Fallout of WFH: Lack of awareness and fear threaten safety of women on virtual workspace

Smitha* started receiving unprofessional text messages from her colleague after a few months of WFH. Over the next six months, they escalated to sexually explicit messages and images. Finally, when he invited her home and asked about her sexual experiences, she decided to lodge a complaint.

When the Prevention of Sexual Harassment at Workplace (POSH) committee asked her about the delay in complaining, Smitha said she hailed from a conservative joint family and was worried that her parents may ask her to quit job and get her married off.

In another case, Aarthi was to be trained by her colleague Ranjith*. But even after the training, he started getting unprofessional WhatsApp messages post working hours. When she did not accept his connection request on Facebook, he complained to the manager that she was a poor performer and talked to others about her personal life.

“Many fear losing job, especially in the pandemic when there are no good opportunities. Many do not have the number or direct mail address of HR/senior leaders or the POSH committee, and no longer see them in office due to remote work scenario. So they feel a lack of communication,” said Shivakami Ravichandran, a lawyer with Cohere Consultants.

She added that many people are not aware that such misconduct also comes in the category of sexual harassment at workplace, as they are working from home.

Human resources consultant S Suriya said there was a need to regularly monitor the WFH scenario. “People don’t understand that the conditions on employee behaviour have to be monitored and regulated even on virtual platforms. Thus, it becomes an additional responsibility for Human Resources department to keep a check,” Suriya said.

(*Names changed)