Would you recognized sexual harassment if you saw it or were the victim of it? We spoke to a local business owner who’s been in business nearly 20 years. He recently met with a human resources attorney, who’s putting together a policy for employees about behavior in the workplace.
“You never know what might offend somebody. What they might take the wrong way,” says Michael Zellner, owner of Sleepy ZZZ’s Mattresses.
Zellner opened Sleepy ZZZ’s Mattresses in northeast Memphis nearly 20 years ago. He’s never had a policy in place regarding employee behavior, but he’s getting one.
“You need to have that in place, where people understand what’s expected of them. What they can do and what they cannot do.”
Zellner admits he’s had to deal with several employees over the years for various reasons. “I’ve had issues with people that other employees haven’t felt comfortable around that person.”
Zellner believes communication is key in the workplace. Employees should feel comfortable around co-workers and comfortable about coming forward if anything, or anyone, bothers them.
“There’s a lot of people that are afraid to, because they’re afraid of, like, we talked about, their career or their jobs,” says Zellner. “And they think, ‘wow, this person is so high profile. Who’s gonna believe me because it’s just my word against them?’”
Stacy Holmes of Raleigh says, you have to be careful and mind your manners, no matter who you are or how much money you make.
“From touching, you know, to using words. Uh, all those things are just unacceptable,” says Holmes.
Zellner says the best advice he can give employers and employees is, treat others how you would want to be treated.
