 Asalaamu Alaikum. We are now going to look at a very, very pertinent topic which is harassment at workplace. While harassment at workplace has been, is a ubiquitous phenomena. It has always been there. But the good thing is that in today's date and time, we have all become increasingly aware of it. And this increased awareness has enabled us to better cope with this phenomena. Therefore, let's look at harassment at workplace in detail. Firstly, let's see that what is workplace harassment? While, you know, we are aware of the term, it is important to recognise the difference in what is okay and what is not and what actually qualifies us as harassment. Harassment is basically defined as that when an employee or employees in an organisation feel threatened, intimidated, molested or exploited by their colleagues or by their superiors, which means people holding higher designations in the organisation. When this happens and it is persistent, this is what is broadly considered as workplace harassment. Workplace harassment is also, you know, there are other terms which are used for it. But they are all so essentially, essentially harassment. Workplace harassment can be referred to as bullying. It can be aggression, mistreatment, molestation, abuse, mobbing. These are all synonyms or alternate words which nevertheless refer to workplace harassment. Let's look at the types of workplace harassment. While this is not an exhaustive list, but these are the broad categories in which workplace harassment can be divided. Workplace harassment can be verbal, it can be psychosocial, it can be physical, it can involve cyberbullying, it can be sexual or it can take the form of discrimination. Now, it is important that I clarify here that usually people tend to think that when we talk about workplace harassment, we are only referring to sexual harassment. Please recognise and it is important to recognise that sexual harassment is one type or one kind of workplace harassment. So, if somebody says or if somebody feels that they are being harassed, that does not automatically mean that they are referring to sexual harassment. Let's first look at verbal harassment which is, you know, usually I think one of the most common types of workplace harassment that takes place. Even in personal lives or even in personal spheres, verbal harassment is something that, you know, most people at some point in their life get subjective to or, you know, they are the victims of verbal harassment because this is I think one of the easiest forms of harassments which an aggressor or, you know, or somebody can subject the other person to. Now, what qualifies as verbal harassment, especially in a workplace setting, it's verbal harassment includes abusive slurs. It can include inappropriate jokes. So, you know, let's say if you are in a meeting room or if you are amongst certain colleagues and certain inappropriate jokes could be of sexual nature, could be of, you know, they could be targeting a certain race or they could be targeting a certain ethnicity or they could just be, you know, distasteful in any case. If they are told in your present and it makes you feel uncomfortable, it makes you feel intimidated, that is a sort of verbal harassment. Then another kind of verbal harassment is verbal bullying. You know, when when you know what is verbal bullying, when you know, when you're when you're aggressively told to do something or, you know, you're judged or you're belittled or you're criticised in a way. For instance, if there is a certain superior that certain superior walks into a meeting room or let's say in front of your or walks into your classroom and says belittling things to you in front of your students, which actually embarrasses you or questions your authority in front of your co-workers or your students, that is a kind of verbal bullying that that other person or that superior has subjected you to. Then verbal harassment is also unwarranted criticism. Now, this can be given by again, by your co-workers, by your superiors, where, you know, that criticism isn't really due, but it is given to you just, you know, to break down your spirit or just, you know, to pull you down. So that is that is also a kind of harassment which people in our professional settings often met out to us. And the reasons behind that can be multiple from professional jealousy to inner insecurities to ongoing problems in their own lives. But their coping mechanism is, you know, to give you that unwarranted criticism to bring your good work down or to bring your spirits down. Here, if I, you know, I'm very tempted, you know, to quote this incident from my personal life. Well, I was travelling to another city for a certain conference in a certain work assignment when I casually mentioned it to, you know, to few colleagues that how one of my children wasn't very well. And I was on the phone with my family and asking about my child's well-being. And suddenly I had two to three colleagues of mine who started criticising me on being a good mother on the fact that if my child wasn't keeping very well or was taking a day off from school and I was actually in another city attending a conference, what kind of a person I was. Now, this criticism wasn't even of a professional nature. It was an attack on me at a personal level, attacking me as an individual, attacking me and telling me that how I was careless, telling me how I had no empathy, telling me how I was, let's say, the worst kind of criticism that you can possibly give to any woman or any mother, that accusing her that she's just not a good mother. Now, this was just a casual incident where, you know, I had shared with my colleagues that how, you know, I was just checking upon the well-being of my child. But I was offered a lot of unwarranted criticism from these colleagues who I must also add and clarify here were not my friends or were not my close circle, who somehow I had extended that liberty that they were in a