How Should I Address Inappropriate Behavior in Employee Cab Rides? Seeking Advice on Handling Harassment Concerns

Dear all,

Kindly guide me on the matter given below. We provide a cab facility to our employees. One of our cab drivers is an employee himself. I have received complaints about the cab environment in the past few days. These include making indirect personal comments on others and playing vulgar songs in the presence of female employees (especially when there is only one female employee left in the cab). This behavior is being exhibited by a few employees, and the driver is also involved in it. The harassed employee has discussed it with me personally and not in writing.

What actions should I take to stop all these? Should I talk to individuals or to the driver? Please suggest to me.

Regards,
Nishu

Dear Nishu,

This is a very sensitive and serious matter. You must have a policy on sexual harassment, all the things mentioned above come under that category. Any kind of lewd remarks, jokes, actions, vulgar and/or suggestive language/comments/remarks, be it direct or indirect in the presence of a female employee, falls under that policy.

Discuss with the senior management and take stern action after confronting the culprit/s in the presence of the female employee.

Before confronting the culprits, you have to take the female employee into confidence, have everything in writing, and also check if there is any other employee who will support her allegations. You will first have to establish the fact that this kind of incident did, in fact, happen more than once and was deliberate.

You will also have to establish that this feedback is NOT because of any personal/professional grudge/grievance with the employees whom the female has alleged.

You can put forward this matter and discuss with the senior management the options you have in hand:

1. Terminate the responsible employee/s, making it an example for all the employees to ensure no such behavior will be tolerated by the management. This will establish confidence in management for the safety/security/well-being of female staff and also the reputation of the organization as a whole.

2. Give a written warning, deny cab facility for culprit/s. Even the employee who is also the cab driver should be taken out of this role and put a copy of warning and incident in their employee file. Make sure you scrutinize them thoroughly and make them understand that this feedback/warning will be their last and also that it would be in their employee records forever and can be shared with future/prospective employers during reference checks and maybe mentioned on the relieving letter/experience letter.

3. If there is another cab going on the same route, change the cab of the female employee.

I presume there is already a policy for the security of female employees that states that females can never be picked up first or dropped last due to security reasons.

Hope this might help you some.

Regards,
Sourabh

Certainly! Here is the revised text with corrected spelling, grammar, and proper paragraph formatting:

"Just inform the female employee to record everything that person discusses with the lady. Then, you can proceed to the next step."

Dear Eesu,

This is a very serious matter as mentioned by Sourabh. Additionally to what he has added, I would like to mention that if not checked right now, these things tend to get out of hand and can have really serious repercussions. If an employee has come to you asking for help, after ensuring that the complaint is genuine, please nip it in the bud. One untoward incident can affect the whole perception of the company internally as well as externally. Please understand the ramifications here and do the needful. As HR professionals, it is our duty to ensure the safety of each of the employees working for us and with us. That is a huge responsibility and it needs to be taken seriously. All the best. God bless.

With warm regards,
Ravi Tandon.

Hi Friends,

I am seeking suggestions regarding employee engagement in the hospitality or clubbing sector, where the employee strength is around 1000 employees.

Thank you.

1. Record all the proceedings while on travel (with everyone and alone).

2. Take feedback from all the employees traveling in the cab.

3. Take feedback from 2-3 drivers about him.

4. Record all the statements.

5. Do an analysis.

6. Seek explanation from the driver involved.

7. Give him 3 days to give an explanation.

8. If he is not guilty or is being framed, he will definitely come up with a proper explanation; if he is guilty, he will avoid giving an explanation.

9. Warn him orally, followed by a written warning.

10. If the same behavior continues, take action (suspension to dismissal).

11. Understand why he acted that way; this is very important.

Hi all,

Thank you for your suggestions. They will really help me to solve this matter. This is the first time I have received so many replies from the forum.

Thanks again,
Nishu

Hi,

Enquire with the driver personally and explain the severe consequences of sexual harassment if lodged as a complaint against him.

