Gujarat: Certification program launched to make workplace safe for women
An organization in Ahmedabad has launched a certification program for companies to help in making the workplace safe for women employees. The "Sexual Abuse Free Environment (SAFE) certification", launched by the Gujarat chapter of British Chevening Alumni India, aims at sensitizing the companies and creating awareness among employees about sexual harassment at workplace. Chevening is a global scholarship program of the UK government.
A safe work environment will attract more talent among women
A safe work environment will attract more talent from among women, British Deputy High Commissioner to India, Alexander Evans, said while launching the program. "For us in the UK, this is not a political debate but it is about talent. If you exclude women or make workplace unfavorable for women, you are basically reducing the ability to attract talent to the organization," he said.
It's important for people to feel safe at the workplace
"It is important for people to feel safe at the workplace," Evans said. "Sexual harassment, as the ingredient at a workplace, makes it toxic, it makes it deeply unpleasant for people to be at the workplace. And particularly, because sometimes it is done in a private way in the form of bullying or harassment, it can puncture somebody's confidence," he further said.
Implementation of Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace Act
Despite the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition, and Redressal) Act coming into force on December 9, 2013, many companies were yet to implement it, said Ruzan Khambatta, a Chevening scholar from Gujarat, who is behind the idea of the certification program. "This, despite the legal requirement that any workplace with more than 10 employees needs to implement the Act," she said.
Company with over 10 employees can register for SAFE certification
Quoting a joint report of the industry body FICCI and Ernst & Young, issued in November 2015, Khambatta said 36% of Indian firms and 25% among the MNCs are not in compliance with the Act. A company with more than 10 employees can register for the SAFE certification, based on compliance of certain conditions laid down under the law, she said.
Certification program will be gradually taken across the country
"A SAFE committee comprising noted individuals from the society would audit the applications of companies, conduct interviews, and surprise checks, and grant them the certification, subject to the fulfillment of certain criteria. The certification program will be gradually taken across the country," Khambatta said.
