Male managers cautious about work with women

Male managers are increasingly feeling uncomfortable when mentoring, and working one-to-one with and socialising with women at work, according to research conducted in the US. Personnel Today reports that more than half the men asked (60%) felt cautious with female with colleagues in these situations, a 33 percentage point increase over figures from last year. Senior male employees were 12 times more likely to be hesitant about one-to-one meetings with a less senior woman than they were with a junior male colleague, nine times more likely to be reluctant to travel with a less senior female and six times more likely to be hesitant about attending a work dinner with a female than a male colleague. A gulf between US men and women’s views of sexual harassment appeared to have been identified in the survey with 64% of women saying the victims pay a heavier career price than perpetrators whereas 50% of men say the consequences were more damaging for harassers, not the targets of harassment.

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