This morning, as I sat by the bay window of my hotel room, sipping my beautiful black coffee and watching the city slowly come alive, I found myself reflecting on the last fifteen days.
It has been one of those stretches where the calendar looks intimidating even before the week begins — multiple POSH training sessions across cities, long days in conference rooms, and countless conversations with Internal Committee members, HR leaders, and employees from different walks of life.
What struck me most was not the diversity of organizations or industries, but the similarity of one recurring question. Almost every time we begin a session by mapping expectations with participants, one line now appears consistently on the wish list: “Can we learn something from the recent Nashik case? What can be done to avoid a situation like that?”
And honestly, I couldn’t help but think — that’s how things often work in our country. Sometimes, it takes an earth-moving incident to pull everyone’s attention toward an issue that has existed quietly for years. A major incident becomes a national talking point, experts write columns, organizations scramble to review policies, and suddenly everyone wants answers.
Many fellow practitioners have already written about the case, sharing insights and perspectives. But as I listened to participants raising this question repeatedly, another thought kept returning to me — is this really something new? Or are we simply witnessing the consequences of ignoring the very basics we talk about in every POSH training session?
Because when I look at most of these situations, what stands out is not the absence of law or policy. It is the absence of culture. Awareness and a genuine speak-up culture are often the load-bearing pillars of safe workplaces, yet they are also the first things to weaken when intent fades.
My love for aviation often shapes the way I explain complex ideas in training rooms. I often tell participants, “It’s not the plane, it’s the pilot.” You can have the most advanced aircraft in the world — equipped with technology, checklists, and safeguards — but if the pilot ignores warning signs or dismisses protocols, no system can prevent disaster.
Organizations function in much the same way. You may have detailed SOPs, comprehensive POSH policies, mandatory POSH training modules, and compliance dashboards. But at the end of the day, everything boils down to the people responsible for implementing those systems. Culture is not created by documents. Culture is created by decisions — especially difficult ones.
No matter how large or small an organization is, no matter how sophisticated its systems appear, the real test lies in whether the values written in policy documents are lived in everyday conduct. Too often, I see policies displayed proudly on walls, circulated through emails, and showcased during audits — yet buried when action is required.
One of the strongest beliefs I carry into every POSH training session is that leadership needs to be sensitized on the POSH Act first — even before the Internal Committee. Many people find this surprising, but experience has taught me that an Internal Committee can function as an independent body only when leadership genuinely understands and respects its quasi-judicial role.
If leadership does not fully appreciate the seriousness of POSH processes, even well-trained committees struggle to function effectively. Independence is not just a legal requirement — it is an environment that leadership must consciously create. Without that environment, hesitation creeps in, decisions get delayed, and confidence erodes.
Over the years, I have also seen situations where leaders, often with good intentions, attempt to handle complaints informally. A manager receives a concern and decides to call the individuals involved into a room. “Let’s sort this out internally,” they say. “There’s no need to escalate this. We don’t want unnecessary attention.”
On the surface, this appears responsible. But in reality, it often complicates matters further. Informal handling destroys documentation, weakens evidence, and sends a subtle message to employees that speaking up may not lead to fair outcomes. In some cases, such attempts to suppress or quietly resolve matters have ultimately caused far greater reputational damage than the original incident itself.
The reality today is that POSH is no longer just about legal compliance. It directly influences how organizations are perceived — by employees, clients, investors, and future talent. An organization’s reputation is no longer defined only by its financial performance or growth numbers. Increasingly, it is shaped by how responsibly it handles difficult situations.
Employees today are more aware, more vocal, and more connected than ever before. If they feel unheard or unsafe, silence does not remain internal for long. And once trust breaks, rebuilding it becomes far more difficult than preventing the damage in the first place.
What the recent incident reminds us — and what many of us have been saying for years — is that early reporting saves organizations. When employees feel safe to speak up, concerns surface at manageable stages. But when fear, hesitation, or mistrust prevents reporting, issues grow silently until they become crises.
I often tell participants that policies do not fail organizations — people do. Systems rarely collapse overnight. They weaken gradually, through ignored signals, delayed responses, and misplaced priorities.
And that brings me back to something I say repeatedly in training sessions: POSH today is not an option, and certainly not a paper compliance exercise. It is a mandate — not only under law, but under leadership responsibility. It is about intent.
- Intent to listen.
- Intent to act.
- Intent to protect fairness.
Because where intent exists, systems find a way to function. Where intent is missing, even the strongest frameworks fail.
As I finished my coffee and watched the morning traffic gather momentum below, one thought stayed with me — not about policies or procedures, but about leadership courage.
Organizations do not collapse because complaints arise. Complaints are inevitable in any human system. Organizations struggle when complaints are ignored, mishandled, or hidden. And perhaps that is the biggest lesson hidden behind recent headlines — not about law, but about leadership.
- Policies protect organizations on paper.
- Culture protects organizations in reality.
And if there is one truth I hope leaders carry forward from moments like these, it is this: POSH compliance is not about avoiding complaints — it is about responding to them with fairness, integrity, and courage when they arise.
