Hey, comics publishers, gather round because clearly y’all need a lesson in how to handle reports of harassment. A thread:

1. Hire a trained, experienced, HR professional. Don’t appoint your accountant, admin assistant, or intern the HR dept simply because “it’s not that hard” Guess what? Being GOOD at it? ITS HARD. Good HR is worth the investment. If you can’t afford full time HR, CONTRACT ONE.

3. Make sure your exempt managers attend harassment prevention training—prioritize this above deadlines, above cons, above anything. Show your employees how important they are.

2. With your HR person/contractor/leadership, create comprehensive, compliant, clear policies around harassment prevention (and everything else tbh.) Treat your employees/creators like clients. Write and enforce policies with their safety in mind. Run them by your lawyer.

4. Socialize the policies with your employees. Make sure EVERY SINGLE MEMBER OF LEADERSHIP can locate, speak to, and answer general questions about the policy, including how to contact HR if necessary. Send the policy to your creators—they are liable for their conduct, too.

5. Review the policy before EVERY SINGLE CON &make sure your people know how to respond to seeing/experiencing harassment. Remind ANY creators at your booth what is expected of them. This is how you create culture—consistent behaviors supporting a positive environment

6. When you receive a complaint (or see one on social media) CONTACT THAT HR PERSON I MADE YOU HIRE IN STEP 1. Know why? You are LEGALLY REQUIRED TO CONDUCT A GOOD FAITH INVESTIGATION LED BY A NON BIASED PARTY. Let’s talk more about what that means, since I’m heated

Here is what not to do:
-don’t ignore complaints
-don’t engage in preferential hiring/treatment
-don’t create an environment of mistrust where people can’t come forward
-don’t continue to employ harassers like we all can’t see you
-don’t build a team of all cis white ppl

Can you be non biased? Sure. You can be rational and fair—but guess what? It’s not about the reality of if you (or the poor admin you dumped HR on) CAN BE. It’s if the REASONABLE PERCEPTION is that you ARE non-biased. What does that mean? Still heated, here we go.

If you hired, mentored, courted, or signed an employee or creator, what do you think people perceive? Likely that y’all are friends. And it’s fine! You can work with your friends! But you can’t expect to be considered “non-biased” about having to investigate their behavior.

This is why you have an experienced, ethical HR person. They conduct a legally compliant investigation that protects everyone, report the findings and their recommendation. This keeps YOU from info you shouldn’t hear and keeps YOU part of a respectful workplace w healthy culture