Many startups seem to care little about human resources as they focus on all the other hurdles that can hamper growth, writes Richard Cohen, partner at New York-based law firm FisherBroyles. By placing 20-year-olds fresh out of school in an open office environment with little in the way of anti-harassment policies or even an HR person, startups are opening themselves up to lots of problems.
“In ‘growth mode’ a start-up, with no HR person, might have no idea what constitutes good hiring practices and could easily violate the anti-discrimination laws,” Cohen writes. “And start-ups, if successful, may grow and hire rapidly, with little or no vetting, and typically foster frat-like behavior, sexual bantering (welcome and unwelcome), and sexual harassment.”