Workforce and culture · Foundation

Respectful Workplace: Harassment, Bystander Action and Psychological Safety

Recognize harassment and disrespectful conduct, respond as a bystander, build psychologically safe team habits and route concerns to the right office.

About 48 minutes, plus optional practice · 4 lessons · Voluntary learning

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Course outline

What harassment and a respectful workplace mean
Distinguish the legal definition of harassment from the broader conduct standard in state respectful workplace policy.
12 minutes
Bystander action: the five Ds at work
Describe the five bystander strategies: distract, delegate, document, delay and direct.
12 minutes
Psychological safety as team practices
Explain Amy Edmondson's definition of team psychological safety.
12 minutes
Reporting routes: route, do not investigate
Identify the internal and external routes for raising respectful workplace, harassment and discrimination concerns.
12 minutes

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What you’ll be able to do

Explore and practice

Distinguish the legal definition of harassment from the broader conduct standard in state respectful workplace policy.
Describe the five bystander strategies: distract, delegate, document, delay and direct.
Explain Amy Edmondson's definition of team psychological safety.
Identify the internal and external routes for raising respectful workplace, harassment and discrimination concerns.

What you can take into your work

Explain the distinction tested in each knowledge check.
Compare the responses to each fictional case and the reasons behind them.
Complete the course job aid for a situation you choose.

Find and save the current contact route for DHS EOAD, your HR business partner and the Employee Assistance Program. If you supervise, review with HR what your referral duty looks like in practice.

Respectful Workplace: Harassment, Bystander Action and Psychological Safety: practice guide

A reusable guide for a situation you choose

Recognize harassment and disrespectful conduct, respond as a bystander, build psychologically safe team habits and route concerns to the right office.

Use observable details rather than assigning motives.
Invite perspectives without requiring personal disclosure.
Keep learning separate from individual assessment or personnel decisions.

Find and save the current contact route for DHS EOAD, your HR business partner and the Employee Assistance Program. If you supervise, review with HR what your referral duty looks like in practice.

When you witness something

Check safety first, for the targeted person and for you.
Pick one of the five Ds: distract, delegate, document, delay or direct.
Check in afterward and ask what the person needs.
Never share notes or recordings without the targeted person's consent unless you are a supervisor with a duty to report.
Do not investigate. Route the concern.

If someone brings you a concern

Listen, thank them and avoid judging whether it is serious enough.
Explain honestly what you can and cannot keep confidential.
Share the routes: supervisor, HR, EOAD, union representative, Employee Assistance Program, and external agencies.
If you are a supervisor and it involves a protected class, refer to HR or EOAD promptly.
Watch for and route any retaliation.

Team habits that build safety

Ask for the strongest case against your own idea before deciding.
Thank people who raise concerns, in front of others.
Respond to unfamiliarity with information and a chance to change.
When something lands badly, the person with more power leads the repair.
Say what changed because someone spoke up.

Try the guide and revisit it

Find and save the current contact route for DHS EOAD, your HR business partner and the Employee Assistance Program. If you supervise, review with HR what your referral duty looks like in practice.
If someone brought you a concern tomorrow, would you know which route fits? What would you need to look up or ask so you feel prepared?

Participation and course completion in this program do not count toward DHS-required training credits unless management, a director, or DHS leadership expressly approves an exception.

Sources and further reading

U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission — Harassment
Supports the federal definition of harassment, the protected characteristics, the condition-of-employment and severe-or-pervasive standards, and the note that petty slights are usually not illegal. Federal enforcement positions change, so check current EEOC guidance for any formal question.
Minnesota Department of Human Rights — Minnesota Human Rights Act
Supports the list of protected classes in employment under Minnesota law, including sexual orientation and gender identity, and the reprisal protection. Formal determinations rest with MDHR and the courts.
Minnesota Management and Budget — HR/LR Policy 1432, Respectful Workplace (revised 2023)
Supports the statewide definition of respectful conduct, examples of disrespectful behavior, the separation from protected-class harassment, and reporting routes including supervisor, HR, union representative and EAP.
Minnesota Management and Budget — HR/LR Policy 1436, Harassment and Discrimination Prohibited (revised 2024)
Supports examples of protected-class harassment including deliberate misgendering and name mispronunciation, supervisor duty to report immediately, and the retaliation prohibition.
Minnesota Department of Human Services — Discrimination, Harassment and Retaliation Policy
Supports that supervisors refer complaints to the Equal Opportunity and Access office and do not investigate. This public copy is an older version that uses a prior office name; learners should confirm current procedures on the DHS intranet.
Right To Be — The 5Ds of Bystander Intervention
Supports the five bystander strategies and the guidance to ask the targeted person before using any documentation. The workplace adaptations in this course are the program's own.
Edmondson, A. — Psychological Safety and Learning Behavior in Work Teams, Administrative Science Quarterly (1999)
Supports the definition of team psychological safety and its association with learning behavior in a field study of work teams. Findings are associational. The practice list in lesson three comes from program-owned material.

All research and sources across the program

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Course outline

What harassment and a respectful workplace mean

Distinguish the legal definition of harassment from the broader conduct standard in state respectful workplace policy.

12 minutes

Bystander action: the five Ds at work

Describe the five bystander strategies: distract, delegate, document, delay and direct.

12 minutes

Psychological safety as team practices

Explain Amy Edmondson's definition of team psychological safety.

12 minutes

Reporting routes: route, do not investigate

Identify the internal and external routes for raising respectful workplace, harassment and discrimination concerns.

12 minutes

Sources and further reading

U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission — Harassment

Supports the federal definition of harassment, the protected characteristics, the condition-of-employment and severe-or-pervasive standards, and the note that petty slights are usually not illegal. Federal enforcement positions change, so check current EEOC guidance for any formal question.

Minnesota Department of Human Rights — Minnesota Human Rights Act

Supports the list of protected classes in employment under Minnesota law, including sexual orientation and gender identity, and the reprisal protection. Formal determinations rest with MDHR and the courts.

Minnesota Management and Budget — HR/LR Policy 1432, Respectful Workplace (revised 2023)

Supports the statewide definition of respectful conduct, examples of disrespectful behavior, the separation from protected-class harassment, and reporting routes including supervisor, HR, union representative and EAP.

Minnesota Management and Budget — HR/LR Policy 1436, Harassment and Discrimination Prohibited (revised 2024)

Supports examples of protected-class harassment including deliberate misgendering and name mispronunciation, supervisor duty to report immediately, and the retaliation prohibition.

Minnesota Department of Human Services — Discrimination, Harassment and Retaliation Policy

Supports that supervisors refer complaints to the Equal Opportunity and Access office and do not investigate. This public copy is an older version that uses a prior office name; learners should confirm current procedures on the DHS intranet.

Right To Be — The 5Ds of Bystander Intervention

Supports the five bystander strategies and the guidance to ask the targeted person before using any documentation. The workplace adaptations in this course are the program's own.

Edmondson, A. — Psychological Safety and Learning Behavior in Work Teams, Administrative Science Quarterly (1999)

Supports the definition of team psychological safety and its association with learning behavior in a field study of work teams. Findings are associational. The practice list in lesson three comes from program-owned material.