Recently I attended a professional event, one of my first large in-person gatherings in a long time. An acquaintance who I don’t know well came up from behind me and wrapped his arm around me before I could see who it was. He was too close, and he didn’t let go. I turned left, saw his face six inches from mine, pulled away, and shook his hand. He joined the circle of people I was talking with, and I saw him look me up and down.
Weird and uncomfortable. I forgot about it for a while. But when reflecting later, it struck me how much I didn’t miss a particular aspect of in-person work interactions: the risk of being sexually harassed.
I have stated publicly that I’ve been sexually harassed in work environments several times. But I happily hadn’t thought about those moments in a while, in part because like many people, I have worked primarily over Zoom the past couple of years.
It occurred to me that now that folks are returning to the office or participating in more frequent offsites, sexual harassment — at least in physical form — is bound to increase. I recently heard of another example from a founder who had to fire someone who had violated basic norms in this way during an offsite.
If you’re a founder, now is an especially important time to remind your team of your expectations — or clearly state them, if you haven't yet. Remember that most of your team has been operating in the work-from-home world for 2+ years. They've created new habits and forgotten old ways of working. You also may have team members who have never been in an office or at an offsite. It's important to explain what professional conduct at a “fun” work event looks like. Review your sexual harassment training and make sure it addresses these types of scenarios. I’ve heard good things about Ethena.
We have a special moment in history to redesign how we interact in person. Let’s bring back the good stuff and cut out the rest.
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Leadership Roles:
As always, I’ll share some leadership roles at companies that I’m excited about:
Workstream:
Head of Content Marketing (Utah or SF)
VendorPM:
Customer Success Team Lead
Director of Engineering
Product Marketing / Head of marketing (US/Europe)
Guide
Director/VP of Engineering