• SHTC
• 13 August 2025

Creating Safe Places: How PoSH Can Help Address Stalking at Work

Employees arrive at the workplace with skills, loyalty, and the anticipation of a safe working environment. However, inappropriate behaviors with persistent stalking can deeply tangle the feeling of safety. This fear and anxiety can further deteriorate an individual’s productivity.

Although stalking is linked to personal relationships, it can occur in the working environment as well. If not managed, it can severely impact the victim’s emotional happiness and the collective and collaborative work atmosphere. In India, organizations have a strong legal framework to address such issues the Prevention of Sexual Harassment (PoSH) Act, 2013. PoSH applies to stalking when it has a sexual or gender-based element and creates a hostile work environment; other cases may fall under IPC Section 354D. 

When coupled with PoSH training for employees, including accessible PoSH training online programs, this law empowers both staff and management to recognise, prevent, and take action against workplace stalking.

What is stalking in the workplace?

Stalking at work is not always as evident as it is in a person's personal life. Especially in the early stages, it is frequently more subtle, and hard to notice. For example:

• A colleague persistently follows an individual to various locations.

• Unwanted calls, texts, emails, or social media messages even after a request to refrain.

• Monitoring behaviors, such as watching actions, checking calendars, and intervening with personal business. 

• Invading a personal space: whether entering personal space like the parking lot, cafeteria nooks, or steps outside of an office building.

Sometimes these actions begin amicably but can escalate into threats and harassment.

What is the Role of PoSH in Addressing Workplace Stalking?
 

The PoSH Act 2013 offers organizations a straightforward framework to prevent, prohibit and redress in case of sexual harassment in the workplace. Especially when stalking intersects with other harassment (especially sexual or gender based) the PoSH Act has the potential to be a strong tool both legally and organizationally.

1. PoSH clearly includes all unwanted physical, verbal or non-verbal behaviours that make the workplace unsafe; this includes stalking behaviour when it causes distress or intimidation.

2. Internal Complaints Committee ( ICC):  Each organization, with 10 or more employees, is required to have an ICC so they can receive and investigate complaints and do so confidentially. 

3. Timely investigation: The law requires that workplace investigations must be timely and quickly resolve workplace complaints; we cannot ignore or postpone complaints of stalking behaviour.

4. Awareness & training: Regular PoSH training promotes employees' awareness of stalking behaviour, their rights regarding sexual harassment, and how to express concerns without the fear of retaliation.

Why PoSH Training is Crucial

Legal provisions are of value only when people are aware of the provisions and can properly utilize them. PoSH Training:

• Informs employees about what stalking and harassment means.

• Informs managers to respond to complaints with sensitivity and in a manner compliant with the law.

• Decreases the likelihood of misbehavior by reaffirming a culture of respect.
   

Building a Safer Workplace Beyond Compliance

While PoSH provides the legal basis, true workplace safety involves more than compliance:
 

• Create a Culture of Open Communication: Provide opportunities for employees, including, but not limited to, formal reporting processes, to express concerns early without facing judgement. 

• Demonstrate Respectful Behaviours: Being senior leaders, it is vital that leaders also act in a respectful manner. 

• Add Security Features: From entry controlled access to CCTV coverage in safety-risk areas can help deter stalking.

• Provide Support: Access to counsellors, employee assistance programs, and peer-support programs. 

Measuring the Impact of PoSH Training

When many organizations invest in online PoSH training, they seek more than legal compliance, they want tangible improvements in workplace safety and culture. Measuring outcomes involves establishing a baseline of:

 The baseline provides two types of measures: the number of reports made, the time taken to address those reports, and the baseline awareness of the employees before and after PoSH training. 

The baseline awareness could be collected with post-training survey tools, anonymous feedback tools, and from ICC to collect statistics on whether employees feel more confident to identify and report inappropriate behaviours including behaviours deemed as stalking.

A visible reduction in incidents, faster resolution rates, and higher employee trust scores signal that training is effective. For leadership, these metrics also provide a strong business case, linking a respectful work culture to reduced attrition, stronger brand reputation, and better productivity.

Final Word

Stalking in the workplace is not just a personal issue—it’s an organizational issue. Companies can begin to combat stalking by making use of the PoSH Act, 2013 and providing regular PoSH awareness training, ensuring working spaces are safe for their employees while improving their workplace culture.

When safety is a collective responsibility, workplaces become places that are not only compliant but are places for workers to have an empowering experience of engaging and developing their talent without fear.

Read More: https://www.shtc.co.in/blog/how-to-choose-the-best-online-posh-training-program-a-strategic-checklist-for-hr-teams

Read More: https://www.shtc.co.in/blog/is-online-posh-training-legally-valid-in-india