Anti-Harassment Policy Template for Employers in India

An anti-harassment policy protects every employee from bullying, abuse and intimidation at work: slurs about caste or religion, mockery of someone's accent, public humiliation by a supervisor, threats, or a hostile team chat group. It sits beside your POSH policy, which deals only with sexual harassment of women, and gives staff of every gender a clear route to complain and a fair process after they do.

When to use it: Adopt it together with the code of conduct and the POSH policy, and explain it at induction. It matters most where supervisors control shifts, overtime or incentives, as on shop floors, warehouses, retail counters and customer support desks. HR drafts it and the managing director approves it. Brief supervisors on it separately, since most bullying complaints concern how a supervisor behaves.

Anti-harassment policy template

Copy the text below and replace everything in square brackets with your company details.

1. Purpose

[Company Name] will not tolerate harassment, bullying or intimidation of any person at work. This policy defines the behaviour that is prohibited, explains how an employee can raise a complaint, and describes how complaints will be investigated and resolved fairly.

2. Scope

The policy protects employees of every gender, level and employment type, including trainees, interns and contract staff working at our premises. It applies to behaviour by colleagues, supervisors, senior management, customers and vendors, at the workplace, at company events, during work travel and on the phone, email, messaging and meeting channels used for work. A complaint of sexual harassment of a woman is handled by the Internal Committee under the POSH Policy and not under this policy.

3. Policy: what counts as harassment

Abusive, insulting or threatening language, shouting at or swearing at a person.
Remarks, jokes or nicknames aimed at a person's caste, religion, region, language, colour, gender, sexual orientation, age, disability, health or marital status.
Repeatedly humiliating or belittling a person in front of others, or spreading rumours about them.
Deliberately cutting a person off from work information, meetings or team activities.
Setting impossible targets, withholding shifts, overtime or leave, or threatening a transfer in order to intimidate someone.
Ragging or pranks directed at new joiners and trainees.
Physical aggression, pushing, or damaging a person's belongings.
Sending offensive messages, images or posts about a colleague on any channel, including personal social media accounts.

Honest feedback on performance, a fair warning, or a reasonable instruction given respectfully is not harassment.

4. Procedure for raising a concern

Informal route: where the employee feels safe, they may tell the person that the behaviour is unwelcome, or ask their manager or HR partner to intervene. HR notes the concern even when it is resolved informally.
Formal route: the employee sends a written complaint to [HR Head Name] at [Email Address] or to any member of the [Committee Name]. A complaint against the HR head goes to [Designated Director Name].
The complaint should give dates, places, what was said or done and the names of witnesses, with any messages or screenshots.

5. Procedure for investigation

HR acknowledges the complaint in writing within [Number] working days and appoints an investigator, or a panel of [Number] people, with no connection to either party.
The person complained against is told the allegations and given a fair chance to respond, with any documents or witnesses they want to rely on.
Either party may bring a colleague for support to their interview.
HR may take interim steps, such as changing a reporting line or a shift, without any loss of pay to the complainant.
The investigator reports findings with reasons within [Number] working days, and HR informs both parties of the outcome in writing.
If the complaint is upheld, action follows the Disciplinary Action Policy and can range from counselling and a written warning to termination for serious or repeated harassment.

6. Appeal

Either party may appeal in writing to [Appellate Authority Designation] within [Number] days of receiving the outcome. The appeal will be decided by someone who took no part in the original investigation.

7. Confidentiality and protection

Details of a complaint are shared only with those who need them to investigate or act. Anyone who threatens or disadvantages a complainant or witness will face disciplinary action. A knowingly false complaint may also lead to action, but a genuine complaint that lacks enough evidence will not.

8. Responsibilities

Employees: treat others with respect and report harassment they experience or witness.
Supervisors and managers: correct disrespectful behaviour on the spot, never retaliate, and pass formal complaints to HR the same day.
HR: run the complaint process, train supervisors in respectful supervision and keep complaint records secure.

9. Exceptions

Nobody is exempt from this policy because of seniority, sales numbers or closeness to the owners. Where the person complained against is a customer or vendor, [Company Name] will protect the employee first and take the matter up with that organization.

10. Review

[HR Head Designation] reviews the policy every [12] months, looking at the number and type of complaints, the time taken to close them, and exit feedback that mentions bullying, and revises it wherever the process has not worked well.

What to include

A clear line from POSH

State that sexual harassment of women goes to the Internal Committee under the POSH policy. This avoids two parallel inquiries into the same incident and keeps the statutory process intact.

Examples your workforce recognises

Name caste or regional slurs, a supervisor withholding overtime as punishment, ragging of trainees and a mocking WhatsApp group. People report behaviour they can match to a line in the policy.

A route around the reporting line

Most bullying complaints are about supervisors. Give a route that bypasses the chain of command, such as the HR head or a named director.

What harassment is not

Say plainly that fair feedback, reasonable instructions and legitimate disciplinary action are not harassment. This protects managers who manage properly and keeps the policy from being misused.

Interim steps without loss

Allow HR to change shifts or reporting lines during an inquiry, and promise that the complainant will not lose pay, leave or incentives as a result.

Written outcome and appeal

Both parties should receive a written outcome with reasons and a right to appeal to someone who was not involved in the investigation.

Common mistakes to avoid

Handling sexual harassment complaints through the general process instead of sending them to the Internal Committee.
Letting the accused supervisor's own manager investigate when that manager sits in the same chain of command.
Moving the complainant to a worse shift or location to keep the two people apart.
Closing a complaint because the accused is a high performer or close to the owners.
Ignoring harassment in team WhatsApp groups because it happened after working hours.

Run it in ZeniaHR

Keep complaints and investigation notes outside ZeniaHR in a restricted register held by HR. Publish the policy on the Company Wall as an announcement that requires acknowledgement, and use the who-acknowledged report to follow up with supervisors who have not read it. When an interim step is agreed, HR changes the reporting manager in the employee's organization assignment, which moves their leave and attendance approvals to the new manager, or reassigns shifts in Shifts & Roster. Note the reason for each change in the confidential complaint file.

Policy settings Shifts and rosters

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Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between POSH and an anti-harassment policy?

A POSH policy deals only with sexual harassment of women and follows the procedure of the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace Act, 2013 through the Internal Committee. An anti-harassment policy covers all other harassment and bullying of any employee, such as abuse, caste or religious slurs, intimidation and humiliation. Most companies need both, with a clear rule on which complaint goes where.

Is bullying by a manager treated as harassment?

Yes, when the behaviour is repeated or severe and meant to humiliate, threaten or isolate someone, such as shouting at them before the team, setting impossible targets to push them out, or withholding shifts as punishment. Firm feedback, a reasonable instruction or a fair warning is not bullying. The difference lies in the pattern, the manner and the purpose.

Can an employee complain about harassment on WhatsApp?

Yes. Messages, images or posts about a colleague on WhatsApp or any other platform are covered when they are linked to work or workplace relationships, even if they were sent after office hours. The complainant should keep screenshots showing dates and the group name, and HR should verify them before relying on them.

Can a harassment complaint be made anonymously?

An anonymous complaint is hard to investigate fairly, because the accused person cannot answer specific facts. HR can treat anonymous information as a signal to look into a pattern, but disciplinary action needs a named complainant or other evidence. Promising confidentiality and protection from retaliation encourages people to put their name to a complaint.