HR needs to champion far more the building of a 'Safe and Secure Working Environment'.
ARTICLES
An organisation cannot be successful if its strategy is architected in isolation from its people. Having a culture of transparency and ensuring representation of each cohort can completely transform the business.
With changing of expectations, the way of leading and managing teams have changed. It is also observed that somewhere "the patience level" towards human is also changing.
While the HR function is progressively becoming more strategic and influential, its ability to embrace innovation, adapt to change especially technologies and responding to dynamic workforce needs, will determine whether it stays ahead or falls behind in the evolving business landscape.
While organisations offer a bouquet of benefits, it's the employees decide what they want to avail and what they want to let go of. Hence the benefits remain relevant to the employees at all times.
Change is occurring behind the scenes on a regular basis. An organisation's ability to stay ahead of the curve and adapt to change will result in less disruption to the workplace and create a culture that attracts and retains the best talent.
Beyond moral and ethical considerations, future organisations recognize that embracing diversity provides them with a competitive edge in all respect and it is for HR to understand this importance to stay ahead.
The question is not of law or creating deterrence, it is all about mindset of people, how they view the women at workplace, because people working in institutions are coming from the same society which has deep rooted biases against women.
The law must take care to protect women of differing perceptions and comfort levels. At the same time, the reaction of the complainant cannot be entirely unreasonable. A "calibrated balance" would have to be struck between rights of a victim of sexual harassment and those of the delinquent employee.
It is not enough to have just rules in place, the intent to implement should be there. A law requiring proforma setting up of overseeing body with no teeth to prosecute the perpetrators borders on useless.
