Setting Up a Bio-Incubator: Do We Need a Grievance Redressal System and Women's Cell?

Hi, I work for a project under Society. The project is the establishment of a Bio-Incubator, wherein we will provide infrastructure to prospective Bio-related startups.

My query is whether a setup like this requires a Grievance Redressal system and a women's cell to address complaints. If yes, what are the rules and regulations. I would appreciate references.

Grievance Redressal Mechanism for Startups

Theoretically speaking, every company needs to have a Grievance Redressal Mechanism irrespective of the number of employees. Grievances, if redressed properly, give employees a chance to vent their discontent and foster an environment of justice in the company. Nevertheless, for a startup, a major challenge is survival. Will the survival of a startup depend on the grievance redressal system? Please ask this question and make a decision. It should be noted that redressing grievances is a time-consuming process, and can a startup afford to spend time and energy on these activities?

As a via media, you may have a policy on grievances. It will strike a balance between two extremes like not having any system and having a full-fledged system.

Additional Considerations

Many entrepreneurs ignore giving definite shape to the organization's culture. You may concentrate on this factor more than anything else. How to create a culture of performance, teamwork, and accountability is of utmost importance.

Thanks,

Dinesh Divekar

@Dinesh Divekar,

The idea of creating a policy is indeed very useful. We only provide infrastructure (spaces & utilities) to prospective startups. That means we will have almost 10 startups incubating at a time in our facility. From that point of view, I need to find out if it's compulsory vis-a-vis any circular by the government to have a Redressal Committee or framework.

It is a great idea. You can create one template as a Grievance Redressal Form and circulate it (in Excel as well) to all of your employees. Start collecting their grievances, and after that, make an Excel statement and submit it to your management for review. You can circulate those forms monthly once, so that one by one, all grievances will be resolved.

Yes, as per the law, it is necessary to have a grievance call under the Prevention of Sexual Harassment Act. The more important point is what happens if you don't. The complainant can go to the district or state committee whose decision may be hostile. Or worse, the complainant can file a police complaint under IPC. That would be a cognizable offense, which means the police are required to arrest the accused and then investigate the complaint. The person can be released only under bail from court (or if the police investigation shows the complaint is false). The complaints under PSARA are a non-cognizable offense, and the police cannot register the case unless the company does not have a committee or if the committee didn't respond.

The Importance of a Grievance Committee

So just having a template or policy is not going to help resolve the issue. Your clients are high risk because most of them do not understand corporate culture and restraint. They would have kids out of college who don't understand decorum or maturity or that certain acts which were accepted in school actually amount to sexual harassment.

Cost Considerations for Startups

The cost of setting up and running a committee for a startup is very expensive. There are things in the act apart from the committee itself (like periodic sensitivity training, etc.). So one option is to have a common committee and share the cost among the startups. Each startup business must notify all employees of the policy and that the committee has been formed and how they can file a complaint.

I would rather need clarity. I may be wrong, please correct me. Is it that your Society employs a good number of workforces and your HR is thinking of the need to set up a Redressal Mechanism and Sexual Harassment policy for female employees in your organization? From the details provided here, what I understand is that yours is an umbrella setup that assists and provides infrastructure to startups in bio-related areas. While statutory provisions are in place, do you think it is necessary to have them implemented in your establishment? My presumption is that the startup enterprises will have their own establishments, employees, etc., and you aim to guide them in this regard. Am I right? Others have provided enough inputs which seem adequate.

Regards