Sexual harassment of women at work is a form of unlawful sex discrimination. The law defines sexual harassment as, ‘unwelcome verbal, visual, non-verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature or based on someone’s sex that is severe or pervasive and affects working conditions or creates a hostile work environment.’

Recently, due to the raging debate provoked by the #MeToo movement, concerns with harassment in the workplace have entered the public arena at a global level in a way that is both unprecedented and untold. Women are overwhelmingly the victims of sexual harassment.

The victims’ experience of sexual harassment can range from uncomfortable to devastating, and can have severe effects. The relationship between culture and sexual harassment is complicated, but with a large number of organisations reportedly having sexual harassment policies in place, something is clearly going wrong with how the problem is perceived and how it is dealt with in our workplaces.

Despite the multiplicity of legal definitions and social perceptions of sexual harassment, the experiences of many victims seem to present a common feature, which is their remarkable difficulty in breaking the code of silence that surrounds this phenomenon. Hence it comes as no surprise that more than one third of the victims still keep these incidents to themselves. Adding to this self-censorship, many HR managers wrongly believe that sexual harassment is a disciplinary infraction like all others. This approach neglects an important element of sexual harassment: victims break the code of silence only if complaints are taken seriously and kept fully confidential.

Because sexual harassment can take the form of verbal jokes or non-verbal conducts such as sexually-suggestive gestures and leering, investigating what happened may turn into a long head-scratching exercise. The integrity of the procedure seems to be the best guarantee to ensure its effectiveness.

To tackle this deep rooted problem of sexual harassment of women in workplaces, here are a few points that need to be followed while putting policies in place:

1. Transparency:
   All employees should be fully informed from the beginning about what to do if they are victims of sexual harassment and of the harsh consequences if they wear the shoes of the perpetrator.
2. Participation:
   Once the complaint is filed, the victim must feel that her voice is heard for the entire procedure. Periodical and speedy feedback should be the rule.
3. Solution:
   It does not necessarily consist in the perpetrator’s dismissal. An apology, a change of working arrangement, a promotion if the victim was demoted as a result of the harassment or a session of heavy training might be more effective than disciplinary action.
4. Speed:
   The sooner the procedure is completed, the better it is for all, victim included. Once the fact finders have reached their decision, the company must fully implement the recommendations. There is nothing worse than abiding by a gruesome procedure that ends into nothing. There must be an implicit agreement between the HR and the firm’s top management to preserve the integrity of the procedure until its natural end, which is not the sanction but the positive feedback that the problem has been solved.

It is clear that, on a daily basis, companies must address sexual harassment in order to make anti-harassment policies effective. It’s time that we cut the problem at its roots and ingrain in the minds of employees and employers about the right behaviour in offices.

Employee Crossings specialises in creating awareness on Sexual Harassment of Women at workplace with clients spread across India.  Our aim is to provide HR professionals with the necessary tools and a clear understanding of best practices to make work places safe and motivating for all employees to work and grow together.