Labor / Employment, On The Job

The Job Training That Every Company Should Be Doing

When in doubt, make expectations clear. Clarity in expectation is the ounce of prevention that beats a pound of cure.

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Every employment lawyer who has been doing this for a while does training. But most of the time, that training is directed at managers, sometimes even just high-level managers. I understand why; untrained managers are a very bad thing. Right now, Banana Republic is under a bit of public scrutiny because a manager called an employee’s hairstyle “urban” and refused to let her work unless she changed it. If he had attended my anti-harassment training, that would not have happened.

But managers aren’t the only weak spot in a business. Inappropriate behavior towards customers, or even just the general public, can be costly.  Further, shameful behavior from higher-level employees can ruin the reputation of an entire organization, even if that conduct has nothing to do with their job.

Anti-harassment policies should be highlighted for all employees. But hand in hand with that is now social media. I strongly advocate for social media policies for my clients, and that they highlight the policy for employees. Social media represents a potential pitfall, particularly recently. But sometimes having an employee “acknowledge” a policy isn’t enough. For certain settings, which I think include sports teams, training needs to happen.

You Don’t Know What You Don’t Know

I am firmly in the “everyone needs training” camp because I have learned that people do not have similar experiences in life, and the lack of shared experiences, even in professional settings where people “look” the same, means that people interpret similar situations in wildly different ways. This is a huge problem when it comes to policy, because what is “appropriate” to one person is completely inappropriate to others. And, as Dove learned recently, context matters.

Training can be a great equalizer, because you don’t know what you don’t know. A lot of people don’t understand just how the law and their job intersect. And while this current administration is doing all it can to limit the benefits of anti-discrimination law to the few, in most states they still apply to all employers and employees, because with the right fact pattern, anyone can be in a protected class (it’s not reverse discrimination; it’s just discrimination).

Training is a powerful tool for helping everyone understand this. One of the biggest things I hear in pretty much every EEOC charge or lawsuit I handle from employees (and managers) is the “I didn’t know” defense. They don’t remember signing the employee handbook, and they certainly didn’t read the policies inside of it.

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The one thing that counteracts the amnesia is proof of training. Yes, they will still say they didn’t know, but if they signed the handbook and attended training on the policy, their amnesia seems silly at best, and credibility destroying at worst.

What Training Makes Sense

Training is done with the goal of avoiding behavior that harms morale and damages the company’s reputation, which should neatly dovetail into the policies an employer has. For employees in HR, and for managers, this training is a more extensive task. But even for the intern, there is training that can help the company goals be met. Policy training can and should be coupled with other training that is job related, but it needs to happen and it needs to be noted for each employee who attends.

The following training is a good idea for almost anybody:

  1. Anti-harassment/Discrimination Policy training. If you care about your business, you have an anti-harassment policy. If you have a policy, you need to train on it. It can be as simple as a review of the policy with new hires where their manager or the onboarding employee goes through the expectations regarding behavior and reporting, and the employee acknowledges that she understands it. But it needs to be addressed beyond a few lines in the employee handbook and/or a signed piece of paper in the documents you hand out to employees.
  2. Train on workplace conduct expectations. Do you have safety concerns in your space? Do you interact with the public often? Do you have concerns about public perception? Don’t assume your employees will represent you well without a conversation about your expectations. Most of this should be in your handbook, but at new hire orientation, or while talking about all the great things your company has done this year, touch on this topic. If it involves highlighting the behavior you want, even better. But talk to an employment lawyer first if you will venture into the land of dress code, because that gets sexist fast.
  3. Social Media/Computer Use training. Do you have internet at your workplace? Do you have tech-savvy employees or do you know everyone at your workplace is using Snapchat? You should have a policy for your expectations for online use and social media access, and you should talk about it at least once with your employees. This is also a great opportunity to remind employees that what they post online, if it comes to your attention, will be expected to comply with workplace policies. And remind them: Don’t violated trademark and copyright law. Don’t pirate. And don’t harass.

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A note on where to get this training: don’t off-load the responsibility to a third party who doesn’t understand your business. A lot of organizations do “training,” but outside of anti-harassment training, it is probably a good idea to work with internal HR or your third-party provider and do most of your training in-house; expectations regarding behavior and an understanding of workplace culture are clearer that way. People don’t know what they don’t know, and you cannot assume that an employee understands what is appropriate conduct because you think that they do. When in doubt, make expectations clear. To avoid it being awkward, make it training, standardize it, and keep a record of when and how you did it. Clarity in expectation is the ounce of prevention that beats a pound of cure.

beth-robinsonBeth Robinson lives in Denver and is a business law attorney and employment law guru. She practices at Fortis Law Partners. You can reach her at [email protected] and follow her on Twitter at @HLSinDenver.

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