Our Blog Archive for May 09, 2007

If you haven’t noticed yet, I’m a bit of a news and pop culture junkie. Over the past year, I’ve blogged about some of the more outrageous celebrity and high profile executive misconduct — and I’ve tried to provide guidance about how to avoid the same problems in your workplace.

And there’s always plenty to write about. Just yesterday, HBO Chairman and Chief Executive Chris Albrecht was granted a leave of absence following his arrest over the weekend for allegedly assaulting his girlfriend. In an e-mail message yesterday to all HBO employees, Albrecht said he was “deeply sorry for what occurred in Las Vegas this weekend” and that it represented “a wake-up call to me of a weakness I thought I had overcome long ago.”

When it comes to EEO trends, I think it’s also important to understand how changing demographics, and new forms of technology are impacting your workplaces. (Speaking of technology, did you hear that last week, the US Supreme Court joined the Internet age and included digital access to videotaped evidence with an opinion? It’s a move that’s long overdue, but sure to catch on considering how key evidence in so many cases simply cannot translate properly in print.)

So why should you care about pop culture, hot news stories and the never-ending tech “revolution”? It’s simple. I firmly believe that employers have to stay up on trends if they want to stay ahead of emerging employment law risks.

Employers today are trying to function in an entirely new environment – technology has transformed how we work, how people communicate, and how quickly we can access and share information. And the face of our workplaces is shifting. The boomers are aging, and Gen Y and Gen Next are starting to make their mark on our workplaces. By all measures, these generations are dramatically different.

And to a large degree, all of these shifts are impacting what people feel empowered to say to others, and how quickly those communications can be shared and circulated. Don’t believe it? Just consider how quickly Alec Baldwin’s recent tirade against his daughter circulated the Internet in a nano-second. (Thank you TMZ.) While your employees’ misconduct may not garner the same interest as a celeb like Baldwin, the potential damage caused by the widespread broadcast of inappropriate, offensive or hateful conduct is immeasurable.

All of these trends are happening so quickly, it’s hard for employers to keep up. And I’m not talking about case law or lawyerly theories. I am talking about the stuff that really impacts our workplaces on a day-to-day basis, such as:

• Blogging, YouTube, social networking sites and the latest in handheld technology.
• Our celebrity and politics obsessed culture. (Guess where people are debating the latest news on race, immigration and the war on terror? Your workplace.)
• The evolving profile of sex and gender discrimination, including gender stereotyping, gender identity and sexual favoritism claims
• The new standard for retaliation. (Do your managers even really understand what unlawful retaliation is?)
• New EEOC initiatives (like E-RACE) and recent consent decree trends

Because understanding and addressing these issues is so important, I’ve put together a complimentary 1-hour webcast on these critical EEO trends. If you’re interested in learning more, as well as what you can do to stay ahead of the trends, I invite you to register via the ELT website. I hope you can make it!