Aparajitha’s ‘60 Minutes Compliance’ Webinar addresses Physical & Virtual Workplace Concerns
Chennai: Aparajitha Corporate Services Private Limited, the country’s no.1 company for Compliance, today organised a ’60 Minutes Compliance’ webinar to discuss the Prevention of Sexual Harassment at the Workplace. The webinar aimed at discussing and providing clarity for women on how they should protect themselves against sexual abuses and exploitation at workplaces in adherence to The Sexual Harassment of Women at the Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition & Redressal) Act, 2013.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Nagaraj Krishnan, Managing Director, Aparajitha Corporate Service Private Limited said, “There are important dimensions of workplace conduct and safety which women need to be aware. At the same time employers must remain conscious of the potential of blurring the lines of a professional relationship between employees. We do have many rights and regulations that are proactive in safeguarding a woman’s right to dignity and respect at the workplace. Today’s webinar is more of an advisory to provide awareness to working women professionals on how they can safeguard themselves from such harassment and tackle such issues on and off workplaces.”
Presently, sexual harassment has even broadened its boundaries into the current ‘work from home’ scenario on account of the COVID-19 lockdown. Even in the context of video calls, which have become the ‘new normal’ these days, proper training and sensitisation are important on topics like dressing appropriately and keeping the conversation limited to work. With telecommunication today accounting for a large proportion of work, HR leaders will have to grapple with increasingly complex scenarios under the POSH Act. These are not limited to the duration of the lockdown. Employers should be cognisant of this extension of the workplace and must take all steps to ensure that the parallel virtual workplace remains as safe and free of intended or unintended harassment as the brick and mortar one.
The webinar highlighted workplaces should maintain a prevention, prohibition and redressal mechanism to harassments as this contributes to the realization of the right to equality of gender.
Numerous scenarios of harassment towards women in this current work from home in the form of inappropriate texts, option to audio-only mode in meetings were also discussed in an attempt to educate people on how this harassment has found a way to still be active in this pandemic crisis period work situation.
The webinar, which saw participation by 832 individuals comprising of HR professionals, mid & senior level personnel and women employees from Corporates across various industry sectors, was moderated and addressed by Mr. K. Varadan, Chief Consultation Officer, Aparajitha Corporate Services Private Limited.