POSH Training
What is POSH Training?
In 2013 Government of India enacted the Sexual Harassment of
Women at Workplace (Prohibition and Redressal)
Act, 2013 also called as the POSH Act The Act holds an
organization and the employer responsible for taking measures to
prevent incidents of sexual harassment at workplace The Act
also lays down several measures for organizations to be
compliant to the Act One of them is spreading POSH awareness
to all the employees in the organization about their roles and
responsibilities through training program and similar initiatives It is
advisable to conduct such trainings at least twice in a year.
Why POSH Training?
Firstly, it is legally mandatory to conduct POSH training The organization can
attract heavy penalties like a fine of INR 50000 for first time offence and
cancellation of business license for repeated offence if the law is not followed
In addition, just having a law does not help Many a times, women question
whether a particular behavior can be counted as sexual harassment even
after they felt uncomfortable or violated So, it is important for employees to
know what is acceptable in the workplace, what constitutes to sexual
harassment and what does not
Moreover, the employees should also be aware about what to do if their
colleagues are subjected to sexual harassment An effective training on POSH
can address these issues Organizing POSH training is a step towards protecting
the rights of women employees and ensuring equality at the workplace
Training must be given to all employees regardless of their gender or
designation.
What are the POSH Benefits?
- If you think the above mentioned are not good enough reasons to organize POSH training, here is a list
of more benefits in conducting POSH training for the organization
- Sexual harassment can hamper productivity of not only the victims, but also other employees Better
the training, lesser the incidents of sexual harassment and higher the productivity
- POSH training shows that the organization cares about the employees which can increase job
satisfaction and employee engagement
-
POSH training improves employee retention and the quality of workplace culture In general, the
training improves the perception of employees about the organization
- The reputation and goodwill of an organization can be damaged if employees decide to reveal their
horrible experiences of sexual harassment via social media Organization may lose its customers as well
Sensitizing the employees through POSH courses and programs can safeguard the organization s
reputation and ensure customer retention
-
Like mentioned before, non compliance to the act can attract penalties There can also be chances
that the legal fight can take a long time which will result in a huge financial impact Conducting
regular POSH training and awareness programs will not only help in avoiding such legal tangles but can
also act as a proof in the court that the organization had taken necessary steps for prevention of
unfortunate sexual harassment incidents
What should you cover in POSH training
All employees in the organization managers, directors, IC members, human
resource professionals and employees must go through the training However,
a one size fits all training will not help A common training on the law is
important In addition to this, there should role specific training as well For
example, Internal Committee members (IC is the institution that will inquire into
and redress sexual harassment complaints within the organization) must go
through specific training on the inquiry procedure and redressal mechanism
Let us have a close look at what types of you should consider for your
organization.
POSH Foundation Course
- This course will cater to the entire workforce in the organization. Regardless of the gender or
designation, every employee should have a clear understanding of the following:
- The term sexual harassment, what constitutes to sexual harassment and what does not.
- Who are complainant, respondent and what are their rights?
- What do workplace, employee and employer mean in the context of POSH Act?
- IC, its responsibilities and the name and details of IC members of their organization.
- Means of filing a complaint
- The punishments for sexual harassment
- Tips to prevent physical/online/virtual sexual harassment
- Things to keep in mind to prevent sexual harassment arising out of personal relationships
- The consequences of filing a false complaint with malicious intent
- The consequences of retaliation
- Responsibilities of a someone who has witnessed harassment
- The responsibilities of an employee in preventing sexual harassment in the organization
POSH Training for Managers / Team Leaders / Supervisors
A certain section of the employees has a team to manage and is obligated to
provide a safe environment to their team members They can be People
Managers, Reporting Managers, Business Heads, Human Resources (Learning
and Development) professionals, Diversity and Inclusion (D& champions, etc
The POSH training for them must enable them to effectively handle and
manage sexual harassment incidents Any inappropriate step or negligence
on the part of the people manager will have severe consequences to the
organization, team and the victim.
