Letter to BS: HR depts must change to curb sexual harassment at workplace

The article “Time to change” by Shubhomoy Sikdar (October 22) rightly argues that changes need to be made by the human resources (HR) departments to curb sexual harassment at workplaces.

The October 19 edition of Business Standard revealed the annual reports of Nifty 50 companies for 2018 had only 588 recorded complaints. Twelve companies accounted for 87 per cent of the complaints. Fourteen companies that included some marquee names had no complaints. This could be a reflection on the confidence the staff had in the internal complaints’ redressal mechanism in their companies.

The companies have taken steps to formulate guidelines as mandated by the law. But as staff members do not feel empowered to complain, the figures reported are very low. If the predator is amongst the top management or a key employee, chances of it getting reported and adequately addressed are remote. The HR team could also be reporting to the predator that further complicates matters. Only an independent HR team can inspire confidence for complainants to report harassment.

K V Premraj  Mumbai

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