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Our Commitment to Fostering a Respectful Workplace

Workplace Mission & Commitment

NAR is committed to providing a productive and welcoming environment that is free from discrimination, harassment, and retaliation. Members and NAR staff are expected to act with courtesy and mutual respect toward each other, service providers, speakers, and event participants and members are committed to complying with the Member Code of Conduct.

NAR is dedicated to implementing best practices to prevent inappropriate behavior, to fully investigating concerns brought to our attention and to consistently acting, proactively and as warranted, to ensure our workplace is positive and productive.

NAR consistently strives to improve its workplace for all employees on an ongoing basis and has a robust set of policies, protocols, and training programs to support a respectful workplace and maintain a positive working environment.

NAR Policies

NAR maintains several policies designed to deter and detect inappropriate and unlawful conduct and retaliation, including:

These policies address issues like harassment, discrimination, abusive conduct, and retaliation, and provide clear guidance on how to report incidents of inappropriate behavior and escalate for investigation and disciplinary action. CEO Bob Goldberg discusses how we work to ensure that NAR is a harassment-free workplace in this video.

NAR regularly communicates its policies and procedures to employees, including before each of our major meetings. Our human resources team, otherwise known as Talent Development & Resources (TDR), oversees policies around diversity and inclusion, recruitment, employee relations, internal communication, compensation and benefits, and more. In addition to working with TDR directly, employees have access to an Internal Complaint Form where they can file a complaint.

NAR fully investigates all claims of harassment and discrimination and works with all parties involved to help ensure appropriate resolution. NAR engages external third parties to support an appropriate and comprehensive response and investigation into such matters when it's needed, including the hiring of a law firm specializing in workplace laws in 2022 that has been providing oversight and guidance to the organization in an ongoing capacity.

Training Programs

NAR invests more than a thousand staff hours and more than $200K annually in a large variety of training programs, including anti-harassment, anti-discrimination, and bystander training, as well as leadership development, and other association-wide professional development opportunities.

NAR employees are required to take an annual anti-harassment, anti-discrimination and bystander intervention trainings and are offered numerous DEI training opportunities, which are outlined below.

  • NAR mandates sexual harassment and discrimination prevention training to all employees on an annual basis; 1 hour for staff and 2 hours for supervisors; plus 1 hour of bystander intervention training for all NAR employees. The Illinois Workplace Transparency Act and City of Chicago Sexual Harassment Prevention Ordinance requirements (enacted in 2022) are the most stringent based on where our employees are currently located. By requiring compliance with Chicago training requirements, NAR ensures the highest standards of training for all staff.
    • In 2020, Harassment & Discrimination training for staff moved to an online training platform named EVERFI. EVERFI training is trusted by more than 1,200 companies worldwide, for Anti-Harassment, Anti-Discrimination and Bystander Intervention Training. In preparation for the launch of the online training, CEO Bob Goldberg filmed a video introduction to the training in which he reiterated NAR's commitment to a no tolerance policy for harassment or discrimination of any kind, and the importance of the training for all staff.
    • In 2023, NAR chose the KnowBe4 online platform for its 2023 Anti-Harassment, Anti-Discrimination and Bystander Intervention Training and CEO Bob Goldberg filmed an updated video once again reiterating NAR's commitment to maintain a workplace free of harassment and discrimination in any form, and again promoting the importance of training for all staff. Forrester Research has named KnowBe4 a Leader in Forrester Wave For Security Awareness and Training Solutions for several years in a row. KnowBe4 received the highest scores possible in 17 of the 23 evaluation criteria, including learner content and go-to-market approach.
  • NAR requires the Leadership Team take annual sexual harassment prevention training. This past year we switched the training from an online course to a live webinar format and expanded the participants to include Regional Vice Presidents.
    • Starting in August 2023, NAR will expand this training to beyond the eight members of the Leadership Team to now include 14 RVPs, and 15 Committee Liaisons and the REALTOR® Party Director. Plus, we are moving it to a live in-person training and adding a one-hour DEI component.
  • NAR has in the past and will continue to incorporate sexual harassment prevention training into the annual Leadership Camp, which all committee chair and vice chairs attend prior to assuming their positions.

NAR also continually conducts mandatory Diversity, Equity and Inclusion training for all NAR staff on a periodic basis and has created leadership positions and work groups internally to bolster the organization's policies, operations and priorities.

