These days, people tend to follow a not-my-business mindset when it comes to others around them. In many cases, they’re more likely to pull out their phones and record a video of a negative situation or post about it on social media than to step up and try to mitigate the matter. Sadly, whether on a college campus, a busy city sidewalk or in the workplace, this line of thinking is now one of the primary reasons victims suffer unnecessarily. Bystander Training in California can go a long way toward reversing the issue.
What is Bystander Training?
Bystander training, or bystander intervention as it’s sometimes called, is based on the concept that anyone witnessing a potentially harmful development can help prevent it from getting out of hand. During programs designed to provide education on this matter, people learn they have not only the power to help, but several different ways of doing so.
These courses also emphasize that even idle witnesses play a role in the development of uncomfortable and possibly dangerous situations. Bystander Training in California can help combat a number of different workplace scenarios.
- Harassment:
- It’s no secret harassment comes in numerous forms, from unwanted advances to demeaning references to age, race or disability. Reports show more than 9,000 workplace harassment claims are filed each year, but this figure doesn’t account for the 99.8 percent of cases that go unreported.
- Bullying:
- Bullying is loosely defined as any behavior causing physical or emotional harm to another. By some accounts, more than 65 million people are affected by workplace bullying both directly and indirectly. Though laws regarding this issue are taking shape, they’re not yet quite as clearly defined as those applying to harassment.
- Discrimination:
- Well over one million workplace discrimination cases have been filed with over the last decade. This problem involves unfair treatment of employees based on age, race, gender and other aspects and can include unwarranted dismissal, lack of recognition for achievements and a long list of other scenarios.
Despite widespread efforts to raise awareness of these and other issues in the workplace, the number of people experiencing them continues to grow. In many cases, bystanders are hesitant to get involved for fear of becoming victims themselves or being reprimanded for intervening. Still, intervention is the key to prevention. Visit Civilitypartners.com to learn more about bystander training and how it can help create a safer, more positive workplace environment. You can connect us at Linkedin.
