Sensitivity Training In The Workspace- Why Does It Matter?

Sensitivity training in the workplace is given to employees to make them realize their attitudes and behavior with other people. By doing this, companies train their employees to be respectful, understanding, and sensitive towards employees of different races, religions, traditions, and cultures. Furthermore, sensitivity training makes the workspace environment a more comfortable, open, and constructive place to work in.

An organization's primary motive to conduct sensitivity training is to make its employees accept diversity in the workspace. This is a crucial step most of the company takes because it helps enhance the interpersonal relationships between employees. Also, it benefits everybody by creating an emotionally attached yet correct behavioral environment.

Why Does Sensitivity Matter in the Workspace?

Sensitivity training is an act through which employees could learn the principles of diversity. By doing this, the company ensures that the counseling methods involved benefit the employee by making him self-aware about his character and creating a feeling of sensitivity towards other people. But how can sensitivity be defined in the correct concept?

Technically, sensitivity is not all about diversity. It is a concept that teaches about fostering a culture of respect, integrity, and accountability towards everyone. In fact, being in a surrounding full of sensitive people is much better than being in a crowd of insensitive and undiversified people. So, to help diversify your surroundings, here are the reasons that prove that sensitivity matters in the workspace.

• By creating a comfortable environment to work in, the employee begins to free up his time spent worrying about disrespectful behavior and pressure. Ultimately, this time is utilized for completing his work, thus improving productivity.

• Sensitivity enhances customer relations by helping the employees treat everyone as a potential sale. This turns into converting every potential customer into a dedicated client.

• A positive working environment is all it takes to enhance employees' potential. Working with no pressure improves morale and performance, particularly of diversified employees.

• Through diversity, new ideas for innovation are kept on the round table. Thus, more people from different backgrounds and locations, more ideas and suggestions, and ultimately an increased chance of finding a good solution.

• A happy environment is what destroys complaints and grievances. Hence, adapting to sensitivity could make the workplace more pleasant and enjoyable to work in.

• Being treated uncomfortably is what leads to a conflict between two employees. This fight could result in the termination of both the employees. Hence, preventing it is the best choice, which is only possible through diversity.

How to Implement Sensitivity Training in the Workspace?

Sensitivity training in the workspace is not all about giving theoretical information about abuses or harassment. It also includes real-life training on dealing with challenging personalities, upscaling your emotional understanding, and making the gossip turn your way. Furthermore, to master these abilities, it is essential to conduct rigorous sensitivity training in which the employees participate passionately. Hence, here are some tips and tricks to implement sensitivity in the workplace to make it happen.

• Make sure everyone knows clear expectations on what kinds of behavior will not be tolerated. Avoid only providing negative examples, as that fosters an environment of doing the minimum, and list behaviors considered highly successful and emulated.

• Talking through your preferences with a career coach or counselor can help, making you aware of where the problems are so you can consciously correct them. Learning to understand and accept your own mistakes is necessary through sensitivity training. Although it is not the only thing, traditional group training and individual coaching are also available in the market. Yet, sensitivity training is the most preferable choice.

• Teaching individuals the drawback of communicating with people of different backgrounds could help avoid misunderstandings. Understanding is fundamental if you bring in employees from overseas or even from another part of the country. It would help if you also educated yourself on differences in communication and body language.

• Examine the behavior and encourage others to do the same. Work out on activities that annoy you, such as gossip, not returning phone calls, or meetings running late. Then develop upscaling strategies to handle these workouts so that they don't cause you as much of a problem.

•  It is vitally important that the HR department contains professionals who can adequately handle and assess conflicts. When making tough decisions, ensure that high company representatives make them with sensitivity and respect in communication.

• Provide training that develops sensitivity "skills" rather than just listing good and bad things to do, especially for human resources, managers, and salespeople. Making your employees develop the skill to read the communication and cultural differences results in a boosted performance of each employee, thus increasing the company's productivity and the employee's confidence towards the work.

• Arranging cultural talks in the office, conducted by outsiders or by the internal employees with different backgrounds, could help the employees arriving from overseas to talk about their own culture, etiquette, etc. This should go past the regular basic etiquette training.

• Give the employees free time on non-standard holidays. For better understanding, consider this example; if your office has several employees with different religions like Hindu or Muslim, put in the dates of major Muslim and Hindu holidays. Furthermore, make sure to insert national and religious holidays for overseas clients. But, be careful not to create a vast amount of holidays because it will degrade the company's overall performance.

Can Sensitivity Training be Done Online?

Sensitivity training is not necessarily for people who have a problem at the workspace or have experienced that "incident." Instead, it is a part of ongoing efforts to improve the office environment and integrate it into a pleasant routine training. Consider the current blueprint of your office and develop a sensitivity training program that will enhance productivity and sales. But can a sensitivity training program be done online?

The answer is a big Yes. The courses present for sensitivity training are as vast as the ocean's depth. These courses are also effective in making the person adapt to diversity. Furthermore, the foundational section of the study explains core concepts related to diversity, inclusion, sensitivity, racial bias and racism, providing practical steps to help employees choose inclusive actions, improve cultural competency and address unconscious bias.

This course explains what microaggressions are and their effect on others, providing guidance for responding to microaggressions positively and effectively. The study further emphasizes the role of workplace sensitivity and civility in promoting a respectful culture.

Furthermore, it focuses on understanding, recognizing and managing unconscious bias in the workplace and the relationship between it and discrimination.

Final Words

Sensitivity is a vital concept to be adapted, and it helps in increasing understanding, recognition and diversity in the workplace. Furthermore, it helps the individual learn about his own behavior towards other people and teaches to be respectful and polite to other employees who belong to different races, colors, genders, religions, etc. 

Also, conducting sensitivity training in the workplace helps create a safe environment. It boosts the overall performance of the employee. Sensitivity training educates members about constructive behavior towards everybody working in the organization by developing acceptable and correct behavioral and emotional actions.