The All Women's Action Society of Malaysia (Awam) will study the effectiveness of the "Code of Practice on the Prevention and Eradication of Sexual Harassment at the Workplace" over the next year.

The organisation's Sexual Harassment Research Project team will be meeting with the 15 pioneer companies that signed on to the code when it was launched last year, to gauge the extent of the code's practical implementation.

Research coordinator Sangeetha Chandra-Sekaran said that the team will be looking at how well the sexual harassment policies have been translated in the workplace.

"A lot of companies, especially multinationals, have comprehensive policies on sexual harassment, largely because they have imported them from their home countries where the laws on sexual harassment are more developed," said Sangeetha.

"What we are interested in is their implementation. We would like to see if companies are providing training and dissemination of information on sexual harassment."

Awam honorary secretary Lim Siu Ching added: "We would also like to look at their avenues of redress and their procedures for dealing with complaints."

Lim said that the survey would be conducted via questionnaires and, where possible, interviews with the staff and management of the companies.

The project began in May this year and is expected to conclude in June next year. The 15 pioneer companies cover a wide range of industries, from electronics manufacturing to travel and services, and banking to hospitality.