Online Class: Sensitivity Training for the Workplace

This course is unique in its approach to sensitivity training because it is not a lecture of what to say and do and what not to say and do in a professional/business setting. Instead, this course explores ways to see beyond our individual life and cultural experiences and provides exercises to broaden our understanding of how to better communicate with different cultures in order to achieve better productivity and reduce conflict. Additionally, this course serves as a practical 'how-to' guide and does not get lost in esoteric arguments or force a political agenda, but rather focuses on real, practical advice you can use to understand and better communicate with all people regardless of their background, culture, religious beliefs, upbringing, or lifestyle.

This specific course aims to increase awareness, communication, and understanding amongst people with different belief systems in order foster new ideas, creative thinking, and ultimately maximize productivity. Successful businesses require unique problem solving strategies to address the competitive market headwinds they face--particularly in a world where everything is connected and shared. A business with a diverse and inclusive group of problem solvers has a higher probability of finding profitable solutions to these problems. In short, a diverse workplace can help your business think outside the box.

We do offer several diversity and inclusion courses depending on your training needs. This course touches on more of the common issues and concerns employees face in a diverse workplace (gender, race, religious beliefs, sexual orientation, age, etc.) while our other courses may focus specifically on gender sensitivity or age-related diversity issues. This course is a great all-in-one resource for helping your organization become more aware of sensitive issues when you have a diverse group of people and how to appropriately handle these issues, which is why it is one of the most popular training programs available.

This sensitivity class offers an accredited CEU Certificate of Course Completion if you sign up for the CEU Certificate version of the course. Your satisfactory completion of this course is determined by an overall/final grade of 70% or higher (this is the final grade after calculating all exam and assignment assessments). This course is rated for 7.0 IACET CEUs which is equivalent to 7 contact hours (this is the average time it takes an individual to complete the training with a 70% or higher grade). When you have successfully completed the course, you may share, download, and/or print your certificate of course completion. A third party (such as your employer) will be able to verify your successful training completion via a unique serial number on our service. You can also document your compliance training in the "Professional Development" area of your resume by listing the course title, contact hours, number of CEUs, and completion date.

The easiest way to purchase this sensitivity training for multiple individuals is to use our Group Enrollments area. There you can purchase this or any course in bulk, receive discounts based on volume, instantly send out vouchers to your staff for course access, and monitor their course progress.

This course is designed to be used as a sensitivity training program for individuals or groups in the workplace. The need for sensitivity training programs like this are on the rise as our general population becomes more and more diverse, and this diversity changes the makeup of the workforce. 

What to Expect From This Course

This course was designed to be used as a sensitivity training program for those in the workforce, entering the workforce, or groups wishing to bring this type of training program to the workforce. We will learn the meaning and purpose of this training, why it's important, and how you can constructively and successfully deal with diversity in an ever-changing workforce. 

This course is divided into 12 lessons. At the end of each lesson, you will find lesson exercises/quizzes, as well as lesson activities/assignments. The lesson exercises are simply a series of multiple choice and true/false questions to quiz you on the material you've learned. These exercises are required in order to successfully complete this course. 

Lesson activities are interactive, meaning you can complete these with a partner, or within a group setting. These activities help you put into practice what you've learned using simulations. Even though lesson activities are optional for all students, it's highly advised that you complete the activities using either the student forums, or with a friend.

Why Sensitivity Training is Needed

A lot of myths have been created around sensitivity training since it's become fairly mainstreamed in the workplace.  Again, you will encounter more than several people who believe that sensitivity training (or diversity training) has risen from the need for all of us to remain politically correct – and even tip-toe around certain groups of people as to not offend them. These things are not true.

That said, there are a lot of people who are resistant to the change in the workplace. Perhaps they are even somewhat resistant to embracing diversity, instead of shying away from it. How many times have you, or someone you know, been frustrated with a customer service representative on the phone who speaks broken English? Have you ever felt frustrated that a company Christmas party was renamed a holiday party, simply to respect the religious diversity that exists in your organization's workforce? 

To you, the things listed in the last paragraph may not represent resistance to diversity. They may simply represent your beliefs that people in your country should speak your language. It may represent your belief that this is a Christian country, and we should be able to openly celebrate Christmas. To you or to others you know, it may represent a move to "the left" and to becoming politically correct at all times. However, that is not the case. Let's take a look at American history and the occurrences in history that have made this country more diverse today than it ever has been.  

Immigration

The Immigration and Naturalization Act of 1965 all but removed the previous national-origins quota system that limited the number of immigrants allowed from certain counties, and gave preference to western Europeans. It also removed the exclusion of Latin Americans, Asians, and Africans. As a result of this law, immigration started to increase dramatically. 

In the 30 years after passage of this law, more than 18 million immigrants entered the country legally. This was at least three times the number of those admitted in the 30 years prior. Instead of coming from mostly western European countries, these immigrants came from all over the world.  In the 1990s, for example, only 16 percent of immigrants were Europeans, while 31 percent were Asian. The largest number of immigrants came from Mexico (4.3 million) and the Philippines (1.4 million). This is a sharp contrast to the 1950s, where over half of the immigrants were European and only 6 percent Asian. 

This change in immigration changed the makeup of our population forever, but it also changed the face of the workplace that you now deal with today. The people you work with today come from all different parts of the world. They have different beliefs, different methods of communicating, and maybe even speak different languages. 

Life Expectancy and Retirement

Thanks to medical advances, we are all living a lot longer (on average) than our grandparents and other ancestors did. In 1960, the average life expectancy was 69.7 years. In 1980, it was 73.7 years. It was 77.0 years in 2000, and it was 78.7 in 2010.  As you can see, our life expectancy keeps climbing. We are living longer.

However, because we're healthier and living longer, we're also remaining in the workforce longer. It's not unusual for healthy senior citizens to decide to stay in the workforce, because they want to keep working, or to increase the Social Security benefits they'll receive at retirement.