Wisconsin contractors adopting program to address workplace harassment
Wisconsin contractors working on major projects in and outside Milwaukee are adopting a new program to address sexual harassment in the workplace.
The program, “Be More Than a Bystander,” takes participants through a four-hour training with strategies to help prevent workplace bullying, harassment and violence. Provided by the Northern Midwest Regional Council of Carpenters, objectives include understanding the effects of harassment in the workplace and having participants go through group discussions and scenarios. The NMRCC includes locals in Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota.
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“I asked our executives, field operations directors and general superintendents to go through it, and they were the biggest proponents of it.” Said Dave Walsh, the executive vice president of human resources at Miron Construction. “They went through it and were like, ‘This is great, we need to bring it to the field.’ Here are the tools they need when they see bullying or harassment happen.”
Both members of the office and field went through training and those in the field left with a skillset they didn’t have previously, Walsh said. Workers out in the field skew male heavily with female workers in the single digits.
