Companies serious about POSH should start with the code of conduct

In popular culture, the Code of Omerta is a code of silence — an extreme form of loyalty and solidarity among Italian mafia organisations. Based on a popular Sicilian proverb that goes “He who is deaf, blind and silent will live a hundred years in peace,” this code of honour dates back to the 16th century and has clear non-negotiable tenets that the members have to follow.

While popular media may have romanticised “omerta”, it serves as a reminder that codes are important “tools” that are issued and adopted by organisations (whether world-class or notorious) to establish clear guidelines to employees.

For many companies in India, implementing the Prevention of Sexual Harassment (POSH) Act is a matter of mere compliance. Certain statutory requirements have to be adhered to and the companies ensure that all the right boxes are checked, often hiring an external resource to guide them in the process.

Embedding a mindset

But POSH is not just about a policy document, training session or an external consultant advocating it — it is about embedding a mindset in the organisation around what is acceptable and unacceptable behaviour, in the context of workplace interactions.

For companies that truly believe they want to create a safe and welcoming environment, the exercise of implementing an anti-harassment policy should be preceded by a close and critical look at the company code of conduct — the “blue print” of the company ethos and one that spells out clear standards of how employees (who may be from diverse and varied backgrounds) act on a day-to-day basis.

Simply put, a company code of conduct is a set of rules or principles which is written for employees of an organisation. It protects the organisation and defines the way the company expects employees to behave. Regardless of its size, even the smallest of companies should have this document either as a standalone or as part of the employee handbook to set the right expectations regarding employee behaviour with colleagues, partners, vendors, customers, contractual staff, gig workers or any stakeholder.

A well-written code of conduct or code of ethics is a valuable organisational artefact for HR and leadership. As it calls out the values, mission and culture of an organisation, the “persona” of the firm develops in the minds of the new entrant and boundaries of employee behaviour are set and these are mirrored and driven by the leaders of the organisation.

Tata Code of Conduct

The famous Tata Code of Conduct that came into existence in the mid-1990s was only putting into black and white, what the group had abided by for decades and was part of the corporate fabric. As a teenager, growing up in the steel city of Jamshedpur, the values espoused by the steel company were not lost on me. What the group further did in 2008 and subsequently in 2015 — by adding a detailed scope, Q&A section and comprehensive clauses on ethics — has made it a frontrunner in the employee handbook section of the corporate library.

It helps to create a standardised set of acceptable behaviours in the company that employees need to comply with. How should employees treat each other? What is permissible in a work setting and what are clear no-noes should ideally be called out with the help of examples.

Given the influence of popular media and social media in our day-to-day conversations, it is crucial that aspects of harassment and bullying are kept in mind while drafting the code of conduct. Does the company clearly call out that the code of conduct includes the non-use of invective in any work-related conversations? Does it call out that unsolicited attention to a colleague or any stakeholder is actively discouraged?

This is especially useful when on-boarding fresh graduates who make that complicated journey from an educational institution to the corporate world and need to shed some of the baggage of (in Harry Potter lore) “well-mannered frivolity”. Rather than assume they will “pick up” the cues, it is important for clear and well-communicated guidelines on behaviour to be explicitly stated. This also provides a logical segue for the anti-harassment policy training that is part of the on-boarding programme.

Wrong message

There are semantics that play a role here as well. In an eye-opening article ‘Your Code of Conduct May Be Sending the Wrong Message’ (HBR March 2020), researchers found an interesting link between the “voice” in the code of conduct and the instances of misconduct. The research revealed that companies that adopted a personal voice (that is, “we”) to increase community feeling, had more instances of misconduct as employees perceived the company as easy going, forgiving and tolerant. But when terms that are more distant (like “employees” or “members”) were used, they linked it to a more professional setting and took it more seriously.

Often companies, especially those that are new age and hip, want to be seen as “cool’ places to work and in their quest of doing so, the code of conduct can get compromised. A culture that borders on bullying and leans largely on a colloquial dialogue or even gestures may seem harmless (or even humorous) to the users but may have silent repercussions — in alienating a certain segment of the office and robbing them of the important feeling of belongingness to the organisation. These are pitfalls that HR leaders and policy creators must keep in mind and take proactive measures to avoid.

A code of conduct is meant to guide employees to navigate through ambiguous situations, by giving them a reference point to go back and benchmark their actions against. Hence, it should clearly lay out the guiding principles that employees are expected to prioritise when they are not sure.

The code of conduct also creates a ready terrain for the active and meaningful implementation of the POSH Act. What is explicitly said and what is not, can have ramifications on how easily the POSH Act will not just be understood but will be assimilated. Calling out a zero tolerance to harassment in the policy or in posters is important — but is not enough — it has to begin with the formal code of conduct and become a part of the overall company culture.

The writer is a Bengaluru-based Human Resources consultant

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