Online service complying workplace anti harassment India law

Harassment and gender discrimination at work place by peers and seniors would be quite demoralizing and stressful for the victim. The women employees may frequently face uncalled for advances from male colleagues. Executive Management is charged with the responsibility of safeguarding the organization from the potential damages inflicted by occurrence of harassment incidents anywhere across the organization. However incidents of harassment can be detected only through collective monitoring by all employees. The 'Anti-Harassment at Work Place Scheme' provides a cost effective way to check and control these unpleasant incidents. However for fearless reporting of the harassment incidents the 'Anti-Harassment Scheme' is expected to provide a confidential and secure channel of communication between the complainants and the executive management.
An efficient workplace harassment policy implementation helps the Executive Management in:

	Preventing women discrimination and harassment incidents
	Safeguarding the organization against potential:
	> Workforce demoralization and absenteeism due to harassment > The consequent loss of productivity > Loss of Good Will
	Meeting with statutory obligations

The “Anti-Harassment Scheme” is traditionally implemented in the following manner:

	An “Anti-Harassment Policy and Scheme” with associated rules are announced by the management.
	An employee may report a harassment incident either personally or in writing (on paper or via email) either to their manager or to any of the senior managers announced in the anti-harassment policy. Alternatively or in addition a telephone number maybe provided for an employee to call and report/record the incident.
	The harassment incident would be forwarded to the ‘Administrator’ of the scheme to whet the incident reported with the policy. The incidents not meeting with the policy would be rejected and the complainant informed of the decision with the reasons and counseled. The incidents within the policy guidelines would be processed per the workflow adopted.
	On completion of the investigation appropriate action/s are taken and the incident closed. All documents and investigation findings would be filed in a confidential file.

Usually the following barriers are encountered.

	The biggest deterrent to the success and effectiveness of the ‘Anti-Harassment at Work Place Scheme’ is the fear of reprisal and social stigma. This is so because the employees may not be sure whether the confidentiality and anonymity would be maintained in a fool proof manner. Hence the employees may choose to keep quiet and suffer in silence till they get an alternate job.
	Processing of the reported harassment incident may take a long time. This is because there is no automated work flow built in the process to arrest delays at every step of the process.
	The Complainant is usually not kept informed of the progress and actions taken if any. It is more so for the anonymous speak-ups.
Consequently in spite of the need, traditional implementation process described above may not meet with the desired level of success.

The barriers to the success of the ‘anti-harassment at work place scheme’ are effectively countered by “iSuggestNow”.

	Fear of Reprisal and Social Stigma: It puts the fear of Reprisal and Social Stigma to rest by enabling an employee to report a harassment incident complaint from anywhere via a PC or laptop. Anti-harassment Scheme administrator may also receive a complaint in the written form that would be scanned and attached to an incident initiated by the administrator in the iSuggestNow. The system maintains complete anonymity and confidentiality of the identity of the complainant. E-mail address and other details of the contributor is known only to the System Administrator of the Scheme. In case ‘anonymous’ option is selected, email address and other details of the contributor are not displayed even to the system administrator. Even the IP address of the complainant cannot be traced.
	Status updates: “iSuggestNow” keeps the complainant informed of the progress through emails automatically sent by the system to the email address provided whilst reporting the incident.
	Timeliness: Processing of a harassment incident complaint is initiated immediately on receipt resulting in faster processing. The built in workflow enables monitoring of the progress of a speak-up through the assessment and approval process. In case of delay beyond the set norms, at any step, email reminders are sent to the step owner. In case of excessive delay alerts are sent to the step owner as well as to the designated higher authority.
	Employee Motivation: Being assured of confidentiality and anonymity, the victimized employees or their well-wishing colleagues are more likely to report harassment incidents. Prompt and stringent actions taken against the harassing employees would result in significant reduction in the harassment incidents. Consequently the employer may become the sought after employer for the prospective women employees.
As can be seen from above the iSuggestNow System counters the barriers faced while implementing the anti-harassment scheme in the traditional manner. In short ‘Anti-Harassment at Work Place Scheme’ can be effectively implemented through iSuggestNow system.

Workplace harassment policy implementation using iSuggestNow would result in accrual of the following benefits.

	Attract and retain women employees
	Avoid absenteeism, low morale and low productivity of female employees due to fear of personal safety
	Safeguard against loss of goodwill
	Meet with statutory and social obligation

iSuggestNow Anti-Harassment