<Raises hand>
While in the army, a lecture from the Brigade Commander, power point slides and no videos. The brigade command command staff and S-shops did skits acting out what various discrimination and harassment scenarios might look like in real life. The Colonel decided it would have more impact, be more relatable if us soldiers saw it acted out by live people, in uniform, that we all served more or less alongside from day to day, instead of dead-eyed monotone “actors” on a screen
You’re assuming that they’re all the same race per their definitions, which are the ones that count there. You’re assuming that skin tone is the main measure of diversity. You’re assuming that they care more about her own skin tone than about her nationality. You’re making a lot of assumptions about a bunch of people you’ve never met.
Bolding mine.
I think that assumption is why diversity training is so important. You can have a workplace comprised of people from the same race or ethnic group and still have diversity within. And not just gender, sexual, or religious diversity. But experience diversity.
I have a coworker who loves to do the loud “retard” voice whenever he or someone else goofs up. It bothers me when he does this not just because of my own experience with being mocked like that as a kid, but also because I have a coworker friend who has a sister who is mentally handicapped and is thus very sensitive about that kind of “humor”.
I don’t say anything to him about it, though. Because he’s very “anti-offenderati” and I don’t want to subject myself to his negativity any more than I have to. But it does make me feel good to know that I can pull the trigger and file a grievance against him if his offensiveness gets to be too much…all without having to confront him first. Confronting him first would be the nice thing to do if we hadn’t already sat through civility training just a few months ago. But since we’ve have had the expectations laid out for us, there is no obligation to tell him to STFU before reporting him. That’s where diversity training is really helpful, IMHO. It lets employees know that it’s OK to tell someone in charge when a colleague is being a stupid ass. The person getting the big bucks should be responsible handling the stupid asses, not the person who is low on the totem pole.
I’d be happy to undergo diversity training once they complete the “shut up and do your jobs” training.
It used to be a huge time-waster at my work (because it was so basic and patronizing that it was insulting), until they switched to online videos with quizzes at the end.
And guess what, gang? You can take the quiz without watching and get 100% if you have even a smidge of decency*.
*Which of the following nicknames for ethnic groups should you not use in our Safe And Secure Workplace?
(Hmmm, without even reading the list, I’m going to go with E: None of the above)
Or in my case, even if you don’t.
Although I watched the “what to do in an active shooter situation” video all the way thru for the sheer entertainment value. In case someone starts shooting at me, I should leave the area and gather at a designated spot in the parking lot. Good to know.
I only passed the quiz at the end because there was no option for E. Hide behind the printer and yell “Do what you what to the girl, but leave me alone!”
Regards,
Shodan
I’m convinced the real purpose with these kinds of training done by corporations is just to protect themselves in case of a lawsuit. If they are accused of not being diverse, they can point to this training they gave all employees. If they have a security leak of customer data, they can point to the security training they gave all employees. If they are accused of unfair business practices, they can point at the ethics training. So save yourself a lot of grief and just do whatever training they want you to do without worrying about the effectiveness of it. Likely the company doesn’t really care either.
I wholeheartedly support this position.
I wanted to start a “Shut the fuck up and do your fucking job” training seminar while I was in the AF. (cursing added because military).
Or, the purpose is to not be accused of these things in the first place.
It’s far easier to deal with the complaint that never happened than it is to deal with a complaint that does happen.
Does the corporation care if the lady in Accounts Payable has a problem with her misogynistic manager? Of course not, but they care if she lodges a complaint. So, their choice is to either deal with her complaint after it happens (annoying, expensive), or teach the manager how to not be a misogynistic ass. (simple, cheap)
I wonder whether what’s being assumed isn’t that the purpose of diversity training is to teach majority people to be nice to the minority, that Asians are the minority, and that white people are the majority.
None of those are automatically correct. If the training’s being done at all right, that should only be a part of much wider instruction; and, in the specific case being described, the white teacher would be the minority and the Asians the majority. (Presuming, as Nava quite correctly points out, that they all think of themselves as "Asians’ and as all of one group; which they may well not.)
I’d recommend paying attention. No matter how sure you are that you already know everything possible about the subject, you might nevertheless learn something.
(Possible exception if the company’s been giving over and over exactly the same training in exactly the same form either to exactly the same people or without allowing for comment.)
As has been said: you need to first find out whether that’s how they want to be treated.
The secretary was, after all, just going by the Golden Rule and treated others like she wanted to be treated. I’m sure that if the secretary’s mother had died, that’s the sort of card she would have wanted to get; and I’m also sure that’s the sort of card that she wanted to sign.
It nevertheless strikes me (and, I gather, monstro, and the uberboss) as seriously offensive in the context described.
Uh, wouldn’t selecting “none of the above” mean that you’re saying you think you SHOULD use all of those nicknames for ethic groups in your Safe And Secure Workplace? 
