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Common Sense Policies on Sexual Awareness & Counter-Measures

Due to the nature of working in people’s personal space as well as in their very own homes, our teammates can get into some intimate situations as we work shoulder-to-shoulder with clients and teammates. We want to make a few things very clear in the way of our priorities and some defense tactics.

1) The Awareness-First Mindset.

Humans have a non-stop series of cravings and appetites that they cycle through for food, sex, intimacy, love, adventure, thrill, meaning, beauty, power, glory and so many others. So people will very naturally be attracted to each other on all sorts of levels. This includes clients and fellow employees.

Many of us have a history and even joy in flirting with the sex we are attracted to, or try to make deeper connection through longer looks and pauses - many times without even being aware of it. Others are completely oblivious to how the way we touch someone on the leg when talking, bend over to pet a dog, sit in the floor or what bra/shorts/jeans we wear today can we trigger sensual or sexual thoughts in the minds of those around us. Again, all of this needs to be in our minds as we walk into the personal space and home space of our employees and clients.

Counter-measures

a) First, we need to be mindful of the drives of humanity and what we might accidentally or not-so-accidentally be doing to trigger an offense so that we can curb those things before any thing gets started. That is just a part of delivering wow and taking responsibility.

b) Second, we never touch any of our clients or teammates while in a business meeting or in business apparel outside of the normal greeting like a handshake.

c) If the situation comes up where you find yourself mutually attracted to an employee or client, then you need to pursue that outside of work and outside of work apparel.

This “awareness first” mindset, while helpful, still won’t curb all sexual advances so when they come up, start with this...

2) Try Diplomacy First.

When an employee makes the occasional flirtatious comment, or a client keeps touching a trainer or asking for hugs, or keeps asking to train the dog upstairs or down the hall where the bedrooms are, or even directly coming on to a trainer sexually, if diplomacy can be used to quench the trespass, then do so for everyone’s sake to prevent rejection, shame, embarrassment, anger, etc. from rising up in all parties.

Counter-measures

a) If it makes good sense, a trainer might try laughing it off, ignoring them, shooing their hand away the next time - all without saying a word - yet signaling that these advances are unwanted and shall not be reciprocated.

b) It might also make sense for the trainer to posture themselves in such a way as to not seem interested or available, making their tone even more emotionally distant and professional.

c) If you prefer to just face-off with the issue at hand with something quick and light like, “Thanks, but I’d rather us just stay focused on dog training. Is that ok?” or “Thanks, but I’d prefer to only train the dog here in the living room or in the yard,” and then get back to the dog work.

d) You can text the group text with the team the word “Debbie” which means that one of the teammates is supposed to call you immediately with an excuse that you need to leave right now.

Of course, if things escalate too quickly, or if things are too direct, there is no time for diplomacy or politeness, so you’ll need to react quicker.

3) Safety Over Politeness & Reputation.

Our teammates' sense of safety is more important than any angry call or bad review we might get. And no stellar 5-star average rating can make up for the hurt inflicted on any of us.

So to be sure, you have permission to be direct and even assertive if you sense that you are in any kind of danger. Getting out of the situation unhurt is the most important thing.

We realize that due to varying abilities to sense danger might make one person react to danger when its still a far ways off or even misinterpret signals, while others might not be aware of danger until it’s right in their face. Still, at whatever point our teammates feel uncomfortable, it’s time to act.

Counter-measures

a) We’d rather you stand up for yourself, draw lines in the sand, speak up, tell your supervisor, call the police, leave an appointment abruptly or suddenly, or even seem unkind and unprofessional (or whatever other names you might be called), then to put yourself in a bad situation because you are scared about getting a bad review, getting fired, getting your boss called into a situation, etc.

To be sure, we’d rather you be wrong about the signals and offend someone who gives us a bad review or rants in the phone to your boss or even cancel a deal with you AND YOU BE SAFE, than for us to keep any deal or 5-star rating.

b) As for our response, from the CEO down to your direct supervisor, you will find yourself unconditionally supported. Yes, we will investigate the situation and look at the situation from all angles, and then make the wisest decisions we can for all parties, but to be sure, we aim to make you safe in all work-related situations as much as we can, which will be hard to do unless you report to us what’s going on.

4) Be Bold in Your Reporting

While our company strives to be excellent, we know that this company is full of people and so we will not be perfect. Therefore, if you feel like your supervisor is not taking your complaints seriously, then please escalate to their supervisor or even the CEO directly if need be.

Don’t take this lightly or just ignore it. This company wants to keep our team and culture a fun and safe place to work.