position that they could comment on me as a person or on my decision or on my choices. So this is just one example, which qualifies both as unwarranted criticism. It qualifies as verbal bullying that now this criticism or this bullying had an effect that it affected me in a way that it affected my working throughout the day. And in fact, you know, not just affected my working throughout the day, somehow it had an effect that it affected my self-esteem. So, you know, these are those typical cases where your colleagues or your co-workers can actually subject you to a verbal harassment and it could be stemmed out of professional jealousy. It could be stemmed out of their own insecurities. And at times it can also stem out of the fact that, you know, all our colleagues are not that mature or not that groomed. And at times not that they do not possess that emotional intelligence to treat us or treat other colleagues the way we deserve to be treated. Moving on, lewd comments, you know, can be a sort of verbal harassment. Now, if you have a male superior or a male boss, I'm not saying over here that men are not subjected to verbal harassment. In a vice versa, if you know if you have a female boss and let's say they give you a comment on your looks, which are of personal nature, which are somehow lewd. And there's a fine line over here. Somebody can tell you that you're looking very nice, you're looking very elegant, but they can also say this with a tone that it can be lewd or it can be inappropriate. Now, this is again an example where, you know, you have been subjected to verbal harassment. You have been made a comment or something has been said to you, which is of an inappropriate nature. Lastly, if I really give a bigger umbrella to verbal harassment, verbal harassment is anything, any comment, any statement that can instill a feeling of fear or it can instill a feeling of disrespect or it can, you know, affect your self-esteem or it can bother you or it can negatively affect you or bring your spirit down. All these things under a bigger umbrella constitute as verbal harassment. Moving on to the second type, which is psychosocial harassment. Psychosocial harassment can then take further a variety of forms. For instance, when we steal credit of colleagues, you know, a colleague has certain, has let's say, been awake three nights, has set up a huge event, has made a huge road report and we actually pick that up and we show it to a superior saying that, oh look, it was me who has been doing all this. Very, very childish, very petty, very small, but we all know that we have colleagues, we have co-workers. At times, we have superiors, let alone co-workers, you know, who take our work and actually steal our credit. Then secondly, as, you know, another form of psychosocial harassment can be setting unrealistic deadline. Now, you know, for instance, I am, you know, a supervisor of somebody's work and I tell them that they complete a work which is meant to be completed over a period of 10 days in two days. Now, that is a psychosocial harassment because if you are, let's say, if you give in your 100%, you put in your night and day, you take out your personal time in order to meet that unrealistic deadline, even then, you know, you're subjecting yourself to a certain psychosocial pressure, which can take its toll on your health, on your physical well-being, on your mental well-being, or, you know, on the other hand, if you fail to meet that deadline or if you say that it is humanly impossible or it is impossible with those resources to meet that unrealistic deadline, then you are subjected to further unwarranted criticism or, you know, you're subjected to a certain punishment. So, this kind of attitude or behaviour by a teacher towards students, by a superior towards a subordinate is a form of a psychosocial harassment, whether, you know, expecting your employees or expecting your students or expecting those around you to work beyond their expertise. We have to recognise and realise that, you know, all around us, people are very gifted. Each person is gifted in its unique way, but people have their own set of expertise. They have their own set of strengths and they have their own set of skills, you know. So, you know, if you give them tasks, and especially knowingly that it is beyond their capability, you know, it is a different thing when you have a new subordinate or there's somebody around you and you're unaware of what really their strength or their skill set is, that is another thing. But especially knowing that, you know, this certain task is beyond a person's expertise or is beyond their capability, but nonetheless still insisting that they do so is a form of psychosocial harassment. Further, moving on, withholding any important information, which may be important for the other person's success. It may be important for their day-to-day, you know, better management organisation or their day-to-day work, you know, consciously, purposefully withholding that information. At times I see that people withhold information out of this vengeance that they say, well, when I was in this person, let's say there's a hypothetical person A, so and there's a hypothetical person B who's actually withholding that information. So, person B would tend to say, look, when I was at the same place where person A is my superiors withheld this information, as a result I suffered, therefore, why should I make the journey of this person A any easier? This person should also go through the same torment that I went through professionally, you know. This is also at times a very an explanation, a justify people thing, it's justified explanation for tormenting others to certain psychosocial harassment. This so-called justified explanation people also often offer when they're giving unrealistic deadlines or, you know, when they're trying to steal credit, you would have people saying, well, my boss at a certain point in time took up my article or