Beyond the Checkbox: How to Choose Sexual Harassment Training That Actually Changes Behavior

Sexual harassment training has been viewed by companies for a long time as a mere compliance explanation, something obligatory that has to be done just to get legal recognition and liability reduction. Employees must attend monotonous, lecture-style training that neither engages them nor changes their behavior. Even supervisors go through training sessions without understanding how to investigate complaints or stop harassment. Therefore, even after “training” their employees, organizations are still exposed to the risk of harassment.

Nevertheless, research continues to show that typical preventive training focused on avoiding harassment through compliance is not working. What really makes a difference is behavior change training that attracts employees, equips them with the right skills, and drives change in the organizational culture. This thorough guide explores in detail the concept of checkbox compliance training, behavior change, and targeted training, thus helping senior executives, HR managers, and training supervisors identify training that not only prevents harassment but also leads to safer, more respectful work environments.

If your current training is a mere tick-the-box exercise, this guide explains why and shows you how to choose a training that will really help.

Key Takeaways

1. The issue with traditional sexual harassment training is that it fails to provide behavioral change because it is more concerned with compliance checkboxes than behavioral change.
2. The most effective way to provide behavioral change in sexual harassment is by using a combination of interactive content, real-life scenarios, bystander strategies, and reinforcement.
3. Research indicates that passive training, also known as lecture-based training, is ineffective at producing behavioral change, whereas interactive training grounded in real-life scenarios has been shown to foster positive behavioral change in the workplace.
4. Organizations should assess the effectiveness of their training not only by completion rates but also by behavioral measures, such as reductions in harassment incidents and increased employee engagement.
5. Compliance training software such as Coggno enables organizations to drive behavioral change among employees through training focused on behavior rather than compliance checkboxes.

The Problem with Checkbox Compliance Training

Why Traditional Training Fails

Most of the time, traditional sexual harassment training is about adjusting to legal requirements, like ticking a box, without resulting in behavior change. Usually, such a program consists of:

• People are watching videos or reading materials without being actively involved.
• Free Scenarios: Training offers generic, unrealistic scenarios that don’t touch people’s experiences.
• Can’t go back to training; it only happens once a year, with no continuing support or follow-up.
• Without mechanisms that can ensure employees have actually learned or changed their behavior.
• Very little, if any, assessment of learning or behavior change.

The Research on Training Effectiveness

Studies show that typical, passive sexual harassment training doesn’t really change people’s behavior in a positive way. For example:

• Harvard Business Review Study: Found that requiring employees to attend sexual harassment training can have the reverse effect, causing them to become resentful and less dedicated to preventing harassment in the organization.
• SHRM Research: Found that employees who attend the typical sexual harassment training do not actually demonstrate a measurable change in their behavior concerning harassment.
• Pew Research: Found that only about 30% of employees who attended sexual harassment training reported that it altered their understanding of the concept of harassment.
• Catalyst Study: Found that there is a vast difference between the results of interactive training and passive training. Interactive training is more effective.

What Effective Sexual Harassment Training Looks Like

Key Characteristics of Behavior-Change-Focused Training

Effective sexual harassment training that truly changes behavior involves:

1. Interaction: Employees are engaged not just through scenarios but also through discussions and other interactive elements, rather than passively viewing the content. 
2. Real Examples: Employees are shown and learn from real work situations they can easily relate to.
3. Support and Help: Employees are equipped with the knowledge and skills to recognize and prevent harassment, thereby becoming part of the solution. 
4. Safety for Sharing:Employees are comfortable communicating difficult things, expressing their thoughts, and asking questions.
5. Continuity of Effort: Training is not a one-time event; employees receive regular reminders, updates, and reinforcement.
6. Accountability: Tests, discussions, and follow-ups ensure that learning and behavior change occur.
7. Culture of the Organization: The training reflects the organization’s culture and values.
8. Leaders’ Role: Leaders serve as role models and encouragers of behaviors that prevent harassment.

Evaluating Sexual Harassment Training: Beyond Completion Rates

The Wrong Metrics

Organizations usually employ a set of metrics to measure the effectiveness of training, but most of these metrics do not measure behavior change effectively:

• • Completion Rates: The mere fact that employees have completed training is a very shallow metric and does not measure whether they have actually learned or whether their behavior has changed. 
  • Assessment Scores: It is a common misconception that a flawless score on the test will definitely translate to a change in behavior, whereas it very often does not. 
  • Time Spent: Tracking the time employees spend on training is a pointless metric for measuring engagement or learning.

The Right Metrics

Organizations should evaluate training effectiveness through behavioral metrics:

How to Choose Behavior-Change-Focused Training

Evaluation Criteria

Things to keep in mind when selecting a sexual harassment training provider are:

1. Content Approach: Consider whether the program offers compelling scenarios and everyday examples of people, or simply enumerates facts in a lifeless way.
2. Intervention of Bystanders: Does the training help employees become conscious of harassment cases and respond appropriately?
3. Supervisor Training:Does the training provider give specialized training for the handling of harassment investigations and prevention?
4. Customization: Is the training program a reflection of your company culture, values, and the issues you are encountering?
5. Continuing Support: Is the provider able to provide ongoing support, including refreshments, updates, and further training?
6. Assessment: Is the training accompanied by comprehensive tests that accurately assess the knowledge acquired and participants’ behavioral changes?
7. Analytics: Does the platform provide information on how the training is successful and the resulting behavior changes?
8. Research, Based: Is the training a result of studies about the most effective ways to stop harassment?

