Boosting Employee Morale at a Tech Company

Background

In our experience, most IT companies have cultures that are dominated by science and formulas; they tend to think in terms of systems and technology, which means they often struggle to see the human aspects of what they do. IT professionals can be so consumed by their creative work that they don’t realize their employee relation issues until things have really gotten out of hand, e.g., they face a lawsuit or experience a debilitating dip in morale.

One IT services company hired Spectrum HR Solutions to address some pressing issues.

The Problem

Our client called us to report that their employees were highly dissatisfied with current management practices. At the heart of the problem was a culture of sexual harassment. A prominent member of the executive team had been behaving inappropriately toward team members, and the CEO was reluctant to take decisive action.

Our Approach

Spectrum HR Solutions began with a thorough workplace inspection, where we uncovered definitive proof of a history of abuse. We informed the client that we could not work with them if they were not compliant with the law, and that harboring a harasser was a clear legal violation. They took prompt action to suspend the harasser, who was ultimately terminated.

Additionally, we represented our client in an EEOC trial; and we helped implement company-wide employee training programs, specifically focusing on sexual harassment.

The Results

Through the representation of Spectrum HR Solutions, the client received a favorable verdict from their EEOC trial. This could have gone very differently, and there had been a real risk that the company could face ruinous fines and heavy financial losses. They were able to avoid this due to the sexual harassment trainings that we implemented, which the EEOC appreciated as a proactive and preventative step.

We provided counsel to our client as they worked to terminate the employee who had committed the abusive acts.

And we helped recruit and hire a new HR leader, who is with the company to this day and has helped them implement further provisions for sustaining healthy employee morale. It is always the mission of Spectrum HR Solutions to leave our clients in a place where they can take care of their own employee issues internally, with qualified leaders in place to guide the process.

In total, this client required a four-year commitment from us, and we are grateful to have left them in a much healthier place when we found them.