Hints during a job interview

After Politico.eu wrote about the incidents of sexual harassment at the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE), several former employees claimed sexist practices were common within the institute. Three EIGE staff members were accused of sexual harassment.

One female EIGE employee who sought a higher position within the organization in 2012 experienced inappropriate behavior when she had pictures taken of her during the job interview and was invited to ask the interviewer out to “dinner and breakfast” in exchange for the job. The employee informed Politico.eu that she reported the incident to the Institute’s human resources manager.

Female interns at the institute also complained of sexual harassment – allegedly, the men tried to flirt with them numerous times, made ambiguous jokes, asked them out on dates, even touched them inappropriately or persecuted them. At long last, three girls' complaints were investigated and two of them were found to be valid. All persons accused of harassment no longer work at the institute.

Quick management reaction and creation of the right environment are key

"The key thing here is that harassment cannot be ignored or put to the side for later. A person in such a situation has it tough psychologically, therefore it is important for the organization to react immediately, conducting all possible investigations,” said Virginija Langbakk, Director of EIGE, to the Human Rights Monitoring Institute when commenting on the situation.

The EIGE leader also highlighted another important aspect – namely, creating the right environment in the workplace. "The management is responsible for creating an environment where victims can speak freely of harassment. EIGE adopted a zero-tolerance policy towards harassment in 2014. You cannot justify harassment simply because some may find it acceptable and tolerable," said Langbakk.

Speaking of the cases of harassment at the European Institute for Gender Equality made public by Politico.eu, Langbakk noted that she learned a lot from the incident. "While it doesn’t heal the harm suffered by the victims, we have learned a lot from this story and we have to try to prevent such cases from happening again." According to the Director of EIGE leader, these incidents let them see their weaknesses as an organization, once again asking the important questions: why victims report or fail to report harassment and whether employees sufficiently trust the persons in charge of such issues (confidential advisers). It also helped the Institute develop a more effective response mechanism.