advice. A lot of com-
For example the ‘arbodok- But more can be done panies, also the govern-
ter’ which is a doctor spe- she admits with regulation, ment are amongst their
cialised in work related dis- government policy but also clients. “We see a lot of
eases can guide the victim labor and branch organi- discrimination. Women for
to a solution, after reporting sations can do more. “And example getting fired be-
inappropriate behaviour. also the employees them- cause they were pregnant
For example, the specialist selves. They have to learn but didn’t told their em-
can facilitate a session be- to inform no only on salary, ployer during hiring. They’re
tween the victim and ac- vacation days but also it not obligated by the way
cused. “In the case of bul- there’s a policy on harass- to tell, neither is it allowed
lying this can also mean a ment. That’s why this app is to fire them because of the
session with a whole group important to learn an make pregnancy.”
of employees.” workers more aware.”
Croes also explains that
Bosman continues: “So About Workplace Harass- hotels due to company
the app is a low level tool ment and Medwork Carib- policies which are mostly
for people to address the bean have joined forces to internationally based be-
situation quicker. But also it promote and implement cause of the owners/ man-
ORANJESTAD - Dutch advo- also motivates the employ- the app on Aruba and also agement, do have proto-
cate and expert Karin Bos- Research on the neigh- er to implement a policy on other islands in the Dutch cols against harassment.
man firmly keeps on going bouring island shows even harassment in an easy way. Caribbean. Director of However the public sector
with the battle against ha- an increase of 50% more. And motivates workers to Medwork Ru Croes affirms doesn’t have a protocol
rassment at the workplace: “This is a trend noticeable address unsafe situations they already have contact at all, as also the latest in-
book, research, workshops, worldwide. Even in Europe such that the employer with the Labor Department vestigation of Bosmans
lectures all over the world more people report harass- can act more quickly. The and the response was posi- foundation shows. 85% of
and even a 500k walk from ment. People feel more benefits for the employer tive. the respondents working in
the Trump Tower in NY to safe and comfortable to are that employees stay ‘Harassment is an issue, the the public sector answered
the White House in Wash- report.” But Bosman ad- healthy, lesser sick leave department also acknowl- ‘no’ when asked if such a
ington. Her latest creation mits: it’s still not easy for vic- and people quitting their edges this. Each year they protocol existed at work.
with her foundation About tims to talk about harass- jobs.” deal with dozens of cases.” Bosman comments: “It
Workplace Harassment: an ment experiences. “It’s the These are reported cases would be marvellous if they
app. shame that prevents them One of the main motives for but as the investigations would set the example.” q
sharing their story. Because not reporting harassment
Her latest research on sex- in general we didn’t learn is that most people aren’t
ual harassment on Aruba how to address these ex- conscious of inappropriate
shows a big increase (one periences.” behavior. Hence the app
third): 56% of the workforce contains information also
reports being a victim of About the app videos to show what is tol-
physical sexual harassment As mentioned she devel- erable and what not.
at the work, compare to oped an app as a next step
37% in her previous report. to a solution. But as the ex- What if an employee mis-
The percentage is even periences of victims mostly uses the app to make a
higher, 86%, regarding fre- are very emotional ones, false harassment report
quent sexual remarks or question is: why develop- on a colleague? Bosman
comments with a double ing an app. As this can be explains that although the
(sexual) meaning. received as a more distant reports stay anonymous for
approach to help dealing the employer, the person
But Bosman clarifies: “It with harassment. filing the report has to put a
doesn’t mean there are name. Also in order to get
more cases. We think the in- “The app provides a lot of the help from a confiden-
crease has to do with more information”, Bosman ex- tial advisor or doctor.
with awareness because plains. “Not only on sexual “And filing a false report
of the #MeToo movement. harassments but all kind of itself is considered harass-
But also our previous inves- harassment occurring at ment.”
tigacion rattling the cages the workplace. Like bully-
more on the subject of sex- ing which is also a big prob- Situation on Aruba
ual harassment. People are lem. With the information Aruba doesn’t have a spe-
more aware of unwanted we make the people more cific law to enforce a safe
behavior now.” resilient against harassment and healthy workplace.