Home > Corporate > Media Centre > CFPSA takes a proactive approach to harassment in the workplace
CFPSA takes a proactive approach to harassment in the workplace
By Kristin Wood, Communications Assistant, CFPSA, Ottawa,613-996-2062, wood.kristin@cfpsa.com
Everyone wants to enjoy going to work. After all, work is the place we spend the majority of our time. Imagine you had a colleague who caused you to feel anxious or fearful of going to work. Each morning you wake up, dreading the thought of having to spend the next eight hours in the company of that person. You count down the days till the weekend and spend the rest of the time hiding in your cubicle. This may not sound familiar to you, but for some people this is a reality.
To alleviate these uncomfortable situations, CFPSA has approved an improved Harassment Prevention Policy. The policy is harmonized with CF/DND policy, and tailored to suit to the needs of the NPF environment.
“The workplace should be a positive place for employees,” explains Roger Young, Human Rights and Harassment Prevention Advisor at CFPSA. “We want our employees to be comfortable. That’s why we created the policy, to take a proactive approach to harassment rather than a reactive one.”
Harassment poisons the work environment causing higher turnover, frequent employee absences, increased mistakes and injuries, lost productivity and higher operational costs.
“Last year there were between 50 and 60 cases of harassment filed by the staff of the NPF, CF,” says Roger. “Cases ranged from discrimination, to sexual harassment, to abuse of authority. I want to see these numbers decrease – ideally I’d like the numbers to be so low that I work myself out of a job!”
Educational briefings can be scheduled to teach staff of the NPF, CF about the rights and responsibilities in the policy. The CFPSA Human Rights and Harassment Prevention team provides service in both French and English. They’re also working on plans for a website, which they hope to introduce in spring 2007.
If you would like to schedule an educational briefing for your staff contact the Human Rights and Harassment department at 1-800-506-6679. Roger Young, Human Rights and Harassment Prevention Advisor can be reached at young.roger@cfpsa.com or 613-996-3866 and Lucie Lapierre, Human Rights and Harassment Prevention Officer can be reached at lapierre.lucie@cfpsa.com or 613-996-6743.
