Kantola Training Solutions, a leader in eLearning designed to change behavior and elevate corporate culture, today unveiled a comprehensive all-staff training course in Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI), developed in partnership with Littler, the world’s largest labor and employment law firm.
The course is designed to increase employees’ confidence with a topic that can often come with anxiety and tension, and to shape the conversation within an organization to foster a workplace that unequivocally embraces diversity and inclusion.
“We are proud to combine our deep knowledge in employment and labor law with Kantola’s skill in making complex subjects come to life in this interactive DEI eLearning solution,” said Britney Torres, a shareholder at Littler and member of the firm’s Diversity and Inclusion Council. “We are confident this will help organizations effect real change.”
This new initiative compliments Kantola’s Harassment Prevention course family in supporting the company’s commitment to making workplaces better, for everyone. Recognizing that employee training is just one critical component in effecting change, Kantola has also developed a companion leadership primer to guide organizations through the steps of building a successful DEI program.
Kantola’s interactive DEI course, which is available now, combines real scenarios, first-person interviews, discussion and exploration questions, exercises and instruction for an engaging and illuminating learner experience. Designed to meet this pivotal cultural moment, as companies focus on changing rhetoric and actions around crucial issues like race, gender, physical ability, social class and sexual orientation, this course is relevant to all levels of the organization.
It is designed to allow learners to “step into the shoes” of individuals with identities that are different from their own and learn about how others can experience the same workplace in very different ways. The curriculum covers multivariant diversity and teaches key definitions and concepts, including identities and perspectives, unconscious bias, microaggressions and forms of exclusion. The course concludes with a framework for proactively supporting others as a foundation for being an ally and advocate within a workplace.
Different groups of people experience the workplace differently. According to a recent survey by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), 20% of all employees in the United States felt undervalued and disrespected in the workplace, and the problem is even more significant for black workers, with one in three feeling that way. LGBTQ+ women reported yet a different experience with 40% of those surveyed for McKinsey’s Women in the Workplace 2020 Report feeling the need to provide extra evidence of their competence to counteract being undervalued in the workplace.
Increasingly, this disparity of experience is being recognized by companies, and according to the SHRM survey, 62% of HR professionals responding said their organizations plan to take action in the near future through “communication, education and financial investment.”
“As we continue to evolve our DEI strategy, we are relying on our trusted partner, Kantola, to help us create an inclusive environment where all employees feel seen and understood,” said a member of the Learning and Development team at Everside Health. “We truly believe Kantola is a valuable investment for any company because it educates, empowers and motivates employees, and provides real-life scenarios that can be appreciated at any level of the organization.”
As a leader in workplace culture solutions, Kantola’s eLearning trainings combine the latest generation of software-based interactive exercises to put learners in the driver’s seat where their choices matter. Learners will engage with exercises that require quick judgements, careful deliberation, and creative thinking. They’ll have a safe learning space, free of judgement, to see how their choices impact the lives of others in their workplace, giving them the opportunity to reflect and adjust their behavior.
Kantola’s eLearning solution makes training more effective, improves retention through real-world illustration, can be accessed anywhere, any time, on any device, and lowers the cost of employee training while delivering a consistent training experience and materials to organizations of any size.
“We are excited to bring this innovative, engaging training to market as part of our commitment to helping companies make their workplaces better, for everyone,” said Sarah Rowell, CEO of Kantola. “Good training can captivate and educate employees, and in turn bring about lasting change within an organization, change that is then carried out into the world.”
Kantola’s proprietary and industry-leading Learning Management System (LMS) is designed for easy and automated administration of online compliance training, at no added cost. Companies can customize their account, bulk upload learners, create training groups, add work locations, assign courses, track completion, send reminders and more. Administrators have access to a suite of reporting tools and a help center that includes step-by-step video tutorials.
As with their other workplace trainings, Kantola views this course as part of an initiative to help companies make workplaces more equitable and diverse and intends to continue to focus on innovation and development, augmenting the series with such topics as hiring and retaining diverse talent, standardizing and removing bias from evaluations and promotions, and creating an inclusive team culture.
