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Are you adults? I'm required to take about 10 different mandatory training courses every single year. It's a part of having a job. Does this really surprise you?
^^^ This. It's just a necessary evil. No big deal, just boring as all get out.
at my corporation we had learning games that the whole company had to attend at least one 4 hour session.
the auditorium was broken into 8-player teams and had to play a series of 4 monoploy like board games.
they were designed to show that eventhough the board of directors made about 20 billion dollars in revenues collectively, that the actual amount of profit was minimized due to sg&a costs (cost per member; employee salaries/401k/insurance benefits; equipment/computer costs; building maintenance/property taxes; phone/internet/electric/water/heat/... costs); ...
this was during the 2008 time frame when occupy wall street was starting... it was propaganda at its finest.
Yes. I actually had to travel to take those stupid things last time. You just have to sit there. I don't even pretend to be interested. All of the stuff is in the employee handbooks. No harassment, HR is your best friend, a bunch of policies that nobody ever follows, blah blah blah. We get it. Then HR usually has a "fun little quiz" for personality assessments or some other creepy thing that they probably collect for ammunition purposes.
I skipped the team building altogether last time. Why do they always schedule some goofy team building at places that cater to tweens? Seriously, our last one was at a place one step above Chuck E. Cheese. Sorry... not going to that. But have fun, kids!
Why should anyone care when top management doesn't? We get a lot of management wanting something that they do not actually support the staff tasked with doing it. No support means management does not really care.
Less progressive places in the US and less progressive people dislike these courses in general but not always so. As long as people are hiring a diverse group then great-if not-it is a shame the folks were not open to the training. It is also bad form mngt did not go.
However some of these training's after you have been to them for years can be boring. Some of the videos they show in them are so badly produced they make you want to make fun of them.
If the employees are supposedly mature adults then such antics they pulled are really embarrassing.
I remember sitting thru a miserable diversity training in Ft. Worth in the 1990's. What made it so painful was that 6 police officers also signed up for the training and they were such asses. They joked and nudged each other especially at the beginning which set a bad tone from them through the whole thing. When it came time to share their feelings they looked like they had cotton stuffed in their mouths and would not talk.
Also workplaces try out different models of psychological training and this one involved 3 people volunteering on the spot to tell their story of being hurt. A lousy model now that I know more. When one black lady told her past story of being treated bad it looked like several of the cops could barely stop from making a joke.
It was just terrible overall, forcing diversity is only so effective if you have the old boy network to teach to.
The company I work for hired a very dynamic professional trainer to come to our offices and provide training to managers and staff on discrimination and harassment. Trouble was few of the employees or managers had any interest in the topic and did not want to be there. They were forced to attend.
Many tried to get excused from the event by coming up with some half baked excuses but that did not work. They were given plenty of advance notice to arrange their work schedule.
So when they could not get excused from the training, they decided to take it out against the contract trainer. They left for long bathroom breaks, played with their smartphones and they would not participate verbally in the activities, class discussion, do the homework assignments or show any interest at all. The seminar leader did everything she could to make it interesting. I thought she was quite good, considering what she was facing.
So the HR staff, who put the whole thing on, was at wits end. What should have they done about the people who were totally unmotivated? (The CEO determined the training should be done but did not attend himself or did any of the top management, they were too busy.)
Truly some people are resistant to change, destruction of long held beliefs or thoughts. To destroy them, would be akin to admitting to be ignorant.
In my case, some are entertaining and most are quick as they are now "Team meetings" and we all stand, so yeah, they are quick.
Years ago, I had to attend a mandatory training session with all my co workers and Boss about chemicals, MSDS, hazardous material, etc...
Told my boss I did not want to go, I knew all the stuff already... I could stay and do the work while everyone else went..
NOPE, she made me go..I fell asleep thru most of it.. She got pissed and said I was in trouble cause everyone had to test after the training.. And if we got bad "grades" then I would be in trouble...
Guess who passed with flying colors and a 98% and then guess who all else didn't come near that... I NEVER had to go to one again....
The company I work for hired a very dynamic professional trainer to come to our offices and provide training to managers and staff on discrimination and harassment. Trouble was few of the employees or managers had any interest in the topic and did not want to be there. They were forced to attend.
Many tried to get excused from the event by coming up with some half baked excuses but that did not work. They were given plenty of advance notice to arrange their work schedule.
So when they could not get excused from the training, they decided to take it out against the contract trainer. They left for long bathroom breaks, played with their smartphones and they would not participate verbally in the activities, class discussion, do the homework assignments or show any interest at all. The seminar leader did everything she could to make it interesting. I thought she was quite good, considering what she was facing.
So the HR staff, who put the whole thing on, was at wits end. What should have they done about the people who were totally unmotivated? (The CEO determined the training should be done but did not attend himself or did any of the top management, they were too busy.)
For mandatory training like that (harassment, compliance, etc.) I'm surprised they spent that much effort on making sure folks are engaged. Perhaps that's a really good thing. In this case, I think the issues is with the workers.
Quote:
Originally Posted by tnff
Why should anyone care when top management doesn't? We get a lot of management wanting something that they do not actually support the staff tasked with doing it. No support means management does not really care.
I'm not saying this is the situation here. But in many cases, senior management are given separate training as their responsibilities are very different. I'm in the financial industry, and being one of the most regulated industries, we have all kinds of training (cybersecurity, BSA, robbery, compliance, fair lending, etc.). These are distributed to the staff via online. However, executives/BoD's are typically provided in person with more direct content since there is more accountability.
Also - sometimes, these type of events are held without leadership present to encourage more open discussion.
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