Special article
Addressing Sexual Harassment in the #MeToo Era: An Institutional Approach

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mayocp.2019.12.021Get rights and content

Abstract

Sexual harassment is a particularly pernicious form of harassment that can result in long-lasting psychological damage to victims. In health care, it has deleterious effects on teamwork and communication and may affect patient care. Although concerns regarding sexual harassment in the workplace, including within health care, are not new, increased attention has been focused on this topic since late 2017 as a result of the #MeToo movement. As in other sectors, health care centers have experienced instances of sexual harassment. Evidence indicates that harassment in health care centers is not uncommon and has not decreased with time. Beyond reporting and addressing, health care institutions must establish policies that clearly outline the unacceptability of harassing behaviors. Moreover, institutions must have a systematic method to thoroughly investigate allegations of sexual harassment and to impose fair and consistent corrective actions when allegations are substantiated. This article describes Mayo Clinic's approach to this complex problem, including targeted efforts toward developing a culture intolerant of sexually harassing behavior.

Section snippets

Background

Mayo Clinic, founded in Rochester, Minnesota, has more than 65,000 employees, including more than 4000 physicians and scientists nationwide. It has multiple operational sites with a considerable presence and facilities in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Arizona, and Florida. A private, not-for-profit institution, it is a values-driven organization (Appendix 1). It has a 150-year history and a rich tradition of multidisciplinary medical and surgical collaboration, medical education, and scientific

Institutional Readiness

Mayo Clinic’s Sexual and Other Harassment Policy was updated just before the start of the #MeToo movement in 2017 (Appendix 2). The policy defines harassment of all types, sexual and otherwise, and outlines the framework of our institutional approach to harassment. It describes physical, verbal, nonverbal, and electronic types of harassment, reporting mechanisms, and the responsible bodies for the conduct and oversight of investigations and corrective actions. The policy also defines and

Addressing the Problem

Clinical care, scientific research, and health care education are complex endeavors and require highly functional teams for optimal performance. An individual team member’s ability to capably perform his or her work and be effective depends on a conducive work environment. When harassment of any sort occurs, team dynamics break down, and ultimately patient care may suffer. Serious and lasting damage may occur to the victim. Experience suggests that situations that involve allegations of sexual

Experience

Sexual harassment was not tracked separately from other types of harassment at Mayo Clinic until late 2017. As with many organizations, Mayo experienced an increase in sexual harassment reports and associated investigations in late 2017 and early 2018 as awareness regarding workplace sexual harassment increased as a result of external media coverage, the #MeToo movement, and an internal institutional awareness campaign (Figure). Of the total 153 allegations and associated investigations, the

Discussion

Sexual harassment is one of the most damaging forms of harassment and can have long-lasting effects. Pervasive psychological damage, low self-esteem, and impaired work performance can result.5 Support for victims of sexual harassment is critical, and many large employers have an employee assistance program. Experiencing harassment and discrimination during medical training is not a new phenomenon. We report a 2-year experience at a major medical center with a national footprint, detail the

Summary and Conclusions

This article outlines Mayo Clinic’s approach to the investigation of and response to allegations of sexual harassment in the workplace. We specifically report experience numbers to encourage more transparency and benchmarking of data among institutions.

Sexual harassment is a particularly pernicious form of harassment that can have long-lasting psychological impact on victims, impair working relationships, damage the cultural environment, increase costs, and ultimately threaten the mission of an

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For editorial comment, see page 639

Potential Competing Interests: Dr Noseworthy is a member of the board of directors for Merck & Co, Inc, UnitedHealth Group, and AlixPartners, LLP (no payments received) and has stock/stock options from Merck & Co, Inc, and UnitedHealth Group unrelated to the current work.

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