Ideally, the POSH training for managers should cover:
- The key responsibilities of leaders if there is an incident of sexual harassment
- Steps to objectively document the complaint
- Cooperating with the IC for investigation
- Things to do post inquiry
- Proactive measures that can be taken to prevent unfortunate incidents
POSH Training for Internal Committee Members
The POSH Act mandates that any organization with more than ten employees (including temporary contract employees or interns.) should constitute an Internal Committee which will have the power of a civil jury. They will inquire into POSH complaints and redress them.
As the Internal Committee plays a significant role in the organization’s mission of preventing sexual harassment at workplace, proper enablement of the Internal Committee is necessary.
Goals of Sexual Harassment Training
The purpose of this training is to:
- Discuss what is harassment
- Discuss what is sex discrimination
- Discuss what is sex stereotyping
- Discuss what is sexual harassment
- Discuss targets and perpetrators
- Discuss where sexual harassment can occur
- Discuss what to do if you are harassed of witness harassment
- Discuss supervisors ’ responsibilities
- Discuss investigation and corrective action process
- Discuss retaliation
- Discuss what is not retaliation
- Discuss additional resources
It is important to train the IC members on the following:
- The responsibilities of an IC
- The members of IC and their qualification
- The criteria to disqualify an IC member if the need occurs
- The steps of filing a complaint and the procedures that follow
- The process of conciliation and inquiry
- Differentiating sexual harassment from gender based discrimination
- The jurisdiction of Internal Committee
- The procedure of conducting interviews required for the investigation
- The deadline to complete the inquiry and report submission
- The recommendations to be made after the inquiry
- Preparing the inquiry report and the details to be included in the report
- Preparing and submitting the POSH Annual Report
Mode of POSH Training Programs
Many organizations contemplate on what mode of training they can use for
POSH awareness Should you go for POSH classroom training workshop or
POSH online CBT modules? It mostly depends on the organization s discretion
because both eLearning and classroom training have their own pros and
cons However here are a few things you can consider while choosing the
right mode of training
it is better for you to choose offline mode of POSH training Here is why?
- The understanding and the goal of training is well achieved in personal interactions
- Participants can be in rapport and brainstorming can done in a better way
- Participants can get the satisfactory answer by the trainer in detailed discussion
- Communication s maximum part deliver in non verbal mode so its better to get maximum and efficient to it
- Participant can get the solution of their problems and issues in a better way
- There are lots of opportunity to understand practical application of the learnings
- And many more...
Who We Are? What We Do?
PUNLP is a POSH – Prevention of Sexual Harassment at Workplace compliance advisory body. Our team consists of POSH consultants, workplace diversity advisor, lawyers, psychologists, counsellors, having work experience of more than 20 Years. We aim to help organisations put in place all the mandatory compliance, enabling workplaces to be inclusive, diverse and gender neutral.
What Makes Our POSH Training Effective
- We have seen that there are several topics to be covered in each type of training This can make the training
long and boring Here are a few tips to ensure that the learners stay engaged through out
- Include examples and content relevant to the industry and the audience Incidents that happen in a manufacturing industry is not similar to what would happen in an IT company
- Use scenarios to understand the intricate nuances involved in sexual harassment incidents Instead of telling that
the employees should intervene, give an example of how an intervention by a fellow employee has saved a
coworker from sexual harassment It will be more effective
- Use impactful visuals (like animated videos) about points that the learner should retain Humans are visualcreatures
- Give learner chances to take decisions Give quizzes and activities to the learner that involve examples or
scenarios Ask them what they would do in a relatable situation and let them know why their response was
correct or incorrect This keeps them motivated to continue the course
- Ensure that along with the white collar workforce, blue collar workforce is also aware about their rights and
responsibilities as per the POSH Act However, it is not always easy to train them as they speak different regional
languages, may not be very comfortable in English and may not have access to computers or laptops
- Give a token of appreciation for completing the course This can be in the form of a badge or a course completion certificate
