Who all should be a part of the ICC/IC workshops?
For the Internal Committee to function effectively, the employer, leadership team, and HR must understand their roles in implementing IC decisions. Their participation in IC workshops helps ensure clarity on responsibilities, confidentiality, and creating a culture that supports reporting.
In this edition of #todayinposh, I want to talk about why it is important for the employer as well as the top leadership team to be a part of the Internal Committee (IC) workshop.
Usually, the Internal Committee workshops are attended by the Internal Committee members along with the HR team. Though, I have also conducted many workshops where the HR team was not a part of such workshops.
Today, I want to focus on why the inclusion of the employer, the top leadership team as well as the HR team in these workshops is important for the successful functioning of the IC.
While the Internal Committee is an independent body, they cannot work in isolation because many of their decisions and recommendations are carried out by the employer through the HR team.
For e.g., if the Internal Committee has given some Interim Relief during a course of the investigation, those decisions have implications on the team and projects. Smooth implementation of the Interim Relief can only take place if all stakeholders (i.e. the employer, leadership team, HR and the IC) are aware of their respective roles and responsibilities as well as why it is important to implement the decisions of the Internal Committee.
Likewise, all the above mentioned stakeholders should have clarity on the following:
- Identify behaviours that constitutes as sexual harassment. Not all behaviours will be black and white. There have been instances where sexual harassment incident lead to workplace harassment. Unless the stakeholders are not able to delve deeper, there could be a chance the actual incident goes unnoticed.
- Understand the reasons why complainants do not come forward with their complaints, even though the reporting mechanism is in place. Unless there are also mechanisms in place that support the complainant from retaliation and hostile work environment, they will not feel confident to come forward. Ensuring that these mechanisms are in place is the role of the employer.
- Similarly, power has an explicit and implicit impact on the filing of the complaint. Having a zero-tolerance POSH policy is not enough unless it becomes a part of the culture of the organisation. There have been way too many instances where the respondent, who is in a position of power, is protected by the organisation, which only creates a culture of silence.
- In case of an incident, often, the first point of contact is the immediate manager / someone senior in the organisation and not the IC member. In such instances, again, the leadership team not only needs to know to escalate the issue, how to support the complainant but also steps that they can take to maintain confidentiality as well as protect the parties (complainant, respondent and witnesses) from retaliation.
- Last, often there is a confusion whether the IC's recommendations can be changed by the employer. It is crucial that all the stakeholders are aware that the decisions of the Internal Committee are binding on the organisation and cannot be changed by the employer.
While the employer has certain mandatory obligations under the Act, for the successful implementation as well as for creating a safe workplace, all the stakeholders have to proactively engage in the process as well as in ensuring that the culture of the workplace is inclusive and safe for everyone.
In my experience, it only takes place when all the parties are invested and are aware of the redressal mechanism as well as what are their respective roles and responsibilities.
Therefore, when you are planning your next Internal Committee workshop, please ensure that along with the HR Team, the employer as well as the top leadership team is also a part of the conversation.