took up my research and tried to boast that it was there or took up my report and gave it further to their superiors, saying that they had done all the hard work. So, now it is my turn to give back the same harassment to those who are my subordinates or my co-workers. Don't do that, you know, by doing this, by giving by any or your harassment that, you know, you're making the other person go through is not justified by the fact that that somewhere somehow you had gone through the same. So, recognize that if you withhold information, even if you think that there's a plausible justification for it, withholding information which can impede somebody's success, which can affect their day-to-day work, is a form of psychosocial harassment. Lastly, and of course there are more things under psychosocial harassment, but last thing that I want to touch here is that if you know, if you start rumors about your co-workers or your colleagues or your superiors, you know, and we often see that people start rumors about their superiors because people do not have, if a superior has been strict about something, so people do not have other ways of getting back at the superior. So, one of the easiest way to do it is start a rumor. At times, I see that this is specially done to women who are in position of power because when you see that there is no other way of bringing that woman down, well, let's just say, let's start a rumor because as a society, rumors tend to negatively affect women more than they tend to negatively affect men. When you start, you know, rumors about somebody or let's say if you're not starting them, but you're being part of the chain which is spreading those rumors, you know, if you do not know that that information is authentic and you become part of that chain which receives it and then passes it on, you're as bad as somebody who actually started that rumor in the first place. Now, there are two things. One, just being part of the chain that you've received an information and you do not know if it's authentic information and you pass it on and secondly, even if you know that that's authentic information, but if it is not pertaining to your work life or professional life or if it is not relevant to the work or situation that you are in and you still choose to pass that on, recognizing that that is negative information or it can negatively affect somebody, I would not be able to pick that which one is bigger sinner, the one who started it, the one who was part of that chain or the one who despite knowing that it has nothing to do with that professional environment, still chose to be part of that chain, it will be difficult to actually pick that which one is the bigger sinner, which one is the root cause of metting out that harassment. So, do not be any one of these three or do not be any other part of that puzzle which is, you know, metting out this psychosocial harassment to another colleague or to a subordinate or to a student or to a superior. The third form of workplace harassment is physical harassment. My physical harassment can be often violent in nature, you know, it actually means that, you know, in a certain situation, if somebody loses their temper or let's say, you know, physically attacks or carries out a full-fledged assault that comes under physical harassment. However, while full-fledged physical assaults are easy to, you know, recognize for most of us, physical harassment also includes any kind of an inappropriate physical touch, you know, or any kind of an inappropriate or uninvited or unwanted physical gesture. By this, I mean that at times, you know, one may feel that I hadn't done anything inappropriate, I was just giving a pat on the back or, you know, I was just to my subordinate, you know, just touching their forehead or their hair in a motherly or fatherly manner. Well, it is not for you to decide that you can actually do so. If the other person does not allow or is not comfortable with any kind of a physical gesture, it comes under physical harassment. Any uninvited physical gesture, any inappropriate, uninvited physical touch. The word here is uninvited, undesired and possibly inappropriate. Physical touch, physical gesture comes under physical harassment. Over here, there is this huge, there is this, let's say, this category of physical harassment where uninvited, unwanted, uninvited, pats on the back, unwanted, uninvited hugs or, you know, good job signs are meted out. At times, yes, I'm not saying, I'm not demeaning that all people are using their position, you know, to do it in a negative way. But this is a guise which is at times used to met out physical harassment, you know, camouflaged in the form of just, you know, a usual or a very supportive pat on the back or a hug or a pat on the cheek. But any one of these, if it is uninvited, if it is unwanted, if it is deemed inappropriate by the one who's receiving them, it is physical harassment. Moving on to another type of workplace harassment, that is cyberbullying. Cyberbullying is any kind of harassment that occurs through digital medium. Now, this can take various shape, you know, this can include ill-suited comments on somebody, on a coworker or a student or a teacher or, you know, or a superior on social media, you know, posting their photos without consent, posting their videos without consent, putting on comments, putting on descriptions which are ill-suited comes under cyberbullying. You know, leaking anybody's personal information into digital space is cyberbullying, you know, sending out texts, sending out emails which are inappropriate in any way, in any form is cyberbullying. And cyberbullying these days is one of the most dangerous forms of workplace harassment because like all digital content, like anything available on the web, it has the maximum outreach. And it can, you know, tarnish a person's self-esteem, tarnish a person's prestige for a very, very long period of time. Moving on to another type of