It’s sad that even in the 21st century, more than 72% of women feel that gender discrimination still prevails in the offices of corporate India. But the silver lining post the entire #MeToo campaign is that offices and organisations are taking active steps to protect women and to ensure a safe environment for everyone at office. 

Taking steps to maintain a healthy work atmosphere is a continuous process and not a one time thing. Here are four major steps that HRs in companies can take to move towards a safe workplace:

1. An equal work policy:

Diversity at workplace is essential for a company to thrive. Along with hiring people of various backgrounds, cultures and viewpoints, it is also essential to hire people of both the genders equally. 

This helps in maintaining harmony at the office place and gives equal access to different positions for both men and women. This can also bolster your business by bringing in varied perspectives and ideas. 

2. Educate employees about gender discrimination:

One of the major reasons for sexual harassment of women at workplace is awareness. Lot of times, people don’t realise that they have hurt somebody with either a gesture or a comment.

What might be a joke to someone may not be for someone else. A better awareness program helps people understand and educated about gender discrimination.

Employee Crossings has been educating employees in the corporate sector in India for over a decade with an experienced team of professionals. Our POSH (Prevention of Sexual Harassment of Women at workplace) workshops in different companies aim at creating an educated mindset amongst all employees, making each person aware and responsible for what he/she says or does.  For more information regarding the workshops, you can check out www.ecrossings.in

3. Swift action on complaints:

Action speaks louder than words. It sends out a positive message to the women who’re affected and a warning to people misbehaving, when any complaint is acted upon swiftly and in a just manner. 

Make sure that the process of complaining is easy and, once complained, it’s investigated and processed soon and the same is updated to the complainant. 

Be sure to protect the privacy of all the individuals involved in each of the cases. 

These give confidence to the employees in the organisation and helps in building a positive work atmosphere. 

4. An unbiased and inclusive workplace:

Cultivate an inclusive atmosphere, one where everyone’s inputs are taken and respected, where it is easy for anyone to reach out and communicate about any issues pertaining to the working of the company. 

It is essential to maintain an unbiased nature amongst employees as an HR so that everyone feels secure to come up and share their views. 

The work culture of corporate India has undergone a sea of change in the past many years. We’ve come a long way in realising the importance of, and working towards a gender equal, unbiased and safe workplace. But there’s still a lot more of work to be done before all women actually feel included and belonged in the organisation, as compared to their male counterparts. And there are still a lot of sexual harassment cases being reported across India. 

It’s a silver lining that people are taking note and companies are trying to bring in the change, to make the workplaces safer. We hope that a day comes when everyone truly feels equal, secure and safe across industries, irrespective of their culture, language, region or gender.