I’m curious if there are any particular conversations that cause you to wish everyone would shut up.
For full disclosure, and so you know where I’m coming from, I personally am suspicious of anyone who says “I don’t have an opinion on that,” “I’m apolitical,” or even “I think we should all just go on about our business” in response to what can be a controversial issue, particularly if they make it a point to wade in and offer that “neutral” opinion when one side has had the chance to shoot their mouth of and the other side is starting to make their counter-point. I mean, yes, that’s a fine response in the work place where it may well be that something like, say, the future of the Republican Party shouldn’t be getting discussed, but outside of that, just chatting on a message board, sometimes it has a tendency to suggest… the issue (in this case diversity training and related matters of inclusion in the work place) is not a serious one, and not worthy of attention or discussion.
Of course I’m not entirely sure how you personally meant it in this thread. I only note you took the time to post it, and I’d be grateful for some further clarification, in the interest of furthering discussion.
I wish! Ours was like, “Who made the inappropriate comment, Suzie, Mary, or Billie?” so you had to read thru the scenarios to get the correct answer.
Gather everyone together, in an open area, so the shooter can mow you all down. Brilliant. :smack:
We have honest-to-god fire drills in my government building. So us adults can learn how to leave the building in case of a huge inferno. We are all supposed to congregate in one area and look for floor leader. “The Killing grounds” I call it.
I told my boss “If there ever is a REAL fire, I’m just going home”
Government training is usually worthless to the end user.
“The point of diversity training is to treat others they way they want and expect to be treated.” I don’t think I can agree with this. Taken to an extreme someone can expect to be treated with deference by say, the opposite sex. Just because someone wants something doesn’t mean they get it in the name of diversity. The point of diversity training to is to understand that not everyone has the same customs and culture and that those differences don’t make them “worse” or less important, just different. Being treated the way you want to be treated really just means “fairly” IMHO.
At my last job, the fire department required the entire building do fire drills twice a year. Probably 10-20 different companies. One day it was raining, so of course everyone went to their cars to wait until the all clear instead of staying in their designated areas. Apparently that gave us a failing grade for that particular fire drill, and we had to repeat it the following week. From that point on, fire drills would be rescheduled if there was even a hint of bad weather in the forecast.
Preach, thorny locust.
I actually think a good rule for interacting with others is to treat people the way you would have them treat your most sensitive loved ones. Like, if you wouldn’t want someone to make fun of your religiously devout mother’s beliefs in front of her, don’t do it others. If you know your spouse is bothered when you drop the f-bomb more than once or twice in a conversation, don’t do it when you are speaking to others.
I also think civility training helps people be aware of annoying interpersonal habits they’ve never thought about. Like nicknames. If you take it upon yourself to rename coworkers with your own short-hand or diminuative, you are likely going to piss someone off. They probably will not tell you this, but they shouldn’t have to! So it is best to just use their proper name until they tell you to do otherwise. My teammate’s name is David. Everyone calls him Dave, and I used to do so as well. But one day I heard him say he hated “Dave”. And that is when it occurred to me that I had never heard him refer to himself as “Dave” or sign off on anything as “Dave”. I am probably the only one that calls him “David” now, despite me trying my hardest to spread the word around the office. Sure, he could also help spread the word. But if people were sensitive enough to default to a proper name (however stilted) when they aren’t sure about a diminuative, then there wouldn’t be a problem in the first place.
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Regardless of the potential benefits of diversity training, the actual benefits are likely only to those people who don’t need the training anyway. With how pervasive and embedded beliefs are around things like bigotry, racism, nationalism, religious intolerance, and ageism, it’s doubtful that a one-hour class where disinterested employees look at boring slides is really going to make any sort of difference. The racists will still be racists, the religious intolerant will still be intolerant, etc. Humanity has been dealing with those issues forever. The actual result of the classes is that the employees realize that there will be consequences if they pull any of that crap in the workplace. The company is fine if they have prejudices outside the workplace, just don’t bring it to the office.
Primarily, their excuses as to why they did crappy work, didn’t do it on time, etc. Or bitching about their job, cow-orkers, or management.
My interest in my cow-orkers is close to 100% made of of whether they do their job competently, and whether or not they cause me unnecessary effort. Either way, I’m not really concerned with the reasons. Just do your fucking job. Earn your pay - at least minimally. And pay enough attention so that, should you realize that you won’t be able to do your job for any reason, you let the appropriate people know as early as possible so arrangements can be made. Don’t make other people have to work harder as the result of your efforts.
I view all my cow-orkers as presumptively competent to do the tasks assigned them. Does that make me someone in need of diversity training?
The only good training video I ever watched at work was 10 minutes long about how you shouldn’t throw mail in the garbage if you don’t want to deliver it, complete with reenactment footage of people throwing mail into dumpsters or in open fields.
:eek::eek::eek:
Do you find that people spend more time trying to NOT do something, then it would take to just do it?