One of Female employee has raised the complaint in her resignation about Gender discrimination by Team leader. As an HR what steps I need to follow to resolve the matter. Please guide me.
From India, Mumbai
From India, Mumbai
Dear member,
If an employee perceived discrimination in the past by her team leader, then you may order an investigation. Please note that this is not a domestic enquiry. Neither this case is related to PoSH. Identify a proper person who has investigation skills. Do not rely on the "experience" of the person or the length of service in the company. The investigating officer needs to:
a) Focus on the incident and not on the person(s) involved
b) Know what is discrimination in general and gender discrimination in particular. Does the company have a policy on discrimination?
c) Find out whether the discrimination was going on all along but the woman employee brought it to the surface
d) If the Team Lead did the gender discrimination then why the woman employee did not bring it to the notice of her manager? Was there a disconnect between the Manager or HOD and the woman employee?
e) Why the woman employee did not deem it fit to approach HR? Was there a disconnect between the woman employee and the HR Department?
f) Why did the woman employee wait till her separation from the company? What was the insecurity in her mind?
Incidents of this kind provide learning lessons. Taking a cue from the incident, you may have to educate staff in general and the Managers in particular on discrimination. You may have to improvise the policy on discrimination or equal employment opportunity. Lastly, the lesson for the HR department is to engage with the employee. "Employee Engagement" is dear to HR professionals. However, engagement should not be only with the organisation. It should be with the HR Department as well.
Thanks,
Dinesh Divekar
From India, Bangalore
7884If an employee perceived discrimination in the past by her team leader, then you may order an investigation. Please note that this is not a domestic enquiry. Neither this case is related to PoSH. Identify a proper person who has investigation skills. Do not rely on the "experience" of the person or the length of service in the company. The investigating officer needs to:
a) Focus on the incident and not on the person(s) involved
b) Know what is discrimination in general and gender discrimination in particular. Does the company have a policy on discrimination?
c) Find out whether the discrimination was going on all along but the woman employee brought it to the surface
d) If the Team Lead did the gender discrimination then why the woman employee did not bring it to the notice of her manager? Was there a disconnect between the Manager or HOD and the woman employee?
e) Why the woman employee did not deem it fit to approach HR? Was there a disconnect between the woman employee and the HR Department?
f) Why did the woman employee wait till her separation from the company? What was the insecurity in her mind?
Incidents of this kind provide learning lessons. Taking a cue from the incident, you may have to educate staff in general and the Managers in particular on discrimination. You may have to improvise the policy on discrimination or equal employment opportunity. Lastly, the lesson for the HR department is to engage with the employee. "Employee Engagement" is dear to HR professionals. However, engagement should not be only with the organisation. It should be with the HR Department as well.
Thanks,
Dinesh Divekar
From India, Bangalore
Hi,
You can take a formal complaint and investigate accordingly as per company policies,
See if the complainant wishes to formally take the complaint forward, then you may keep her resignation on hold. Some time employees throw words like harassment, discrimination etc. so as to not serve notice period, get exempt from notice recovery pay, pre-emeptive action on manager etc.
If she wants to leave with out any fuss of investigation, then let her be. (here you can note a remark on the said team leaders file for future reference, you can also do a sense check with the remaining team members if there is any pattern of negative behaviors)
its better that you take email/written complaint with all details from the complainant.
Check with the ICC/POSH POC if this falls under ambit of Sexual harassment.
if yes, then form ICC and follow the protocols of POSH Act.
If No, then take it through via grievance redressal mechanism in your Org.
From India, undefined
You can take a formal complaint and investigate accordingly as per company policies,
See if the complainant wishes to formally take the complaint forward, then you may keep her resignation on hold. Some time employees throw words like harassment, discrimination etc. so as to not serve notice period, get exempt from notice recovery pay, pre-emeptive action on manager etc.
If she wants to leave with out any fuss of investigation, then let her be. (here you can note a remark on the said team leaders file for future reference, you can also do a sense check with the remaining team members if there is any pattern of negative behaviors)
its better that you take email/written complaint with all details from the complainant.
Check with the ICC/POSH POC if this falls under ambit of Sexual harassment.
if yes, then form ICC and follow the protocols of POSH Act.
If No, then take it through via grievance redressal mechanism in your Org.
From India, undefined
Dear Uhcia,
I refer to the sentence of the third paragraph. It says "If she wants to leave without any fuss of investigation,"
I have a difference of opinion here. Please note that the investigation is not "fuss" as such. Please note that conducting the investigation is an administrative procedure. Once the employee makes an allegation or accusation in the letter of resignation, it merits investigation. It cannot be at the discretion of the employee.
Conducting an investigation helps in identifying the shortcomings or gaps in the administration. These need to be plugged. However, these cannot be conducted subject to the satisfaction of the person who has made the allegations.
A sentence in the first paragraph of your post says "Some time employees throw words like harassment, discrimination etc. so as to not serve notice period, get exempt from notice recovery pay, preemptive action on manager etc."
The investigation helps in identifying the intention behind making the allegation. If it emerges that the allegations are false then the administration can reserve the right to take action against the employee for making false allegations.
Conducting an investigation also helps in sending a signal to one and all that the company promotes a culture of justice and fairness and the issues are not brushed under the carpet.
Thanks,
Dinesh Divekar
From India, Bangalore
I refer to the sentence of the third paragraph. It says "If she wants to leave without any fuss of investigation,"
I have a difference of opinion here. Please note that the investigation is not "fuss" as such. Please note that conducting the investigation is an administrative procedure. Once the employee makes an allegation or accusation in the letter of resignation, it merits investigation. It cannot be at the discretion of the employee.
Conducting an investigation helps in identifying the shortcomings or gaps in the administration. These need to be plugged. However, these cannot be conducted subject to the satisfaction of the person who has made the allegations.
A sentence in the first paragraph of your post says "Some time employees throw words like harassment, discrimination etc. so as to not serve notice period, get exempt from notice recovery pay, preemptive action on manager etc."
The investigation helps in identifying the intention behind making the allegation. If it emerges that the allegations are false then the administration can reserve the right to take action against the employee for making false allegations.
Conducting an investigation also helps in sending a signal to one and all that the company promotes a culture of justice and fairness and the issues are not brushed under the carpet.
Thanks,
Dinesh Divekar
From India, Bangalore
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