In order to prevent the incidents of sexual harassment against women at the workplace, I strongly recommend that organisation should focus on creating awareness and an organisational culture that speaks and acts against sexual harassments of women at the workplace.

The POSH Act, 2013 mandates that every employer must organize workshops and awareness programs at regular intervals for sensitising the employees with the provisions of the POSH Act, 2013.

According to the POSH Act, 2013, here are the roles every employer must follow and implement.

1. Provide a safe working environment for all employees. (the term employee is clearly defined under the law)

2. Organize POSH awareness and training programs for employees

3. Organize orientation programs for the members of the IC

4. Every employer of a workplace shall, by an order in writing, constitute a committee to be known as the Internal Complaints Committee.

5. Every employer shall display at any conspicuous place in the workplace, the penal consequences of sexual harassment and the order constituting the ICC.

While the law mandates it, I recommend every organization to go beyond these responsibilities to ensure a culture of safety and respect. Here are some recommended steps to implement at your organisation.

1. Encourage women to step up and speak to the relevant committee in the organization in case of any issues such as harassment and improper conduct and situation.

2. The culture of respect and safety at the workplace should start and reflect from the top management. Hence, the senior management should themselves involve and engage in activities and other practices that make the safety of women at the workplace a priority.

3. Formulate a zero tolerance policy towards any form of sexual harassment at work and ensure that every employee is aware of the same. The organisation can include it with the work contract.

4.Constant/continuous training to create awareness on what constitutes sexual harassment at work/workplace

Here are the recommended learning strategies that can be implemented at the organisation to create awareness on what constitutes sexual harassment at work/workplace

1.POSH e-learning

2.Blended learning on POSH

3.Classroom training on POSH

Today with the increasing penetration of e-learning into the world of corporate learning. Organisations have started moving to online learning or e-learning to train the employees.

To train the learners on POSH and create awareness on what constitutes sexual harassment at work/workplace, an organisation can implement POSH e-learning. Here at  XLPro e-learning, we were one of the first company to launch an award-winning scenario based POSH e-module, which is being extensively used across many companies to not only train their employees but also as a refresher to the classroom training program to reinforce learning.

To know how POSH online learning can be beneficial to your organisation, I recommend reading this blog- 5 Reasons To Have An Online POSH Training. The blog explains 5 reasons for choosing POSH online learning like–

1. Put the learners at ease while dealing with a sensitive topic.

2. Best way to depict the actual workplace incidents through the use of scenario-based e-learning.

3. Consistency of training.

4. Visuals are a powerful means of communication and help in quick and easy learning of the concepts.

5. Increased ROI on training investments.


2. Blended learning

The POSH online learning module can even blend with classroom training to effectively train the learners. For example, the organisation can use POSH online learning as a reinforcement tool or as a refresher to the existing classroom training program.

3. Classroom training

Classroom training on POSH is still continued. But the limitations like increasing cost, lack of engagement and interactivity, geographical barriers in training a widespread workforce, etc still stand as big constraints for the organisation.

What are the measures implemented at your organisation to prevent sexual harassment against women at the workplace? Feel free to share your suggestions and comments using the comment box below.