This George Mason psychology researcher is clocking in to make workplaces safer for all

Researchers have estimated that the average American will spend approximately one-third of their life at work. With more than 90,000 hours of our lives spent in our places of employment, we want those spaces to be as safe and welcoming as possible.

Yijue Liang, assistant professor of industrial/organizational psychology at George Mason University, has made occupational health the focus of her work. Now, she’s working to develop a better understanding of workplace sexual harassment and how companies can protect their employees.

Liang started her career in finance, but an interest in workplace dynamics led her to shift to psychology. “I was interested in gender topics, exploring how women can thrive in the workplace and how we can make the workplace more friendly and safer for women,” she said. Specifically, the #MeToo movement inspired her to investigate sexual harassment in the workplace.

“After the #MeToo movement, we realized that this issue is more prevalent than many of us thought,” Liang said. “And we haven’t seen much improvement.” Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) data show sexual harassment claims remain high and have yet to trend downwards; as Liang notes, that only includes what is considered severe enough to be reported to the EEOC and is therefore limiting.

But by expanding the relevant research on workplace sexual harassment, Liang hopes to see those numbers start to decrease.

Liang found that most of the previous research has focused on the victims or targets of sexual harassment in the workplace, leaving a gap in understanding the bystanders’ role. “There isn’t enough research about what people can do to help the victim, whether a direct bystander who witnesses the event, or a secondary bystander who hears about the event.”

Building on the research she completed for her dissertation, she developed a scale of different bystander behaviors—confronting the harasser, distracting the harasser, supporting the target, reporting the incident to an authority, and discussing the incident with a coworker—including identifying combinations of those behaviors. From there, Liang, along with YoungAh Park at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, developed three latent profiles based on the combinations of behaviors: no or limited intervention, low-risk intervention, and active intervention.

According to this paper, all forms of intervention are received positively by victims, which she hopes will encourage more people to engage in low-risk or active intervention.

Organizations should also work toward a zero-tolerance policy toward sexual harassment, Liang said. She suggests looking at policies and procedures to make sure the situation is treated seriously, with protection for the reporters and the victims and meaningful consequences for the harasser.

“We want to see more encouragement of active intervention, while emphasizing that even low-risk intervention can make a difference,” she said. “Hopefully, we can reduce or break the myth about intervention not being welcomed by the target or victims.”

Liang has another ongoing project to assess how harassers respond to different forms of intervention in order to map which interventions could be most effective in different use cases.

Liang is expanding her research beyond the office as well, with an ongoing project on gig workers and their experiences with customer sexual harassment. Preliminary research shows gig employees—such as rideshare and delivery drivers, dog walkers, care assistants, independent contractors, etc.—are particularly vulnerable to harassment, due to their proximity to customers, a lack of bystanders, and lack of collective representation or support.

“If people have negative experiences at work, that can lead to negative work behaviors,” Liang explained. “Having a healthy, supportive, and safe workplace for everyone is critical for higher employee performance.

“We spend so many hours at work each week, and our workplace experiences have a great impact on our well-being. We need to do what we can to make these places safe and supportive for all.”