Prem

Dear Kavi,

This is not humanity, yar. We have to warn him. We have to punish him by giving him a termination letter. Please never mind, Kavi.

Regards,
Rajendra

Dear friend,

In my view, what you said is correct from an emotional standpoint. As HR professionals, we should not act as you suggested. I strongly agree with the suggestions of Peer Mohammad and Sourabh. They are correct - slow and steady wins the race.

Regards,
Rafi
Warangal

Dear all,

Kindly guide me on the matter below. We provide cab facility to our employees, and one of our cab drivers is an employee himself. I have received complaints about the cab environment in the past few days. The complaints include making indirect personal comments on others and playing vulgar songs in the presence of female employees, especially when there is only one female employee left in the cab. This behavior is being exhibited by a few employees, and the driver is also involved in it. The harassed employee has discussed it with me personally, not in writing.

What action should I take to address these issues? Should I talk to the individuals involved or directly to the driver? Please advise.

Regards,
Nishu

Hi,

If you consider yourself an HR person, it is not appropriate to post such matters for discussion here. It is essential to discuss these issues promptly with your seniors and make a decision. It is unwise to discuss serious matters here where time is a significant constraint. Remember, you are not a government servant, and when you are aware of something but remain silent, it implies that you are indirectly endorsing it.

Thank you.

My friend Rajendra,

I have written my view looking at the seriousness of the matter. He is not a software engineer to give verbal and written warnings. Being a driver, imagine if he does something very dangerous to the employee, then who will be responsible. It's better to cut short the cab driver before something drastic happens. That's my view.

Best, Kavi

Ravi,

Senior/junior does not matter here; correct point or correct suggestion matters. Any help, let me know.

Kavi

Dear Nishu,

This is a serious matter and needs to be nipped in the bud itself. Now that the matter has come to your notice, it is better to call the driver and give him a piece of your mind. The driver should be threatened with losing the driving job. If he promises to amend himself and behaves better, you can revert him back after some time. Thereafter, call the harassed women employee and let him express his unconditional apology and assure good conduct. If he is in a denial mood, then action is to be taken.

As per guidelines on the prevention of harassment, when such a complaint is received, either the women employee can seek a change or the person harassing has to be transferred. The choice is given to the victim. In this case, it is only the driver who gets the boot. After transferring him, disciplinary action can be taken if the women employee is ready to depose in the matter. At any rate, do not allow the driver to go scot-free, as he will become more and more bold and can create more serious problems.

KK Nair

The issue seems serious; immediate action should be taken against it. The steps as Mr. Peer Mohamed suggested are absolutely perfect, but still, I feel it will be a long procedure to do so. In such cases, as per my view, you should conduct a one-to-one discussion with the driver, inform him about the complaint received against him (without disclosing the persons who have complained but you can make it general), warn him, wait for the next complaint to come, and terminate the driver.

Hi Ravi,

As I mentioned earlier, that request came to me personally and the person also wanted to keep it personal and resolve it on a personal level. That's why I was looking for senior's suggestions.

But anyways, now it has become an official matter. I have had one-on-one discussions with everyone, have taken their feedback, and with that, we are going to sit all together and solve this matter.

Again, thanks to all seniors for their fruitful suggestions.

Regards,
Neesu

Crosscheck with the driver as well as other employees to verify the information. If the allegation is confirmed to be true, ask the driver for an explanation and obtain a written assurance from him. Along with this, issue a stern and clear warning to emphasize the seriousness of the situation.

For such urgent matters, you need to refer to your OFFICE SENIORS and NOT CITEHR SENIORS. Though people will reply, why not first ask your own office senior and solve it themselves? By the time people reply on this thread for 5-6 days and this thread reaches more than 7-8 pages, with each one giving a different opinion, will you wait 6 days to see who is replying and let the driver do as he wishes? NO, this is not what is expected from HR. You need not be dependent so much on this site. It seems most people after using this site have got their brains rusted. No one really seems to know the basics and actions to take as per the situation. :huh::huh::huh::x:x