workplace harassment which is sexual harassment. As I said earlier, sometimes we tend to think that workplace harassment is synonymous with sexual harassment whereas workplace harassment is a bigger umbrella which consists of various other forms of harassment. Sexual harassment nevertheless remains a very important type or a major bulk category of workplace harassment. Sexual harassment also can take three types. It can be verbal, it can be non-verbal or it can be physical. We look at these types in a bit more detail later, these forms a bit more later. Now there are three forms, verbal, non-verbal, physical. There are two types. The first one is quid pro q and the second one is hostile work environment. Now quid pro q is the one that, you know, we're most familiar with. Quid pro q literally translates its meaning is this for that. You know, that means that people usually in a position of power or your superiors or subordinates can make explicit or implicit demands for sexual favours in exchange for benefits. You know, they can tell you that you will get a promotion if you extend this certain sexual favour or, you know, you can be terminated or you will lose, you know, your benefits or your rights if you do not extend this sexual favour. So it is literally, you know, making somebody who's in a position of power makes you an offer and says that you either given that sexual favour or you will, you know, be subjected to the disadvantages or to the punishments and or if you want to get rightful gains, if you want to get your rightful promotion at times, you extend a certain sexual favour. Now the second type of sexual harassment is hostile work environment. This is a persistent pattern of speech or behaviour in the workplace that is swear enough to produce an intimidated, degrading or offensive environment which has a detrimental effect on a person's capacity to perform their job. Now in contrast to quid pro quo, hostile work environment is something that can also be created by your co-workers, by your colleagues, even by your subordinates, you know, that they create this work environment which is very, very hostile and of course it can be done by your superiors as well. On the other hand, in the first type which is quid pro quo, that is usually done by somebody who's in a position of power or is a superior. Looking at the types of sexual harassment in more detail, let's look at verbal sexual harassment. Verbal sexual harassment is seeing anything of a sexual nature to someone who's an unwilling recipient, you know. Now this could include that verbally you can be requesting sexual favours, verbally you can be expressing a desire for any kind of a sexual contact or conduct. It could mean that, you know, you can use just in that other person's presence, you can use sexually explicit language. It also means that, you know, you casually try to tell sexual jokes which can make the other person uncomfortable. I must add here that this, you know, the sexual harassment can be meted out both to male workers as well as to female workers. It is not to say that usually the male is the aggressor, then the female is the recipient. This kind of sexual harassment can be meted out to both genders and can be given again by both, the victims can be both male and female and the aggressor can be both male and female as well. So, you know, in the presence of a victim, just telling sexual jokes which can make them uncomfortable. Then commenting on a person's appearance in an inappropriate manner or in a manner that it actually has a sexual undertone to it, then speaking in a sexual tone, you know, you could just be saying a very normal thing or talking about work but your tone is inappropriate or sexual in nature. Then further using any sexually suggestive nicknames or using terms of endearment for somebody who is an unwilling recipient or who is uncomfortable with that term of endearment that you have, you know, you are giving out. So, these are just some forms of verbal sexual harassment that an aggressor can, you know, use or can use to harass a potential victim. Moving on to non-verbal sexual harassment which is any form of unwanted sexual communication or conduct that involves something other than verbal speech but falls short of physical sexual contact. Now, this could include that, you know, that somebody exposes themselves in front of the victim. It could include that, you know, you block somebody's way, you block a hallway, you block a doorway, you block them in an elevator, that is a sort of non-verbal sexual harassment. Then just randomly, casually, if you're blowing kisses or if you're winking at a co-worker, that is a form of non-verbal sexual harassment. Then if you share or if you show, you know, sexually explicit videos or sexually explicit texts or any kind of sexually explicit content, whether that's printed, whether that's digital, that is a sort of non-verbal sexual harassment. Then just staring at somebody with a sexual undertone that it can make them uncomfortable, following them in a way that it can, you know, lead to discomfort, stalking them are all various kinds of non-verbal sexual harassments which the aggressors can use or are reported to use. Lastly is physical sexual harassment, which is any kind of unwanted physical contact which can be, which can go to a full-fledged sexual assault. But, you know, even if it does not translate into a full-fledged sexual assault, any unwanted, undesired, uninvited, you know, or sexual physical contact qualifies as physical sexual harassment. If I really go into the specific examples, it includes any form of unwanted touching. As I also said earlier, it can include any kind of apparently benign, apparently innocent patting on the back, pinching on the cheek, rubbing somebody's back, grabbing them somehow, trying to forcefully hug someone, trying to, you know, kiss someone, even if it is, you know, camouflaged into a gesture of endearment or even if it is camouflaged