Experienced Employment Defense Representation

How do digital environments increase harassment?

On Behalf of | Apr 1, 2022 | Employment Law |

In today’s workspace, more and more parts have gone digital either somewhat or entirely. This has made numerous parts of working easier for workers across the nation.

At the same time, however, it has created new and unexpected problems or exacerbated old ones. This includes harassment, unfortunately.

Harassment of individuals

The New York Times discusses the increase of certain types of harassment due to the advent of the digital work environment. There are many ways for harassment to happen in digital environments, and sometimes it can seem even worse than in physical environments due to the quick-spreading nature of virtual communication.

This is particularly true when it comes to harassment that involves bad-mouthing or talking poorly about other employees. Due to private chats and group messaging systems, it is unfortunately easy for rumors to spread unchecked and unnoticed by even the most involved managers. Before anyone realizes it, damage to a reputation may happen and a worker may end up blacklisted and targeted for harassment.

Sexual harassment

Sexual harassment is also more prevalent, with individuals making use of video chat, picture attachments and even text messaging to send inappropriate photos, videos or messages to other workers. This can happen both in private or one-on-one channels of communication, but it can even happen on larger platforms where a worker may feel safer initially.

Fortunately, the good news is that harassment is easier to document than ever with digital interfaces. It is possible to take screenshots of incriminating evidence and make a substantial trail of documentation. This allows for easier investigation in the event that a harassed worker takes action against their workplace.