A Management and HR guide to selecting Internal Committee members

A Management and HR guide to selecting Internal Committee members
Posh Act 2013

To provide a welcoming and safe workplace for your team, it is your job as a management leader or HR to create an internal committee in accordance with the Prevention of Sexual Harassment at Workplace (PoSH) Act, 2013. The Internal Committee is in charge of accepting and handling complaints of workplace sexual harassment.

It is essential that you choose members who are knowledgeable, objective, and dedicated to upholding the PoSH Act's values. But managing the PoSH Act can be challenging, particularly when it comes to picking the correct members for your Internal Committee. To help you be careful when creating an internal committee, we are sharing some advice with you.

What to look for in a member of the internal committee?

Your internal committee should be composed of individuals with the necessary training and experience in disciplines like law, psychology, and human resources. Seek for people who have dealt with delicate situations before and who are knowledgeable about the PoSH Act's legal and regulatory obligations.The members should handle concerns in an unbiased and impartial manner. They shouldn't be related to the complainant or respondent on a personal or professional level. This will make it possible to handle all concerns impartially and fairly.

There should be a variety of people on your internal committee in terms of background, gender, and race. 

Members of the Internal Committee should be able to devote enough time to meetings, investigations, and prompt resolution of complaints. 

The Internal Committee will be able to address the interests and concerns of all of your employees thanks to this diversity, which will help to ensure that all complaints are treated sensitively and impartially.Members of your Committee should be skilled communicators who can listen intently and interact with employees who may be difficult to reach.


Don’t of selecting Internal Committee members

  • Don’t select Internal Committee members who you’re close to Management 
  • the members must be unbiased and gender-neutral, devoid of stereotypes associated with specific gender and sex. 
  • One of the most typical errors is choosing team members with similar perspectives or backgrounds. The Committee may find it challenging to meet the needs and concerns of all employees due to this lack of diversity, which also runs the risk of being perceived as biassed or favouring.
  • It cannot be chaired or headed by a male member,
  • No promoters or perceived owners/top most authority members should be part of your IC, 
  • At no point, your IC should have more male members than the female, and
  • Your external member should be independent, not a part of your company, and should not have any vested affairs in the organization.
  • You need to take a look at the IC formation in your company and reconstitute it if you notice you have made any of the above mistakes.

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