"While growing consciousness of issues relating to women's safety at workplace has compelled many organisations to take note of the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act 2013, the implementation and subsequent change is taking place at a sluggish pace," said the EY Fraud Investigation & Dispute Services survey.
Conducted among 120 senior executives across multi- national and Indian companies, it found that out that 40 per cent of the respondents are yet to train their Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) members.
The Act makes it mandatory for all establishments employing 10 or more employees to form an ICC.
The survey added that over a quarter (27 per cent) of the large companies and 50 per cent of the small and medium firms that were surveyed were not compliant with the Act with respect to training their ICC members.
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He added: "The challenges which surround issues of sexual harassment at workplace call for a refined thought process and robust mechanism. This means implementation of provisions prescribed under the Act, rationality and deeper level of understanding to assess each situation appropriately."
As per the survey, about 35 per cent of the respondents were unaware of the penal clause for non-compliance with laws relating to how an ICC should be constituted.
Among the respondents, 12 per cent were of the opinion that malicious complaints increase after appraisals and 50 per cent of the respondents were unclear about the genuineness of the complaints received after assessment of the performance of employees.
Survey also highlighted that 44 per cent of the respondents' organisations did not display the penal consequences of sexual harassments at conspicuous places.