Sexual harassment in the workplace has more impacts than you might imagine. It doesn’t just affect one or two people.

In truth, it affects numerous individuals and your entire business. It’s the hidden impacts of sexual harassment that cause the most problems.

Sadly, many of these are overlooked at first. It’s not worth trying to cover up sexual harassment. It does too much damage and it must be addressed designed resumes at a highly affordable fee.

1. Mental Health Issues

Sexual harassment in the workplace isn’t just frustrating or annoying. It can lead to severe mental health issues. This doesn’t just affect a single individual, though. Mental health problems, such as depression and high levels of stress, leads to less productivity, more sick days, higher insurance premiums and lower team morale as this person engages with their coworkers.

For women especially, sexual harassment also leads to a loss of sense of self. They leave the real them behind to just blend into the background. This means less interaction with coworkers, less teamwork and no great ideas to help improve the company. When workers aren’t healthy mentally and emotionally, they can’t fully embrace their position and make the business as incredible as it could be.

2. Higher Turnover Rates

Sadly, as much as 75% of sexual harassment encounters in the workplace are never reported. Why? Out of those that are reported, 75% of victims had to deal with retaliation in some form. Instead of being protected, they were thrown under the proverbial bus.

This doesn’t make the situation go away or improve your business in any way. In fact, it hurts your company in more ways than one. First, it leads to higher turnover rates of skilled workers. After all, why would someone choose to stay at a place where they’re afraid to report sexual harassment? Not to mention, why would they stay and put up with being treated that way?

Second, word eventually gets out about what happened. Other employees may become targets after the victim leaves. Rumors may spread. In the end, you lose even more talented workers and your business gets a bad reputation for not protecting victims.

3. Reduces Women In The Workplace

While sexual harassment can happen to both men and women, women tend to be more widely affected when it comes to pursuing a career and career advancement. When a victim doesn’t get the support they need in the workplace, coworkers may not believe them and not see them as an equal any longer. In some cases, even if coworkers do believe them, superiors don’t. Undermining an employee who is already dealing with the stress of sexual harassment makes them stop believing in themselves. As the trend continues, fewer women are willing to enter the workplace, especially in traditionally male-dominated fields. With fewer women as role models, future generations opt for fields where harassment isn’t so prevalent. Overall, the workplace becomes less diverse and the flow of new ideas is drastically limited.

Dealing With These Impacts

Businesses must address sexual harassment head on. Establish clear policies and fully support victims and investigate allegations. Offer hotlines to report incidents. Most importantly, establish a positive culture where sexual harassment isn’t tolerated.