Required training at work

[Manhattan]

Does anyone else have to complete online harassment training for work? I'm not debating policies or issues they try to address, I'm just complaining about the training videos  

Ours takes 150 minutes and it forces you to open every tab, so no faking or skipping. Take the test and provide the correct answers.

What did I really learn? Be a busy body, insert yourself into every situation, assume the worst of every comment or action, snitch as often as possible, and never be direct with anyone who bothers you. 

Is this training effective or is it just corporate ass-covering? 

Edited Wednesday at 02:23 AM by Manhattan

[+ PhileasFogg]

IMO, it gives the harassed a context to have a voice, the harasser a warning, and the employer some insulation against liability.  That doesn’t mean I like spending my time being treated as the lowest common denominator of human being  

I don’t like it anymore than you do.  Before I retired, when I had to do these things, I can assure you that I was done in 15 minutes.  I simply fast forward the videos, quickly hit the tabs, and answer the questions based on decades of experience and insight.  And BTW, in my business, it wasn’t just harrassment training, it was about the equivalent of 42 hours of various compliance mandates - I still knocked through it all in about 2 hours.  

[+ Just Chuck]

The last place I worked had an online class with videos shot in the 1990s that they never updated and made us watch again every year.  I knew each of the characters in each of the work situations by memory after 25 years of re-watching them.

[Nightowl]

7 hours ago, PhileasFogg said:

IMO, it gives the harassed a context to have a voice, the harasser a warning, and the employer some insulation against liability.  That doesn’t mean I like spending my time being treated as the lowest common denominator of human being  

I don’t like it anymore than you do.  Before I retired, when I had to do these things, I can assure you that I was done in 15 minutes.  I simply fast forward the videos, quickly hit the tabs, and answer the questions based on decades of experience and insight.  And BTW, in my business, it wasn’t just harrassment training, it was about the equivalent of 42 hours of various compliance mandates - I still knocked through it all in about 2 hours.  

I was in a similar situation and everyone I know did the same thing you described.

[+ PhileasFogg]

15 minutes ago, Nightowl said:

I was in a similar situation and everyone I know did the same thing you described.

One other thing I’ll add is that if you upload a screen shot of the question into ChatGPT, it will give you the answers.  It protects against the tricky questions designed to trip you up

Edited Wednesday at 01:05 PM by PhileasFogg

[Tom C. Sinclair]

No. We have all-day workshops. 

[+ poolboy48220]

I've also sat through ethics training and some training, I can't even remember the topic, that taught us to "get around stereotypes" - that one was voluntary and I left after the first break, it was so clumsy and awful.

[+ Vegas_Millennial]

11 hours ago, Manhattan said:

Does anyone else have to complete online harassment training for work?

No, my workplace frowns on harassment, so I don't forsee them offering training on how to do it.

[ICTJOCK]

Don't have to do anything of the kind in my career,  but continuing education is certainly a requirement and the focus is on other areas.

That said,  it probably is a combination of both,  your employer is likely mandated to provide some sort of training and there are likely some employees that don't really understand the spectrum of "harassment"  in various contexts.    No doubt a bit of a challenge for you,  if done in a repeat manner,  but probably a good idea in the end.

[Nightowl]

4 hours ago, PhileasFogg said:

One other thing I’ll add is that if you upload a screen shot of the question into ChatGPT, it will give you the answers.  It protects against the tricky questions designed to trip you up

I always called up another screen and searched for them. No ChatGPT then.

[Bokomaru]

It’s getting harder and harder to fast forward through these things. They have figured out how to prevent it. 
I currently have 4 pending trainings (2hours worth), all of which I’ve completed before, and will teach me nothing new. 
 

Recently they introduced a new one: how to be a good colleague at social gatherings. My feeling is that every time my company gets sued, the settlement involves them agreeing to institute some training.
 

It gets old. 

[maninsoma]

17 hours ago, Manhattan said:

Does anyone else have to complete online harassment training for work? I'm not debating policies or issues they try to address, I'm just complaining about the training videos  

Ours takes 150 minutes and it forces you to open every tab, so no faking or skipping. Take the test and provide the correct answers.

What did I really learn? Be a busy body, insert yourself into every situation, assume the worst of every comment or action, snitch as often as possible, and never be direct with anyone who bothers you. 

Is this training effective or is it just corporate ass-covering? 

