The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act of 2013, usually called the “PoSH Act”, was passed as part of India’s effort to ensure that women are protected from being sexually harassed while they are working. POSH Certificate for Organizations. The main goals of this law are to prevent and prohibit sexually harassing actions by people in the workplace against women and to provide for various ways to get redress for a woman who has been sexually harassed while she was working.

Reasons why an organization must conduct PoSH training for its employees

There are two primary reasons why conducting POSH online course for employees is a legal requirement: it is a statutory requirement for organizations to provide PoSH training, and the organization will incur a criminal fine of ₹50,000 for each violation, up to a maximum of six violations, plus the risk of losing its business licence (i.e., being forced to cease operating without any notice) if it violates the law more than six times.

PoSH training online will help protect women in the workplace. They will learn about how to identify sexual harassment behaviour, and gain knowledge about what types of behaviour they can report as sexual harassment. The training will also help educate men on how to behave in ways that will not cause their female colleagues to feel threatened. For example, men often tell “jokes” or give “compliments” to female colleagues that cause some female colleagues to feel uncomfortable. Therefore, all employees need to know what is acceptable and unacceptable in the workplace, and what types of behaviour constitute sexual harassment. 

Benefits of PoSH Training for Employees

If you don’t see the reasons mentioned above as adequate to conduct a POSH Certificate for Organizations, please refer to the ideas below outlining some more advantages of conducting POSH compliance online:

• Sexual harassment can have a significant negative impact on the productivity of both victims and other employees. The better quality of training provided to employees regarding sexual harassment, the fewer incidents of sexual harassment occur; the result being an increased level of employee productivity.

• When employees feel safe from any form of harassment, their level of engagement within the workplace increases, thereby decreasing the level of absenteeism.

• Providing POSH training to employees and managers indicates that your organisation cares about its employees and will increase employees’ job satisfaction and morale.

• Providing POSH training to employees will improve the retention of employees and the quality of the work environment. The overall effect of providing this training to employees is that their perception of your organisation as an employer will be improved.
  
• Providing POSH training online will increase the goodwill and reputation of your organisation. Sensitising your employees through the provision of PoSH courses and training can protect the reputation of your organisation and increase customer loyalty. If an employee is sexually harassed whilst employed by your organisation and the situation is not handled correctly, the reputation of your organisation will be damaged.

• All organisations must provide a POSH certification course to all of their employees as this is a legal requirement.

• Providing a POSH awareness course online will improve the corporate culture and improve employee collaboration.

Who must participate in PoSH training for employees (required by law)? 

Every employee in the organisation (including managers, directors, IC members, HR professionals and all employees) must complete a POSH certificate for organizations.

However, PoSH Training cannot be universal for all employees. A base level of awareness of the law is required to lay the foundation of an interactive discussion for everyone involved. In addition to a common training for all employees on the law, there needs to be additional training specific to each employee’s position.

POSH training for Managers and supervisors needs to be on how to behave with both sexes, so that they understand how their behaviour may have implications for gender bias, and how to mitigate those behaviours.  Internal Committee members (the Internal Committee is the entity that will conduct the investigation and resolution of complaints of sexual harassment within an organization) also need specific training about the investigation process and resolution procedures. Members need to understand how to conduct conciliation and investigative proceedings, and that they must do so in a fair way.

Conclusion

As a POSH certification course, LiveSkills has been instrumental in implementing POSH in many different industries. This e-skilling platform helps different companies, their employees and managers. Our course trains companies with different modules for employees and ICC members on the POSH awareness course. Enroll now to know more.