Diversification

[tobyaw]

I was underwhelmed to receive the following through by email today: “University Court has supported and approved the proposal that the University commit all staff to undertake a mandatory training programme on equality and diversity.” Apparently “module completion rates will be monitored centrally by the Equality & Diversity Office”.

This is somewhere between worrying and offensive. I wonder if there will be a penalty for non-completion?

Comments

[ggreig]

If it's mandatory, then I imagine the answer would be yes.

Don't see why it should be worrying or offensive though. Of course it should be a given that people will treat other people equally; but equally obviously it ain't necessarily so. If you've been trained in it, then you've got no excuse (and your employer isn't liable for not training you).

[tobyaw]

Ah, but other ‘mandatory’ things have been avoided in the past — there was a widespread boycott of the HERA role evaluation process last year. My tendency is to avoid or ignore anything coming from HR.

I find it offensive because they are adopting a one-size-fits-all approach. If there is a genuine problem with equality and diversity issues in the university then they should be targeting their resources at that. Requiring all staff to do a course smacks of PR.

[purpletigron.livejournal.com]

Who knows - you might learn something?

[ggreig]

That thought was also in my head but I struggled for a way to express it. No matter how well you think you know something, there's always the possibility of learning something new.

[tobyaw]

Or I might suffer 6 hours of facile computer-based training, where a saner approach would be a memo to staff outlining our rights and responsibilities.

[ggreig]

How can you possibly have acquired such negative opinions of computer-based training? ;-)

It might have been Feng Shui you had to learn about...