Signs That Your Employees Need Sensitivity Training

By Priscilla Kohl, HRTools Staff Writer

In the spirit of Jeff Foxworthy’s “You Might be a Redneck If” routines, your employees might be insensitive if:

1. When addressing a customer, you overhear:
   “I’m sick and tired of you calling me about this problem.  Call someone who cares.”
2. When addressing a co-worker, you overhear:
   “You remind me of my distant cousin. He had bad hair and smelled.”
3. When addressing a subordinate, you overhear:
   “How can someone your age be so dumb?”

Some people are born missing a “sensitivity chip.”  Others seem to be graced with a sensitive and empathetic nature. Providing customers with excellent service and treating co-workers respectfully really means being empathetic—the ability to be sensitive to the thoughts and feelings of others and to treat them as you want to be treated.

Why should you care if your employees are sensitive to others?
When employees’ behavior is the antithesis of diplomacy and tact, they can hurt and take down your business. In short, you should care based on three practical business reasons: 

1. Sensitive employees are more likely to treat co-workers with respect.
2. Sensitive employees are more likely to treat customers with respect.
3. Respected employees and respected customers help your bottom line. 

In addition to the above, there are legal and compliance concerns affecting employers.  The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) enforces federal laws and regulations that specify how employees, including supervisors, must treat one another in the workplace.

EEOC recommends sensitivity or diversity training.
The most publicized legal issue relates to employer liability for sexual harassment in the workplace. However, insensitive behaviors carry over to many other legally protected classes. According to the EEOC, “Harassment violates federal law if it involves discriminatory treatment based on race, color, sex (with or without sexual conduct), religion, national origin, age, disability, or because the employee opposed job discrimination or participated in an investigation or complaint proceeding under the EEO statutes.”

Whether or not you employ insensitive or disrespectful employees, it is in your best interest to provide ongoing sensitivity training programs for your workforce. It is the employer’s responsibility to ensure that harassment and discrimination are not tolerated. The EEOC also recommends that employers have a policy in place: "Employers should establish, distribute to all employees, and enforce a policy prohibiting harassment and setting out a procedure for making complaints. In most cases, the policy and procedure should be in writing."

The EEOC goes a step further. Their no-cost outreach programs and small-business liaisons provide employers with information, guidance and training materials.

Sensitivity Training Benefits Your Business
Effective sensitivity training uses real-life examples, role playing and exercises to enlighten employees in ways that lead to a more harmonious and productive workforce. By providing ongoing sensitivity training programs and enlisting management support, you should see improvements—which also improve business performance—in these important behavioral areas:

• Communication
  Ability to control interruptions while others are talking
  Ability to minimize misunderstandings
• Tolerance
  Ability to avoid being judgmental
  Ability to avoid stereotyping different cultures and backgrounds
• Conflict resolution
  Ability to seek the facts and explore reasonable options
  Ability to resolve problems with tact and diplomacy

In closing, research shows that it also helps to appoint a point person or task force to head up your training efforts. Moreover, if workforce culture reflects an organization’s commitment, training is more effective.  Dr. Marc Bendick, an economist specializing in employment and human resource management, indicates there is a role for conventional sensitivity training. To be effective, the organization must be genuinely interested in making substantive, not simply symbolic, changes.

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