into a benign gesture, as long as it is an unwanted physical contact or if it has a sexual tone to it, it qualifies as physical sexual harassment. Moving on to the last type of workplace harassment, that is discrimination. Discrimination was historically not considered as part of workplace harassment, but now there is a global consensus that discrimination is a very swear form of workplace harassment. Discrimination happens when a person or a group of people is treated unfairly or unequally because of certain characteristics. Now, people can be discriminated against due to their race, due to their ethnicity, due to their gender identity, due to their age, due to their disability, due to their sexual orientation, due to their, you know, religious beliefs, due to their national origin. So, any kind of discrimination which is meted out to you, you know, by discrimination it means that if you were due for a certain promotion, if you were due for a certain employment right, if you were due for a certain benefit or even if let's say, you know, at a point, you know, you were equally capable as compared to another person, but you were just neglected because of these factors such as, you know, your race or your ethnicity or your skin color or, you know, or your religious beliefs, you have been subjected to discrimination. Now, at times we have to understand that all of us are very casually and without even feeling any guilt and without even realizing or being discriminatory towards other. An example of this is that I can naturally be biased to somebody who belongs to my native town or I can naturally be biased to somebody who has the same caste as me or I can naturally be biased towards somebody who speaks the same language as me. But if my decisions, if my professional decisions are based on these factors that, that, you know, what your native language is or which town or city you belong from or which caste you belong from or which religious sect you belong then I am being discriminatory and if I am being discriminatory, I am metting out workplace harassment. Over here in the Pakistani context, it is also very important to add that we really tend to discriminate amongst people based on their English language skills. Now, while I understand that our official language is English, our mediums of instruction are at times English and a certain command of English language is required for the efficient working of the organization. However, just discriminating people on the way they pronounce things or on the way they know, on the way or if they are using English language as a native speaker or not by discriminating amongst people as to how, you know, as to on their financial status which then indirectly affects as to how they are dressed or how they are, you know, or the accessories that they have is a discrimination which we see around us. All these various kinds of discrimination are nevertheless workplace harassment and the important thing over here is that as individuals, first we recognize that what are the kinds of harassment so that we ensure that at least at an individual level, even subconsciously or unconsciously, we are not metting out workplace harassment to somebody else or then at a second level, we are able to recognize, you know, if somebody is being subjected to workplace harassment and then of course, there is a third step which we are going to look further that if somebody has experienced workplace harassment, what is it that they can do? Moving on, the last kind which is also, you know, it can be considered a type of workplace harassment but on its own also, it is a complete phenomena with which people can be victimized and that is bullying in workplace. Now, bullying in workplace is any verbal, physical, social or psychological abuse by employer, manager, another person or a group of people who are there. You know, what does bullying mean? Bullying means repeated hurtful remarks or attacks on making fun of your work or you as a person. Now over here, the example that I just, you know, narrated to you that I was in another city and for a conference and my child was not well and I was just checked up on the well-being of my child and I had colleagues who started making fun of me or criticizing me on me being on how I am as a person or on my abilities as a mother. Now that is a classic example of bullying which was meted out to me in order to bring my spirits down. Further, bullying means that, you know, you're excluded or you stopped from working with people or taking part in activities that relate to your work. You know, it could actually mean that for instance, as a teacher, you have a certain student who wants to go and present at a certain conference. Now while there is absolutely no logical reason to prevent that student from going and sharing their research work at that conference and I still use my power and ability as a teacher, as a supervisor and I tell them that no, you cannot do that for just because I want to exercise my authority and drive some kind of a sadistic pleasure from it or let's say I want to do that because I on purpose want to impede their professional growth, that is a bullying which I am meting out. Then further, bullying also qualifies as playing mind games, ganging up on another one or, you know, doing some kind of a psychological harassment. This could take an example that for instance, a co-worker can come to you and just in order to, you know, psychologically depress you, tell you that everybody dislikes you, everybody hates you, this and this is wrong with you and, you know, you will not last or exist in this organization for long. Now, chances are that none of it is true that person has actually made all of that up in order to psychologically affect you, in order to bring your spirits down, you know, so that is also another kind of bullying which exists. Moving on, bullying can be intimidating you, making you feel less important and making you feel undervalued than