Risk Assessments & Action Plans

Workplace Assessments to Address Hostile Work Environments

D&I issue

In today's litigious environment, many companies have confronted class action lawsuits alleging situations such as:

Employees coping with a bad work environment or a hostile work environment.
Harassment or discrimination.

Some law firms specialize in this work and actively seek clients. Lawsuit settlements or judgments affect reputation and may involve large monetary payments, new programs such as mentoring, job posting, talent development, diversity training, or other internal changes, and pervasive monitoring by an external advisory board.

These issues are commonly managed on an ad hoc basis. Even without lawsuits, companies frequently incur far more expense and have processes and policies that heighten exposure more than they realize.

Prudent risk management calls for a centralized view of current expenses and areas of potential vulnerability, and an action plan. One goal is avoiding crisis reputation management, or recovery mode. The action plan should focus on how to improve the environment at work and on building corporate reputation.

D&I solution

How can diversity reduce lawsuits? MDB Group can assess your current expenses and potential vulnerability, and develop proactive management plans. Our organization risk assessments combine data from EEO/AA, diversity, people processes, legal, and media into a comprehensive picture with appropriate recommendations that might avoid or reduce the impact of a lawsuit. Of course, it must be acknowledged that anyone may still file a lawsuit against your company and no one can guarantee immunity.

Sample D&I results

See representative results achieved by MDB Group's principals at Lawsuit Vulnerability.

Related links

Concern about lawsuit vulnerability inter-relates with other aspects of diversity and inclusion. Click the links below for more insight:

Add-ons	Have an existing diversity strategy? Managing your company’s vulnerability should be a part of that strategy.
Conflict resolution	Managing conflict or tension may reduce employees’ inclination towards a lawsuit.
Executive briefings and workshops	Engaging executives as role models and leaders may improve the overall work environment and reduce vulnerability.
Executive coaching	Individual coaching may help reduce vulnerability by improving both leader effectiveness and the overall work environment.
Workplace assessments	The initial vulnerability assessment may indicate a need for climate, gap, and results assessments.