PoSH (Prevention of Sexual Harassment) Act – 10 Myths Busted

The Prevention of Sexual Harassment of women at workplace Act was introduced in December 2013 and it is part of annual compliance for all organizations. First, it is important to know what actions are included under compliance.

Under the PoSH Act (at a macro level) the organization is supposed to carry out the following three things –

1. Create a Sexual Harassment Policy.
2. Create awareness amongst the employees about sexual harassment and the policy.
3. Create an Internal Committee (in case the organisation has 10 or more employees) for receiving and redressal of any sexual harassment complaint.

The Act also has a provision for non–compliance and the penalty for the same varies from a fine to cancellation of registration of the firm. In spite of the penalty in place for non-compliance, many firms do not follow the requisite steps.

In order to understand the reasons behind non-compliance, I spoke to many department heads and business owners and realized –

• that many organizations were not even aware that they need to follow such a compliance or some had a policy in place however had not conducted any awareness workshop.
• that many who were aware of the Act, had multiple view points and myths associated with it.

Hence, I decided to list the top 10 myths and clarify them.

1. We are a small firm, this is only for larger organizations – As per the Act all firms, from any sector or of any size have to be PoSH Compliant. I have already explained at the start of the article, the points covered under compliance. Moreover, providing a safer work environment for the employees is the duty of the employer, irrespective of the firm's size.
2. We don’t have any female employee hence don’t need it – The Act hasn’t specified anything about the gender ratio of the organization or any such pre-requisites to be PoSH Compliant. This means, irrespective of number of female employees, you should be compliant in all respects. Not forgeting, the Act has an extended definition of employee.
3. We are not a registered firm so we don’t need it – All firms; registered – unregistered, belonging to organized – unorganized sector are covered.
4. All our employees are blue collared – As mentioned above, the Act covers all types of organizations and employees.
5. All our employees work from remote locations – In the current times, the definition of ‘work place’ has expanded. I remember a recent article where a man received commute related work compensation from his firm for injury due to falling off stairs while he was walking from him bed-room to his work desk at home.
6. We got awareness workshop done once – Getting a sexual harassment awareness workshop is an ongoing process and has to be done by the organization at regular interval.
7. We have a sexual harassment policy in place – This is great. However, the same needs to be communicated and then reinforced at regular intervals. A workshop on the topic is the best and easiest way to do it.
8. We circulate a video once in a while – E-learning is a great option. Many organizations use online modules and expect the employees to go through them. However, it is important for the organization to ensure that the employee has not only gone through the training, but has understood it too. Most online modules are template based and may not answer all aspects of the policy or be specific to the needs of your organization. Moreover, group learning through a facilitator always has a higher impact.
9. It’s a hassle, why give people ideas – In recent times, once the PoSH Act came into effect, the number of reported cases has seen a rise. Many interpret it incorrectly. With higher awareness, your employees now know the current process and mechanism to report, hence we are seeing higher reporting of cases. It is not that the incidents didn’t happen earlier, the process was unclear. With increased awareness, the number of such incidents is expected to actually go down.
10. It will de-motivate the teams – On the contrary, it increases the confidence of employees in the organization. It has been seen that in organizations where a sexual harassment policy is in place and they have been conducting regular awareness workshops, the productivity of the work force has increased by over 20% and the retention rate has always seen a positive change.

This is not an exhaustive list, just the top 10 myths that I have come across while working with organizations on their sexual harassment policy. The key point that we all should note is that PoSH Act is part of compliance for all firms, irrespective of team size, gender ratio or nature of work.

Moreover, it is the best practice to make your people feel safe, secure and create a feeling of well-being by showing that you care. Doing a sexual harassment awareness workshop is a great and easiest way to achieve that.

In case you are looking for more information on the above subject, I’d be happy to speak on a one-on-one basis with you. You could write to me at [email protected]

Disclaimer - One of the services offered through my firm is, conducting workshops on 'Gender Sensitisation and PoSH (Prevention of Sexual Harassment) at workplace - Employee Awareness Program' .