Below are 4 things to consider from the point of view of your most vulnerable employees in attendance at your sexual harassment trainings.

1. Who is facilitating? If the answer is a man, try again. Why not have it be co-facilitated by 2 people, including at least 1 woman? The optics of a man lecturing your employees about sexual harassment are not very good. What’s important is that whoever is facilitating should themselves have sensitivity training for working with people who have been victims of sexual harassment.

2. What is the goal of the training? If the answer is to protect the company from litigation, try again. Of course, there can be an element of this in the training, but a session should not solely be about protecting the company. The optics of that come off as a bit insensitive. What about protecting the individuals from being harassed? What about supporting your management team as they learn how to handle reports and observe culture? There are multiple vulnerable parties when it comes to sexual harassment. Your employees will be a lot more willing to help you protect the company if they feel that you have their back first.

3. Who is in the training? I’ve attended trainings with coworkers who have thought that clothing was the culprit for sexual harassment. This. is. not. okay. Your employees who are vulnerable should not have to be in a learning environment with employees who do not understand the basics of this stuff. Consider breaking your staff into small groups, or even separating them by gender. Further, if you have a hunch that Gary is going to say something about the clothing being the problem, speak with him ahead of the training privately to make sure he gets up to speed before he re-traumatizes the group.

4. What do participants think of the training? Make sure to offer evaluation forms at the end of the training so that people can anonymously provide feedback about what was helpful and how you can improve the training. 

Have more questions about how to create a sensitive and thoughtful training for your staff? Share them in the comments or let me know privately. I’d love to brainstorm with you.