2 Hours of Sexual Harassment Training - Can You Prove It?

In three short days, AB 1825’s sexual harassment training regulations are effective.  That means any training done after August 17, whether live or online, must comply not only with the text of AB 1825, but also it’s detailed and demanding regulations.
 
The regulations place a particularly high onus on e-learning.  The most hotly debated requirement?  That employers be able to demonstrate their sexual harassment training programs take supervisors “no less than two hours to complete.”  
 
In other words, you need to police the time.
 
You can imagine why this provision garnered some very strong reactions from both employers and the training community.  E-learning, at the end of the day, is supposed to be self-paced. How can a program maintain that quality, and yet also police a minimum training duration?
 
The “2 hours means 2 hours” requirement (to quote public testimony of AB 1825’s author, Sarah Reyes) is the single most common reason many harassment e-learning programs are out of compliance.  I have viewed literally hundreds of programs, both built internally by employers, and purchased externally from vendors, that simply cannot meet the controversial timing rule.
 
So, let’s get down to practical solutions.  If you’re building a sexual harassment training program, or purchasing one from a training provider, what do you need to look for?  It really boils down to 4 simple components:

1. Content Rich.  Make sure the program has enough robust content and interactive exercises, so that  even without a timing mechanism, the average learner would need 2 hours to complete it.  A timer mechanism should be a safety net for a program that is already designed to be 2 hours in length.
   
   
2. Set the Tone.  Your harassment training course needs to set a clear expectation with learners, right from the beginning, that they are going to be required to spend two hours in the program.  Highlighting the fact that this is a statutory requirement can also assist with the “palatability” of a 2-hour course.  (Remember, the AB 1825 regs expressly provide that training does not need to be completed in 2 consecutive hours – so don’t forget to let learners know they can still bookmark the program and take it in segments.)
   
   
3. Require Interactivity. The best way to avoid having learners “cheat” the program, is to fill it to the brim with well designed and engaging interactive exercises.  A good sexual harassment training program will punish learners for random clicking, and ensure that the vast majority of your employees are actually interacting with and digesting the material.  There’s nothing like real learning and knowledge application to make those minutes fly by.
   
   
4. Use the Right Timer.  Here’s the most technical part.  Your e-learning program needs a timing mechanism that:
   
1. Doesn’t let employees finish in less than 2 hours.  If learners reach the end of the program in less than 2 hours, they should be required to return to the portions of the program they clearly raced through.
   
   
2. Warns employees periodically when they are going too fast.
   
   
3. Does not artificially slow employees down.  Any timer that requires a minimum amount of time per page, no matter how short, is poorly designed.  This will make fast readers think there is a technical error.  Your e-learning program should still be 100% self paced.
   
   
4. Can work both with sound, and without.
   
   
5. Counts active course time, not browser window time.  In other words, the learner should only get credit for time spent interacting with the course.  You can’t allow a learner to simply launch the course window, and then get credit for time spent on a phone call or checking e-mail.
   
   
6. Is able to function properly with a bookmarking feature.  When a learner logs out of the course, and then logs back in, the program needs to keep accurate count of previous minutes spent in the course.  (This can be particularly challenging if you are integrating an outside vendor’s program onto your own Learning Management System.)
   

So. Can you see now why this portion of the regs was so controversial?  While “2 hours means 2 hours” is a simple concept in live training, it gets a little more “nuanced” and sticky when it comes to e-learning.
 
Caution: There are good timers, and there are bad timers.  A timer, for example, that “counts down” each course page, or artificially stretches out the time, is going to do you no favors.  In fact, it will actually create risk, sending the message to your employees (and to juries and regulators) that you take a “check the box” approach to compliance – that you don’t actually care about good faith harassment and discrimination prevention.
 
To learn how a timer actually works inside a sexual harassment training course, you can check out ELT’s demo. SHRM also featured an article recently on the topic.
 
These regs took forever to finalize, but there’s no hiding from them now.  2 hours means 2 hours.  
 
Can you prove it?