POSH Compliance for Small Companies: Internal Committee and Policy

The Act defines a workplace broadly. It is not limited to your office; it can include places visited by employees in the course of work, transport you provide, client sites and, increasingly, online spaces such as work WhatsApp groups and video calls.

The obligation to constitute an Internal Committee applies where an organisation has 10 or more employees. When counting, include all kinds of workers — permanent, temporary, contract, trainees, interns and part-time staff — because the Act's definition of employee is wide. Where an establishment has fewer than 10 employees, complaints can go to the Local Committee set up at district level, but the employer's broader duty to provide a safe workplace still applies.

The Act protects women complainants, but a respectful-workplace policy that applies to everyone is good practice. Many employers adopt a POSH policy that meets the Act and add a broader code of conduct covering bullying and harassment of any employee.

The Act lays down how the Internal Committee should be composed. In broad terms, it is led by a senior woman employee as Presiding Officer, includes employee members committed to the cause of women or with relevant experience, and has one external member from an NGO or association familiar with sexual harassment issues. At least half the members should be women.

If you have multiple offices or branches, the Act expects a committee at each administrative unit or office, so a company with a head office in Gurugram and a branch in Lucknow should think about both. Check the exact composition and tenure rules in the Act and rules before you finalise names.

1. 1Identify a senior woman employee willing and suitable to be Presiding Officer.
2. 2Choose employee members who are trusted, discreet and available.
3. 3Engage an external member with relevant background and agree the fee in writing.
4. 4Issue a formal office order constituting the committee with names and contact details.
5. 5Display the committee details at the workplace and share them on email or WhatsApp.
6. 6Arrange orientation for committee members on inquiry procedure.

A POSH policy should be short enough to read and specific enough to use. Avoid copying a 30-page template no one will open. Write in plain English and, for front-line teams, make a Hindi or regional-language version available.

Sample line you could adapt: “Any employee, intern, visitor or contract worker who experiences sexual harassment at work, including during work travel or on official chats, can complain to the Internal Committee in writing. Complaints will be handled confidentially and no one will face retaliation for complaining in good faith.”

• A clear definition of sexual harassment with everyday examples
• Where the policy applies — offices, sites, travel, events, digital channels
• Names and contact details of IC members
• How to file a complaint and the time limits for filing
• The inquiry process, confidentiality and protection against retaliation
• Consequences for proven misconduct and for knowingly false complaints, phrased carefully

When a complaint arrives, the employer's role is to support the Internal Committee, not to run its own parallel inquiry. Managers who receive an informal complaint should guide the person to the IC and keep the matter confidential.

The Act allows for conciliation at the complainant's request, and otherwise an inquiry following principles of natural justice: both sides are heard, evidence is considered, and a written report with recommendations is given. The Act sets timelines for filing, completing the inquiry and acting on recommendations, so the committee should keep dated records of each step.

During an inquiry, the committee can recommend interim measures such as transferring one party or granting leave. As an employer, act on such recommendations promptly and document what you did.

Training is where many small firms fall short. A slide deck read out once a year rarely changes behaviour. Short, practical sessions with real-life scenarios relevant to your workplace work far better.

For a retail chain, scenarios might cover customer behaviour and late-closing shifts. For a field sales team, they might cover client visits and travel. For a night-shift team, cover transport and supervision. Ask a professional trainer to run sessions for the IC separately, since members need deeper knowledge of procedure.

• Induction: cover POSH basics in the first week for every new joiner
• Annual refresher for all staff, in the languages they understand
• Separate training for managers on how to respond to disclosures
• Specialised training for Internal Committee members

The Act requires the Internal Committee to prepare an annual report, and the employer is expected to include information on POSH cases in its annual report or inform the relevant district officer, as applicable. Keep these documents filed safely along with the committee order and training records.

Store complaint files securely with restricted access. Confidentiality is a legal requirement under the Act, and leaks can cause serious harm to the people involved and expose the company to penalties. Check the latest rules on reporting formats and deadlines with your adviser.

Most problems come from treating POSH as a form to file rather than a system to run. Some mistakes are easy to avoid once you know them.

• Naming the founder or a direct manager of most staff as Presiding Officer, which can discourage complaints
• Forgetting the external member, or letting their tenure lapse
• Not updating committee details after members leave
• Excluding contract staff, interns or remote employees from awareness sessions
• Discussing complaints in team chats or with uninvolved colleagues
• Taking action against the complainant, even indirectly, through shift changes or appraisal

A visible, functioning POSH set-up tells candidates — especially women — that your organisation takes safety seriously. That matters when you are trying to hire more women employees for roles such as retail, telecalling or front office.

Mention it in your employee handbook and onboarding, and feel free to note “Safe workplace with an active Internal Committee” in your job posts. When you post a job on BetterJobs, the AI-written description is a good place to add such workplace commitments alongside pay and shift details.

If you have crossed 10 employees and have nothing in place yet, do not panic, but do not delay either. A focused month of work can put the essentials in place for most small companies.

Keep a simple folder with the committee order, the policy, training attendance sheets and the annual report. This makes it easy to show compliance to auditors, clients who ask for vendor POSH declarations, or inspectors.

1. 1Week 1: confirm headcount, identify the Presiding Officer and employee members.
2. 2Week 1: shortlist and engage an external member.
3. 3Week 2: issue the committee order and draft the policy.
4. 4Week 3: display committee details and circulate the policy in relevant languages.
5. 5Week 4: run awareness sessions for staff and orientation for the committee.
6. 6Ongoing: add POSH to induction and calendar the annual report.