With organisations increasingly aiming to achieve gender diversity at the workplace, addressing issues such as inappropriate verbal and physical contact or conduct has assumed even greater importance. While the Prevention of Sexual Harassment (PoSH) Act, 2013 does encompass a wide range of such workplace concerns including sexual harassment, there are several gaps that exist in enforcing its various provisions for registering complaints, ensuring a fair and unbiased inquiry and an equitable disciplinary action when a complaint is upheld. In a bid to ensure bias-free, transparent and speedy complaint resolution, top organisations are implementing technological innovations like Case Management Systems (CMS), data analytics and even remote collaboration tools to streamline both the reporting and resolution process. Let us delve into how technological advancements can ensure employee safety and foster an environment of trust and respect at the workplace.
Eliminating human bias through technology
Workplace issues arising out of unpleasant interpersonal interactions can often be exaggerated by human bias that often creeps into the complaint resolution process. This can be due to inherent gender biases or even partisan dynamics that favour either the individual raising the concern or the one being accused. To address these concerns, it has become pertinent that employers implement industry best practices that go a step ahead of the statutory requirements under the PoSH Act, with a keen focus on integrating technological tools that can fairly and efficiently provide redressal to such concerns when they arise. These tools include reporting management systems that enable employees to flag PoSH related concerns through their computing devices; with every complaint getting reported to members of the Internal Committee (IC) on an immediate basis. The subsequent redressal process and important elements of compliance under the PoSH Act can thereafter be tracked transparently by all stakeholders involved, with complete information being provided to all the parties involved transparently and without any inherent bias towards either of them. While this is just one example of how technology can be introduced to transform PoSH compliance, it is evidently clear that organisations embracing such tools can uphold both ethical and legal obligations in a fair and transparent manner including maintaining utmost confidentiality of the complaints received.
Technological systems that can augment your PoSH framework
Apart from the aforementioned CMS or reporting management systems, organisations can implement automation features to streamline workflows involved in the reporting and -redressal processes. This not only reduces the turnaround time (TAT), but also ensures that quick tasks can be completed by members tasked with hearing such matters through digital means. Similarly, adopting a data-driven decision methodology that can weed out serious concerns and dealing with it in a time-bound manner can enhance employee trust, without saddling IC members or even those from the top management with unnecessary compliance burden. Some organisations have taken even larger strides by integrating Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) principles to identify patterns, suggest counter measures and even highlight departments or areas that are more prone to having interpersonal conflicts. Such advanced technological aids can help organisations in tweaking their HR management strategy to avoid potential workplace conflicts and even identify employees or teams that need further training on PoSH related themes and cascade the awareness suitably.
Upping Data security and facilitating continuous improvement
One of the most important yet often neglected aspect when addressing PoSH concerns is the matter of individual privacy. This is applicable for both parties and witnesses in a complaint and organisations ought to be extremely careful in terms of the extent of information that is divulged, without compromising on the tenets laid down by the PoSH Act. To achieve this delicate balance, maintaining a centralised and digital documentation database is extremely important, with remote access made available to only those members who are adjudicating the resolution mechanism. By choosing to implement a CMS, organisations can achieve enhanced confidentiality, maintain data security by virtue of paperless processing and call upon members for immediate collaboration or discussion, depending on the seriousness of the complaint or the matter involved.
Complementing human oversight to handle subtle nuances
Even if the consensus is clear that technology can augment PoSH compliance, it is evidently clear that human oversight cannot be completely eliminated. This is to ensure that there is a fair amount of empathy, compassion and ethical considerations being made when dealing with such sensitive matters; making a conscious attempt at resolving the issue at hand objectively and without any scope for further scrutiny. Thus, organisations will need to fortify their existing PoSH compliance frameworks with technological tools and integrate advancements that can prevent such occurrences by making fundamental changes in how employees interact with each other. Peering into the future, we could have AI-powered models that can identify scenarios or employees that are prone to experience or conduct misdemeanours, allowing managers or department heads to take precautionary actions based on such data-driven inputs. In essence, technology should complement the existing PoSH framework and facilitate members tasked with resolving concerns to take quick and fair action only after understanding all nuances involved in such sensitive cases.
(The authored above has been penned down by Archana Shiroor, Chief Human Resource Officer, YES BANK, exclusively for BW People publication.)
