If an employee reports harassment to their manager, is it the responsibility of the manager to report it to HR? What should if the employee doesn’t want the complaint to go to HR, and the manager doesn’t want to lose the employee’s trust? And, what should a manager do if the employee describes the situation, but doesn’t provide the name of the alleged harasser? Does a manager need to take any steps if an employee goes directly to HR and claims they don’t want an investigation?
To read my answer, click here: Should I Lose My Employee’s Trust by Reporting Harassment to HR
And hopefully your HR department and upper management will have your back on this. So many letters over at AAM where they don’t! Though it’s upper management who seems to drop the ball most often.
The laws here in California are (quite a bit) stricter than the federal laws are, but your answer is dead on. I’ve had the training (every two years, required by law, even though I don’t actually supervise anyone, because I write instructions for other employees). Once someone informs me of anything that fits the legal definition of harassment (and it’s a lot broader here), I *must* report it to HR. Not doing so not only opens the company up to liability, it opens me up personally, too. The investigation is mandatory (and if it fits the legal definition of harassment, it will likely be done by the company lawyer), and we *cannot* guarantee confidentiality. We get specific training on how to explain that to the employees, if necessary.
What’s most likely to happen is that you will be fired. You’re now a problem.
One other bit to keep in mind for this manager:
Now that you’re a manager, there are some additional responsibilities like this harassment reporting scenario. The same is true if you discover someone lying on their timesheet (theft), or sleeping on the job (also theft). If you are a trusted person for employees to vent to, it would be a good idea to make sure if someone says, “hey, can I tell you something confidentially?” that you respond with, “I’m always here to listen, and I will help however I can. But be aware that some situations require that I report them.”
We all want to be the trusted recipient of confidential information, but the reality is, there is very little confidentiality when it comes to employees reporting concerns.
I think that harassment is not an big factor to lose emplyees in the work.