But more stringent initiatives are needed, say employees

Employees in the city feel having policies and forming committees is not enough to ensure a safe and conducive work environment.

More needs to be done in terms of having workshops on sensitisation and legal cells to tackle unfortunate incidents that can affect both women as well as men.

Employees say companies have to make it mandatory for employees to sign a document stipulating guidelines for code of conduct.

“The way we sign a document stating we will not seek other forms of employment while working here, we all need to sign another one on good conduct and that includes respecting each and every co-worker and avoiding use of street language,” says Mayur Divecha, who works for an IT firm near Mysore Road.

Many feel like sex education in schools, there has to be regular workshops on gender sensitisation for employees that can lead to more respect amongst peers and co-workers.

“Some of my colleagues don’t know where to draw the line when it comes to cracking jokes. They forget they are in a workplace. This might not necessarily constitute harassment, but it obviously makes me uncomfortable sitting besides them,” says Renuka Kumari, an analyst with a pharmaceutical firm in the city.

HR experts say since the workplace is where people from diverse backgrounds come together, there have to be efforts during induction of new joinees that go into training them on aspects of good behaviour and can build their inter-personal communication.

“Recruitment process should see to this. Make it very clear that right from passing remarks to lewd comments to use of abusive language, everything constitutes undesirable conduct,” says the CEO of a tech firm.

Shalini Sharma, (name changed),  a BPO employee working in Koramangala, says often the HR department in small firms just does not listen.

“In big firms, the HR departments are really strong, but not so in small firms.”

Sharma says she has faced harassment in the past and her efforts at directly contacting the HR failed miserably when she was told to approach her immediate boss first.

“The boss said he would speak to the individual who was making me feel uncomfortable.

But what happened was my role and seat were changed to another division. That individual remained where he was,” says Sharma, adding that this is nowhere close to anything stringent which companies claim they are enforcing.