Training can be a tedious task for employees and employers, but there’s nothing more vital to a company’s success. Training educates workers on new technology and legal requirements, promotes health and safety, and gives employees opportunities to grow and develop in their careers. It also helps employers adhere to workplace laws and regulations. Not every state requires these kinds of training, but they are a recommended practise for any responsible workplace.  We all know training can be a thankless task, so to make life easier we’ve boiled the issues down to three important training topics that all companies need to address.

1. Safety

When it comes to workplace safety, no company is immune. All organizations should provide some sort of safety training for their employees. Safety training educates employees and aims to ensure that they don’t become ill or injured on the job. For employers, it helps with Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) compliance.Each company uses a different type of safety training depending on its job requirements. To know how to train your employees, be aware of all the hazards within your workplace. Will your employees need to operate a forklift or handle dangerous chemicals? If so, make sure you can correctly identify and demonstrate proper handling techniques to ensure utmost employee safety.You can learn more about proper safety training practices by reading OSHA’s updated safety training requirements. 

2. Discrimination

With today’s growing workforce and far-reaching technology, training on discrimination issues is more important than ever. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) discrimination charges have doubled in less than 20 years. Because of this, companies are experiencing stricter enforcement. Anti-discrimination training helps employees to know what discrimination is, and how to file a report if they experience it.Anti-discrimination training is a very broad topic, and can encompass a variety of laws:

• Age Discrimination in Employment Act
• Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
• Civil Rights Act of 1991
• Civil Rights Act Title VII
• Executive Order 11246
• Immigration Reform and Control Act
• Jury System Improvement Act of 1978
• National Labor Relations Act (NLRA)
• Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA)
• Older Workers Benefits Protection Act
• Pregnancy Discrimination Act
• Rehabilitation Act of 1973
• Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA)
• Vietnam Era Veterans Readjustment Act of 1974

Provide your employees with training on all of these laws and ensure they can identify when one is violated. Effective anti-discrimination training teaches employees who is protected by these laws, what workplace practices break these laws, and how to provide a workplace that upholds them.You can learn more about protecting yourself and your employees with anti-discrimination training on EEOC’s website.

3. Sexual Harassment

Contrary to what you may think, employees don’t always know how to appropriately handle themselves in the workplace. Unless you train them, they may not know if they’re doing something wrong. Harmless jokes around the watercooler can often escalate into something much more harmful—and that’s where sexual harassment training comes in.Sexual harassment is in itself a form of discrimination, but should be covered under its own training. Without it, your company could be held liable for sexual harassment, as ruled by the US Supreme Court. Sexual harassment training is important not only because it helps employees know how to identify and report harassment charges—it helps spread awareness and creates a safe work environment.You can learn more about sexual harassment training and its benefits on EEOC’s website.Safety, anti-discrimination, and sexual harassment training are the three pillars of a safe and efficient workplace. Though all of this training can seem complicated, solutions are available. Asure Software provides personalized HCM solutions to streamline the training process, identifying gaps in education and scheduling training events. With Asure, your employees can stay up to date with all company-specific and job-required training.Sources:https://www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/statistics/enforcement/charges.cfmhttps://www.osha.gov/Publications/osha2254.pdfhttps://www.osha.gov/law-regs.htmlhttps://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/tools-and-samples/hr-qa/pages/whattrainingmustemployersprovidetoemployees.aspxhttp://trainingtoday.blr.com/employee-training-topics/Employee-Traininghttp://trainingtoday.blr.com/employee-training-resources/Developing-a-Training-Plan-for-Legal-Compliance#Topicshttps://www.eeoc.gov/laws/types/sexual_harassment.cfmhttps://www.asuresoftware.com/products/hcm/