5 Simple Steps to Develop Effective Online POSH Training

Prevention Of Sexual Harassment (POSH) at the workplace is one of the serious issues being faced by many organizations. In the year 2013, to support POSH, the “Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act“ was passed in India.

According to this act, any organization with more than 10 employees must implement this law. The law states that these organizations must have an Internal Complaints Committee with a woman heading it. Also, it is the responsibility of the organization to train their employees regarding the act.

POSH is one of the mandatory trainings in every organization. And to deliver this training,
e-learning is widely preferred over classroom training.

Let’s see why e-learning is preferred:

1. POSH training is to be taken by everyone in the organization. It deals with very sensitive information and not everyone feels comfortable being taught in a classroom. So, we can use e-learning, where employees can take this training at their own place and time.
2. Another advantage is that we can create scenario-based e-learning courses to explain the different types of harassment that occur in the workplace, which is not possible through classroom training.

Here are 5 simple steps to develop an effective online POSH training:

1. Introduce POSH through a Video of the Senior Management

To help employees understand the importance of POSH training, we can create a video of a senior manager talking about why employees should take this training. Using such videos will tell employees the management is committed and serious toward the training Also, the involvement of the senior manager would create a positive impact about the organization on the employees as they feel that the management cares about their safe working environment.

2. Conduct a Pre-test that Includes Various Questions on Sexual Harassment

After telling employees the importance of POSH training, it is now time to test their current knowledge. Conduct an online pre-test that includes several questions related to sexual harassment and what kind of behavior leads to sexual harassment. Based on the result, you can identify areas the learners need to be trained on. For instance, we can include questions such as “What is Sexual Harassment?”, “Whom should you approach if you are being harassed at the workplace?”, etc.

3. Create Engaging Infographics to Introduce Laws on Sexual Harassment

There are several laws against sexual harassment at the workplace, violating them would lead to severe punishment. All these laws must be introduced to the employees effectively. The content related to laws is usually heavy and employees feel bored taking such content. To create interest in the course and engage learners, we can use infographics. They are the best way to depict such information as they help learners remember things for a long time. For example, we can use a timeline infographic to depict how the POSH law evolved in India from 1997 to 2013.

4. Introduce Types of Harassment Using Silhouettes

Once the learner is aware of the laws related to sexual harassment, he should be taught about the types of harassment (e.g., Quid-Pro-Quo, Hostile Environment). Since the content is very sensitive, using real images might distract the learner from the course. Silhouettes come to the rescue in such situations. Silhouettes are outline of images, usually filled in black. These images help the learner concentrate more on the content.

5. Have a Series of Scenarios where the Learner Takes Decisions

At the end, we can test the learner’s understanding by creating a series of scenarios related to sexual harassment. In every scenario we present a situation that takes place at the workplace and ask the learner to decide whether the behavior leads to sexual harassment. Based on his response, we can provide the feedback of why he is correct when the right answer is selected or why he is incorrect when a wrong answer is selected.

These five steps will ensure your online POSH training is effective. I hope your organization has rolled out POSH training and is making the workplace safe and secure for women.

For more information on POSH training, click here