what you really, really are. Bullying could be giving you pointless tasks that have nothing to do with your job, you know, that is the sort of bullying which is superior or can execute. Moving on, you know, giving you impossible jobs that can't be done in the given in the given time or in the given resources with the intent that, of course, naturally that it is the task is designed in a way that you will fail and then that superior will use that to make you believe that you're not capable enough or you shouldn't, you know, deserve the promotion or deserve the benefits which you actually deserve. Further, you know, bullying can be deliberately changing your work hours or schedules to make it very, very difficult for you. You know, that is, that is a kind of bullying. It could be done in order, you know, to, let's say, to make you leave that job or in order to impede your growth. Lastly, you know, as I also said earlier, bullying can take the form of holding back information which you need in order to get your work or in order to get your job done with the intent being of making your job and making your task more and more difficult. Bullying, these are just some specific examples that I shared. Bullying can also take other forms, various other forms, but anything which is unwarranted, you know, which is, which can be verbal, which can be physical, which can be social, which can be psychological, you know, which can, which can cause, which can bring your performance down, which can cause you fear, which can intimidate you is nevertheless bullying. Now, how bullying can affect your work and how it can affect your life. If, you know, it can make you less active, it can make you less successful, it can make you less confident in the work that you do, it can make you feel scared, stressed, anxious, depressed, you know, it can affect your life outside your work, you know, it can actually, then with this workplace bullying can then actually have an effect on your personal relationships. Bullying can make you want to stay away from your work, it can make you feel you can't trust your employer or the people whom you work with. Bullying can make you have less confidence, it can affect your happiness. Bullying in its extreme form can give you physical signs such as headaches, backaches, sleep problems. Lastly, you know, the last type of harassment that I will shed light on is a sort of third-party harassment. Now, third-party harassment is this, that it is a, it is a behaviour which is not found offensive by some employees can, you know, can cause an offensive environment for other employees. Now, as, you know, you may be able to see in this descriptive photo that, you know, there are three people sitting down and they're gossiping about something or they're saying something or doing something which is okay for them. However, these kind of gossip, so these kind of jokes that they're exchanging may be affecting the fourth person who may be finding them uncomfortable, you know. So, for example, you know, a group of employees talking about each other's sex life in the presence of another person who feels uncomfortable about such discussions is a sort of third-party harassment and usually it's a group of people which is involved in doing it and because it's a group they believe that all of them find it correct and right and therefore, it becomes right, well, it is not like that. You know, if as a group you find a certain activity right, you still have to be mindful of the impact it is having on the third party. Now, if you feel that, you know, you are being subjected to any kind of workplace harassment or if you feel that a friend or a colleague or a co-worker or a subordinate or even a superior is being subjected to any kind of workplace harassment, what do you do? Well, as a first step, what you have to do is number one, recognize that you're actually suffering harassment, you know, and if you recognize and you're convinced that you're suffering harassment, you know, what as a first step, what you need to do is, you know, you recognize it and then you report that behavior either to your immediate supervisor or to another member of the harassment committee. Now, in order to report this, firstly, you familiarize yourself with the harassment policy or the prevailing structures within your organization. Once you have familiarized yourself with the policies and the structures, you need to speak up, you need to report the harassment that you're going through to either your immediate supervisor or to another member of that harassment committee. Now, after reporting, you can make this complaint either verbally or in writing. Then, in general, it is up to you and it is, it is, I think, your responsibility to protect yourself, you know. All employees, you know, in order to prevent the possibility of triggering a harassment complaint should abide by in-house policies. And personally, in order to make sure that you're unconsciously, you know, not being the aggressor, you know, make sure that you just keep your hands to yourself. You know, don't talk about sex on job. Never make social life with job-related discussions. Keep any compliments casual and impersonal. Avoid jokes, words, phrases and gestures with any kind of a sexual meaning. Even if you're very tempted to, you know, to act funny or be liked amongst people, it is highly, highly recommended to not share jokes or not have pranks or not have gestures which have any kind of a sexual undertone to them. Then, respect every person's personal space. Further, do not respond to any kind of a seductive behavior. You know, respectful behavior leads to and it facilitates a better work environment. Before everybody else, it helps you. It gives you a professional outlook. It's important for your success. And after you, it is important for the well-being of your colleagues and other employees. And then, as a result, the growth and well-being of your institution or your organization.