Keep it safe!

High profile cases of sexual harassment in the press have certainly had an impact in the Indian workplace. An increasing number of Indian corporate firms have now stopped pushing issues under the carpet and instead, address them as important business issues. This, not only creates a ‘healthy’ work environment, but also safeguards against, reputational, operational and legal risks.

All this and more was discussed at our "No Excuses for Sexual Harassment" workshop, conducted in Delhi on the 25th of July this year. This was our fifth workshop on the subject and was well received by over 30 participants, representing 21 corporations. Mr Som Mittal, President, NASSCOM, opened the session and impressed upon the participants, the need for better awareness and understanding on the subject.

The workshop focussed on educating employers on their responsibilities on recognising and preventing sexual harassment in the workplace. The interactions with the participants, and the candid exchange of experiences during the training, were indeed eye-openers for many participants, some of who came forth with first-hand experiences. The session was followed by a sharing of best practices from organisations that had robust practices in place. A legal perspective was provided on all these cases, by a lawyer panel member.

We are glad to note that HR professionals present in the room were unanimous that although employees may cringe at the thought of having anything to do with sexual harassment, it is important to educate them on the occurances and types of sexual harassment. Most cases, unless voiced by the victim or another employee, go undetected and breed scared, unhappy employees, often leading to attrition. In other instances, the harassment matters get out of hand and attract unwanted media attention and legal wrangles.

Verbal and non-verbal advances, quid pro quo harassment, and harassment of male employees are no longer rare occurrences and are potential legal exposures in the office environment. Employers therefore are establishing policies to create respectful work places as part of their business mandate. This workshop was an important step towards this.

We, at Interweave, sure look forward to hearing the success stories emerging from there. Do keep us posted!

Yes we can: Identifying and pushing our comfort zones

It was an interesting experience to listen to Prabha, an employee of a large public sector enterprise, at our workshop in Mumbai, last month. A qualified professional, Prabha reveled in playing the roles of a traditional homemaker as well as a high-performing professional in a non-traditional industry for women. Working in an all-male bastion such as the Oil and Gas sector is a commendable feat in itself and stands testimony to the determination and grit of these amazing women we met.

Conducting our first-ever workshop for the public sector, we loved the interaction with this amazing group of high-performing women who are at ease with heavy machinery and equipment, be it in the boiler rooms or on the shopfloors. Their experiences in trying to overcome some of their socialised limitations, were inspiring, especially in the midst of the prevalent prejudices that exist in a male-dominated work environment. These committed individuals are high performers today, and are indeed, valued employees at the company

The ladies were glad to have all-woman participation in the workshop. The candid discussions we had amply reflected this, as each of them opened up to talk about their day-to-day challenges in their professional environment. Listening to their varied ways of dealing with the challenges was quite a learning for us and for the participants, who realised that all of them were battling similar situations and could use each other’s experiences to learn from.

Our workshop, “Yes we can!” focused on helping these women set realistic goals and put their priorities in perspective. They were eager to learn and willing to push their comfort zones. We encouraged them with our modules on assertiveness and developing the confidence to speak up, influence others and seek support when needed. The inputs were very well received.

At Interweave, this workshop has re-iterated our belief that talent and potential is out there in varied forms and sometimes all it needs is a push in the right direction. This particular enterprise has done a commendable job at leveraging the potential of women who are statistically an under-represented talent pool at workplaces. We believe, that this pioneering effort will cascade into discernable benefits for the organisation. After all, engaging employees to leverage their full potential is a critical business need in corporate India today.

Please feel free to share with us any of your thoughts on this or let us know of any such initiatives at your workplace.