New anti-harassment training planned
Pitt employees soon will be required to take a new anti-harassment training and test online.
The new, mandatory online harassment prevention training will replace an online training aimed at preventing sexual harassment, which has been mandatory for the past decade.
John Greeno, assistant vice chancellor for employee relations and labor relations, reported on the new training at the July 9 meeting of the Staff Association Council.
“We had felt for some time now that we really wanted to broaden the coverage” of this workplace issue to include other types of harassment, he said. Besides, he added, the current course “is not all that engaging. It’s bare bones.”
The new course will be offered through the insurance company United Educators, which produced another online training for Pitt employees about protecting children from abuse.
Greeno had hoped the new course would be available by now but said “there are some bugs in the interface.” It takes employees through five scenarios with questions that must be answered correctly at the end; the course may be taken repeatedly until passed.
Even new hires who just took the current harassment course must take the new one when implemented, he said. The exception may be members of Pitt’s bargaining units; the University is still figuring out whether to require the training for these employees, Greeno said.
—Marty Levine