  • In 2020, NAR promoted Andrea Moore to Vice President of Diversity, Inclusion and Talent Opportunity. Moore became responsible for NAR's:
    • Internal diversity and inclusion strategy;
    • Recruitment strategy and processes and creating opportunities for internal staff; and
    • Washington, D.C. office's Talent Development operations.
  • Furthermore, in 2023, NAR created its first ever Diversity, Equity and Inclusion group led by Vice President Ryan Davis. This group is charged with implementing NAR's DEI Strategic Plan and strategic outreach and engagement in the real estate industry in order to assist all stakeholders – from REALTOR associations to brokerages, multicultural organizations, MLSs and others – to incorporate DEI into their strategy for success.

Core Values

As early as 2018, CEO Bob Goldberg introduced five Core Values to the NAR staff, along with corresponding behaviors designed to assist employees in putting the Values into action. Those Core Values are:

  1. Put Members First;
  2. Lead Change;
  3. Collaborate;
  4. Give Respect; and
  5. Communicate.

In 2020, NAR added a sixth Core Value: Advance Diversity and Inclusion.

These Core Values have been shared and discussed with the Leadership Team and, they too, expect that our Core Values drive how NAR employees engage with them and the rest of our members. In fact, during NAR employees' annual performance reviews, staff are assessed on the degree to which their words and actions reflect these concepts.

Additionally, in 2023, NAR established seven Foundational, and six Leadership Competencies, created to provide staff with behaviors and actions that clearly align with, and expand on the Core Values.

Leadership Commitments

Leadership Team members must sign the Leadership Pledge. The Pledge signatories must abide by the highest ethics, behaviors, and standards to steward and protect the reputation of NAR and REALTORS®. This was recently expanded to require all RVPs, committee liaisons, REALTOR® Party Director, REALTOR® Party Fundraising Trustees Chair, RPAC Major Investor Counsel Chair, RPAC Participation Counsel Chair, and is now included at the front end of the application process for NAR elected office.

Committee chairs and members must acknowledge and abide by the policies governing the conduct of committees upon appointment, which includes NAR's Code of Conduct and Anti-Harassment Policy for all NAR-related meetings or events.

Member Code of Conduct

The NAR Member Code of Conduct requires that members of NAR act with courtesy and mutual respect toward each other, NAR's staff and others they interact with in the course of NAR business. As clearly outlined by the Code, NAR prohibits discrimination and harassment of any kind of its members, NAR staff, service providers, speakers, and event participants. This applies to all:

  1. NAR-related activities, meetings, and events, whether held in public or private facilities (including those sponsored by organizations other than NAR and held in conjunction with NAR activities, meetings, or events), and
  2. NAR member communications, whether written or verbal, related to NAR business or with NAR staff.

The Member Code of Conduct also clearly sets forth the process by which members may report any and all inappropriate behavior, including unlawful discrimination, harassment, and retaliation, and a process by which all NAR-related reports will be investigated. Members should report issues to state and local associations when they have concerns related to conduct that occurs in connection to state or local events/business. The reporting structures are informed by local and state policies, which are communicated directly to members. NAR has consistently encouraged all local and state associations to adopt and enforce their own anti-harassment and anti-discrimination policies and provides NAR's policy as a model for creating their own.

NAR Code of Ethics

NAR's Code of Ethics prohibits the denial of professional services and discrimination in their real estate employment practices based on protected characteristics(Article 10 and SOP 10-5), including sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, and a prohibition on harassing and hate speech, and may not refuse to cooperate with another REALTOR® based on a protected characteristic (Article 3, SOP 3-11).

Anti-Harassment Resources

NAR maintains a robust library of resources on the topic of anti-harassment prevention, including the following:

Board of Directors

NAR's Board of Directors (BOD) has always taken matters of harassment, discrimination and retaliation very seriously and has implemented policies over time to strengthen its efforts to prevent and address problematic behaviors. Below is a snapshot of key measures that were passed over time and through last year.

  • In 1995, the BOD approved Article XI, Misconduct, to the NAR Bylaws, which created the policy that sexual harassment resulted in the removal of an officer.
  • In 2019, the BOD adopted the robust Member Code of Conduct to replace Article XI.
  • In 2022, the Credentials and Campaign Rules Committee (CCRC), the Leadership Team and the BOD approved more enhancements to NAR's policies and efforts, including the Personal Relationships Policy, the NAR Member Code of Conduct, and the requirement that all elected and appointed officers must take DEI and Sexual Harassment training.

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