As allegations of sexual harassment in Capital Hill continue to take light, mandatory training is being called into action for members of congress. House Speaker, Paul Ryan sent a letter to lawmakers urging them to take part in sexual harassment training, as well as make it a requirement for their staff. The House and Senate Lawmakers aren’t wasting any time to mandate sexual harassment training. The House Administration Committee has planned to hold a hearing on November 14 to focus on implementing training, policies and mechanisms to protect against and report sexual harassment. (Source: U.S. News)
What does this mean for professional development?
Sexual harassment training is becoming mandatory for members of congress to help improve the current hostile and unsafe working environment. Many organizations in all sectors are looking to follow suit and make training mandatory for all staff, to educate their work forces on this challenging issue and try to eradicate it.
Why Sexual Harassment Training Fails
With the rising number of sexual harassment claims coming forward from government officials and employees from large companies, it is obvious that sexual harassment training has failed in various organizations and entities. According to NPR, “the primary reason that sexual harassment training fails is that both managers and workers regard it as a pro forms exercise aimed at limiting the employer’s legal liability.” Most of the time training is being carried out online, which is not engaging and ineffective. The EEOC even admitted blankly that sexual harassment training in the last three decades hasn’t worked. (Source: NPR)
What does this mean for professional development?
Companies are taking a big step toward implementing proper sexual harassment training for employees as well as top managers to help prevent and stop it all together. Team leaders and individuals are approaching L&D teams and top management to ask for support and help in implementing this important training.
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