When I was still working, I had to complete this training annually along with a lot of other trainings.  It is annoying that, depending on one's work place, the people in charge of this online training have figured out ways to prevent fast forwarding and just letting the training play in one browser tab while you work in another.  (The more recent trainings I saw required clicking various areas of the screen to list items one by one, answer questions, etc and then click Next before the video would resume.)  It's also annoying that many of these trainings rarely change and it isn't like the material is difficult to understand.  

Maybe you're just annoyed so you summarized this training in a more disparaging way that is warranted, but if your harassment training really does instruct employees to do all of the things you listed then it seems like a very poor training.  While it's true that people in a supervisory capacity have greater obligations to be "busy bodies" and do various interventions regarding alleged harassment, including reporting issues to HR, the responsibilities of most employees are simply to NOT engage in behavior that constitutes harassment.

[+ DrownedBoy]

Yeah we do. Annually.

We also used to have to take all kinds of classes on diversity and such, and a DEI manager in HR. For some unknown reason, after January 2025, that guy left, and our CEO claimed we don't have a DEI program and never did....

[Manhattan]

1 hour ago, maninsoma said:

When I was still working, I had to complete this training annually along with a lot of other trainings.  It is annoying that, depending on one's work place, the people in charge of this online training have figured out ways to prevent fast forwarding and just letting the training play in one browser tab while you work in another.  (The more recent trainings I saw required clicking various areas of the screen to list items one by one, answer questions, etc and then click Next before the video would resume.)  It's also annoying that many of these trainings rarely change and it isn't like the material is difficult to understand.  

Maybe you're just annoyed so you summarized this training in a more disparaging way that is warranted, but if your harassment training really does instruct employees to do all of the things you listed then it seems like a very poor training.  While it's true that people in a supervisory capacity have greater obligations to be "busy bodies" and do various interventions regarding alleged harassment, including reporting issues to HR, the responsibilities of most employees are simply to NOT engage in behavior that constitutes harassment.

I think it's very poor training. The following isn't a direct quote, but it's very close:

If you overhear Jane tell Jill that she looks very professional today, you should intervene, change the subject, and check in with Jill later to make sure she's okay and to let her know about resources if she FEELS like Jane meant she didn't look professional every other day. 

We could use another workshop on how to manage your own emotions and get on with your day. 

[maninsoma]

1 hour ago, Manhattan said:

I think it's very poor training. The following isn't a direct quote, but it's very close:

If you overhear Jane tell Jill that she looks very professional today, you should intervene, change the subject, and check in with Jill later to make sure she's okay and to let her know about resources if she FEELS like Jane meant she didn't look professional every other day. 

We could use another workshop on how to manage your own emotions and get on with your day. 

Wow. That sounds much worse than what I endured.  The closest thing I heard (and which makes sense) is that it's generally not wise to comment on people's looks at work at all because what you might intend as a simple compliment could be construed by someone as unwanted attention to their body. 

[jeezifonly]

Bottom line: all work environments are, in one way or another, hostile to human beings.
We value personal comfort in a way that is detrimental to discernment of what is dangerous and what is icky. 

“I went to the  
Respect-In-The-Workplace training session, and all I got was this fucking T-shirt”

[BuffaloKyle]

On 8/12/2025 at 10:00 PM, Manhattan said:

Does anyone else have to complete online harassment training for work? I'm not debating policies or issues they try to address, I'm just complaining about the training videos 

I'm guessing you are in NY state like I am. NY state requires employers to do annual sexual harassment prevention training:

Sexual Harassment Prevention Model Policy and Training

WWW.NY.GOV

Model Training Requirements
Every employer in New York State is required to provide employees with sexual harassment prevention training. An employer that does not use the model training developed by the Department of Labor and Division of Human Rights must ensure that the training that they use meets or exceeds the following minimum standards. Model training materials are available to employers to download.

The training must:

be interactive
include an explanation of sexual harassment consistent with guidance issued by the Department of Labor in consultation with the Division of Human Rights
include examples of conduct that would constitute unlawful sexual harassment
include information concerning the federal and state statutory provisions concerning sexual harassment and remedies available to victims of sexual harassment
include information concerning employees’ rights of redress and all available forums for adjudicating complaints
include information addressing conduct by supervisors and any additional responsibilities for such supervisors
Each employee must receive training on an annual basis, starting October 9, 2018.

[+ poolboy48220]

The executive assistant I sat near to a few jobs ago despised this training. She knew workers who'd been harassed and none of the 'recommended actions' (reporting up to managers, HR) worked like the training claimed they would.