Questions to Ask Providers

1. What is your training approach? Do you have interactive classes or passive lectures?
2. How do you measure your effectiveness?
3. What are the customization options available?
4. Do you provide training for the supervisors? What specialized training and development services are available for the supervisors?
5. How do you provide continuous reinforcement? What are the options for continuous learning and reinforcement?
6. What are the analytics available? Can you measure the change in behavior and organizational impact?

How Coggno Delivers Behavior-Change-Focused Training

Coggno is designed specifically to deliver sexual harassment training that goes beyond compliance checkboxes to drive meaningful behavior change:

Interactive, Scenario-Based Content

Coggno’s sexual harassment training uses interactive scenarios and real-world examples that employees undoubtedly relate to, thereby boosting their engagement and learning. Instead of passive videos, Coggno employs:

• Interactive Scenarios: Employees go through a series of steps in a simulated workplace environment, make choices, and learn through consequences.
• Discussion Prompts: The training includes prompts that foster reflection and peer learning.
• Real-World Examples: The content illustrates real-world workplace situations that employees can easily recognize.

Bystander Intervention Training

Coggno’s training highlights bystander intervention, instructing workers on how to identify and react to harassment:

• Recognition Skills: Coggno training helps workers identify different forms of harassment.
• Response Strategies: Training provides workers with clear, effective methods for responding to harassment.
• Empowerment: Training makes employees feel confident and able to act against harassment.

Supervisor-Specific Training

Coggno offers Supervisor training that goes beyond employee training.

• Investigation Skills: Supervisors develop the skills to conduct harassment investigations effectively.
• Documentation: The training includes how to properly document incidents and investigations.
• Legal Obligations: Supervisors are made aware of their legal obligations and the extent of their liability exposure through training.
• Retaliation Prevention: Training discourages retaliation against complainants by focusing on preventing such acts.

Customization and Personalization

Coggno allows companies to tailor training so it can truly reflect their culture and challenges:

• Organizational Customization: Incorporate your corporate guidelines, values, and examples.
• Role-Based Training: Provide diverse training to various roles (staff, supervisors, managers).
• Location, Specific Training: Tailor training for each site and regulatory requirements.

Ongoing Reinforcement

Instead of annual training only once, Coggno offers continuous reinforcement:

• Microlearning Modules: brief, targeted modules for continuous learning and reinforcement.
• Regular Reminders: automatic reminders and notifications on harassment prevention.
• Updated Content: Frequent content updates based on new research and best practices.
• Pulse Surveys: Constant surveys to evaluate culture and pinpoint areas that need to be improved.

Comprehensive Analytics

Coggno offers analytics that measure behavior change, which are far more comprehensive than just completion rates:

• Engagement Metrics: Measure employees’ engagement with training materials.
• Assessment Performance: Learning can be monitored via assessments and quizzes.
• Culture Surveys: Help you understand your workplace culture and respect by running regular surveys.
• Incident Tracking: Connect with HR systems for monitoring trends in harassment incidents.
• ROI Metrics: Determine how training has affected the organization’s overall performance.

Implementation Best Practices for Behavior-Change Training

1. Executive Sponsorship: Ensure executive leadership is visibly backing the prevention of harassment and behavioral change.
2. Customization: Adapt your training to mirror your organization’s culture, values, and particular issues.
3. Supervisor Engagement: Ensure supervisors receive specialized training and are actively involved in supporting harassment prevention.
4. Ongoing Reinforcement: Provide regular reminders, updates, and reinforcement of learning beyond the annual training.
5. Psychological Safety: Provide a safe place to discuss tough issues and ask questions.
6. Accountability: Establish clear accountability for harassment prevention at all organizational levels.
7. Measurement: Measure the success of your activities by actual behaviors, not just completion rates.
8. Continuous Improvement: Regularly take a fresh look at the training’s effectiveness and make changes based on feedback and data.

Call to Action

Training on sexual harassment that only serves to satisfy the legal requirements doesn’t lead to the behavior change and culture transformation that organizations really need. A good training program is a mix of engagement through interactive elements, real-life examples, bystander sharing of intervention strategies, and continuous emphasis that leads to lasting behavior change.

Coggno is a tool designed to deliver behavior-change-driven sexual harassment training, not just ticking the box for compliance. In fact, through the use of interactive scenarios, the training for bystander intervention, supervisor-specific training, and the use of comprehensive analytics, Coggno is capable of assisting the organizations in creating respectful and safe workplaces whereharassment is stopped, and the employees are treated as if they are the most valuable and are also looked after.

References

1. Harvard Business Review. “Why Sexual Harassment Training Backfires.” 
2. Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM). “Sexual Harassment Training Effectiveness Research.” 
3. Catalyst. “Effective Sexual Harassment Prevention Training.” 
4. Pew Research Center. “Workplace Harassment and Training Effectiveness.“
5. eLearning Industry. “Effective Sexual Harassment Training Design.” 
6. Training Industry. “Sexual Harassment Training Best Practices.” 

This resource was developed to help HR professionals, learning and development specialists, and organizational leaders understand what makes sexual harassment training effective and to choose effective training solutions that lead to positive behavior change and culture transformation.