A couple of months ago, I found myself in conversation with a woman who was a bit older to me. She was working for a firm as an executive in the marketing department. I was bewildered for a moment because when I recalled, she just joined her last organization and the package was a real deal. I couldn’t help myself and asked her, “Didn’t you just join that organization? The pay was really nice. How come you switched so soon?”

She replied, “It’s better than the previous one, and it’s safer here.” There was a moment of awkward silence between us. I took my time and asked carefully. “Did something happen”?

She took her time and replied, “A lot has happened, yet nothing.” I waited for her to continue. 

“I was sexually harassed by my colleague, and I did everything that I could have done. My whole life turned upside down. I complained to the authorities and the complaint was accepted. There was  gossiping and whispering behind my back, and snide comments wherever I went.” 

“I get it. I work for Rainmaker. We work relentlessly to make corporates PoSH compliant. I see so many instances like these. You must be feeling overwhelmed. Right? ”, I said.

“No. you don’t! It wasn’t about that. I am a strong woman, and a couple of comments cannot shatter me. But I was disappointed with the way the organization carried out the sensitization programs.” She said.

“What do you mean by that?” I asked.

“The organization did take action against him. But later on, they decided to conduct a sensitization workshop for all the employees. They were showing animated videos and cartoon characters to explain this sensitive issue of sexual harassment. I mean, what are we? Kids? Are we really living in the 21st century? I mean, those cartoons were expressionless! It all seemed like a joke to me. As if those characters were mocking my plight. Was this the way women feel?” She took some time to gather her thoughts.

Suddenly I actually got what she was saying. Can cartoons or animations truly portray the emotions and pain that women feel? I don’t think so. And when I pondered upon how Rainmaker carries out its training and workshop activities, I realized that there was a huge difference.

She continued, “ I think we are adults. Why can’t we show real-life instances? You know, the men who were sitting at the workshop were busy on their phones! They weren’t even interested in what was being shown to them. And honestly, I don’t blame them. For god sake! That video lacked the personal and emotional touch. The women’s faces were showing utter disappointment, and so was mine. The incident was and is fresh in my mind. While I was sitting there, I wondered, was this supposed to educate the employees and make them aware of the gravity of the topic? The video had a couple of chairs and a poorly depicted cubicle to show the workplace setting! They could have shown Youtube videos instead. What do you think? Is this the right way to educate employees? I mean, we make business presentations, deal with real people, present our marketing pitch, etc. What if we started to show them cartoons in the presentations?”.

I thought this through and responded, “I agree with you. I think these animated videos are appropriate for educating children or students in a school. But talking about the corporate culture, these videos will not bring about any change in the attitude of the employees. Instead, they should show real-life videos depicting the actual scenario, the emotions, and the torment that women face. And, to tell you the truth Rainmaker actually focuses on providing dramatizations, like short films, with the help of real-life people in their videos. The animated videos are low cost and cheaper to make. Those videos are just made for the sake of making it, lacking the real impact it could have on the situation. Of course, dramatizations are not cheap, but isn’t it worth it?”

She nodded and said, “Yes. Indeed, yes!”.

Live-action Videos v/s Animated Videos for PoSH Training

After having this conversation, I decided to put my thoughts into this blog post, to explain why organizations need to have anti-sexual harassment training programs based on videos that portray real-life characters.

There are many organizations that are solely based on providing anti-sexual harassment training and workshops to make corporates PoSH compliant. But the critical point here is, are those workshops or training actually leaving an impact on the attitude of employees? Do the workshop modules portray the seriousness of Sexual Harassment?

But there are a few who are serious about actually making the workplaces safer for women employees. For instance, Rainmaker is passionate about helping corporates create ethical and compliant workplaces. They offer high-quality training videos with real-life actors. They have put a lot of effort and investment into making online e-training and e-learning modules to foster a safe work culture in the companies and educate the employees, managers & IC members of the companies.

Their online modules are highly engaging, sensitizing, interactive, and scalable with 24×7 access. Moreover, they provide data security, on-premise hosting, customization, mobility, company audit, policy vetting, and empanelment services as an external member of the IC. Isn’t this what the companies in India actually need?

As they are empaneled by the Government of India, they provide comprehensive and deep subject matter expertise to transform boring compliance training into an engaging and interesting learning experience.

Additionally, they also conducted the ‘Safe Place to Work Survey’ of women employees to evaluate organizations in India, on the degree of safety & inclusiveness they provide their female employees. It was a nationwide survey launched on 8th March 2019 on International Women’s Day in their pursuit of greater safety for women at the workplace. It covered organizations from different sectors, geographies with varying employee strengths. The women employees from various organizations accessed the online conducted survey, anonymously.

I, myself participated in the survey and was shocked to see the unexpected results!

Final Thoughts

I think we are in dire need of such revolutionary training modules to make Indian workplaces safer for women. In fact, why don’t you initiate a conversation with women colleagues and ask for their take on the subject matter of PoSH training? Surely, they will have a lot to share about the way anti-sexual harassment training or workshops are being conducted in their respective workplaces. Do ask them the questions that were put up here. I leave the rest for you to decide.

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