Master Builders INC.


In 1992 Master Builders INC., owned by Anthony Giovannettone came apon a situation which the company never ran into before. A woman (who I will not name) came into Anthony's office and claimed that she was sexually harrassed by some of his crew on a job site. At first Anthony didn't know what to do because the woman was threatening to go to the police and file charges against the company.The woman worked for Master Builders as a land surveyer, so Anthony talked with the woman for several hours to try and figure out who the perpetrator was and how he could deal with the situation.

Anthony decided to get the two parties together to sort it out by talking. His plan worked. The two parties talked it over and agreed to end the whole situation on the premise that it would never happen again. Although the storm had passed, the company had many issues to address regaurding what sexual harrassment was and how they can prevent another incident from occuring again.

After many hours of deliberating with his advisors, the company decided on many ways to keep this from happening again:
1) Hold seminars for his workers on sexual Harrassment.
2) Interview each employee before and after the seminar to see what their idea of Sexual Harrassment was and what it currently is.
3) Allow time each week for employees to voice any problems they need to address. The company felt that by voicing their feelings to their peers, The company could hear problems before they become major issues.

The company's owners were amazed as to how many issues their employees had during the first week they all came together to talk. The company stayed with their plan for one year, and had their employees fill out a questionair as to the effect of the seminars and meeting times, to the work environment. The responses from the workers was incredible. Each and every worker felt that the company's plan made for a more productive and stressless working environment.

The steps, Master Builders INC., took to make a more productive working environment, saved them from possible situations that may have occured if they had not addressed the issue. This goes to show that if a company or organization deals with issues before they are faced with them, they are probably saving themselves thousands of dollars in legal bills.