How safe are workplaces in India

The gruesome rape and murder of a doctor while she was on duty in a Kolkata hospital recently has raised a lot questions around workplace safety. How safe are workplaces in India? India does have policies such as Prevention of Sexual Harassment (POSH) which mandate every organisation with more than 10 employees to set up an internal POSH committee. It is a well thought through statute for prevention, prohibition and redressal of sexual harassment cases in the workplace. If you are a woman employee in a micro enterprise with less than 10 employees, you could register your complaint with the local labour commissioner. The Government of India has instituted an internal complaints committee for sexual harassment which also oversees MSMEs. The Ministry of Women and Child Development also has an online complaint management system She-Box (sexual harassment electronic box).

What is the challenge when there are so many protocols in place? The biggest challenge is that most of these policies and protocols are a mere tick-in-the-box activity. Most organisations do have a POSH committee, but more than often the committee is inactive. Organisations (barring a few progressive ones) are so focused on growth and profitability that focusing on the POSH is not a priority. “Most organisations ask us to do one-day training for the internal committee members on an annual basis and a 90-minute review every quarter to discuss dummy cases. They shy away from giving time,” points out Deepa Sharma, founder, Inclusive IndiaHR Consultants, a company which gives POSH training to corporates. Sharma says getting time from leadership to discuss sexual harassment issues is often a challenge.

“The biggest challenge is to set the right culture and tone, understanding that workplace safety from sexual harassment is as important as ensuring provision of necessities like drinking water or washrooms,” adds Ashwini Vittalachar, equity partner, Samvad. More than often women employees hesitate from reporting a sexual harassment case to the POSH committee as they fear they would be judged or considered a ‘problem creator’. An entry level employee at a leading consulting firm a few months ago had complained to the POSH committee against her senior who often abused her verbally. “The HR head happened to be my boss’s close friend and my complaint was brushed aside,” she says. The employee eventually quit the organisation when she didn’t get support.

Sriram P, diversity expert and former director, Pernod Ricard talks about the ‘360-degree’ appraisal method, a progressive performance assessment tool, where the employees rate their superiors. The 360-degree report done is successful abroad, but in India it’s not that successful as the employees feel it’s not fool-proof. Employees, especially the women, are afraid to rate the qualities of their boss. I may want to rate him 2/5 but I am afraid that he would find out. To be safe I give 3.5/5. It is the organisation’s role to earn the trust of people by making it completely anonymous.”

The apathy towards sexual harassment policies intensifies in MSMEs or organisations headquartered in tier 2-3 towns. Many of these organisations shy away from hiring women in the first place. Hiring a woman is considered an expensive proposition as there could be a maternity leave in the offing (and it is a paid six-month leave) and for the organisation it is an additional could be avoided by hiring a woman. “The MSME sector is fragmented, so nobody helps drive conversation around workplace culture, diversity, compliance etc. It’s not so much about cost, it is more to do with companies finding it irrelevant to have a POSH committee,” points out Samvad’s Vittalachar.

Sharma of Inclusive IndiaHR Consultants says that most organisations in smaller towns or MSMEs do have POSH compliances in place, but the quality of that compliance is questionable. “Most of them outsource HR, payroll management as well as POSH compliance. The founders/owners of these organisations are often clueless when asked about POSH compliances, they invariably put on their agency they have outsourced these functions to.”

A Mindset Change

The need of the hour is a change in attitude of organisations. “When the positions of power are held with the men and they don’t have a change in mindset, very little will move. The conversation has to shift from only talking to women to talking to men to be part of the movement for a more equitable world, the onus has to move to men,” points out National Award winning filmmaker Dr. Vibha Chhabra Bakshi.

“The one thing I put my finger on to say is what change do we need to drive and how subtly can we do it. When the MD/CEO or the board takes a stand and says that the balance sheet is one thing, but what is also critical to the organisation is an inclusive culture. This will automatically lead to a culture shift, till we don’t do that the needle won’t move, adds POSH expert Sharma.

Dipali Goenka, managing director and CEO, Welspun, says that her manufacturing unit in Anjar has over 50% women working on the shop floor. To get to that diversity percentage, Goenka did sensitisation programmes in adjoining villages. “We went to people's homes and spoke to the men in the family. We told them the importance of dual income and for that to happen they had to help the women in their household chores. The moment we succeeded in driving change through the men of the villages, the women automatically started coming to work.”

Do policies such as POSH need to be revisited to ensure safer and more inclusive workplaces? “While it has been a great step forward, it still lacks teeth. Better accountability through stringent penalties on an organisation could be considered. The quorum should include external members to ensure complaints are handled in a more neutral manner,” says Vittalachar.

“Policies are definitely there but sensitisation needs to happen. A yearly sensitisation is inadequate. Many companies have posters against sexual harassment, but one isn’t sure how many complaints are filed,” adds diversity expert, Sriram.

The only way to move the needle is change in the mindset of organisations and the change has to be driven by the leadership.