Best Sensitivity Training Programs 2024

Employee training in diversity and sensitivity is vital for a company. But do you know where to start?

Sensitivity and diversity training is the answer, but it’s hard to find the best program for Sensitivity training. Sensitivity training courses are not one-size-fits-all, and different types can address specific needs.

This blog post will help you decide which diversity training programs are suitable for you or your employees so that they’ll learn what they need to know about diversity to grow your business.

What are the Best Sensitivity Training Programs?

Let’s explore some best sensitivity and diversity training programs available in the marketplace; then, you can decide which one is right for your business.

1. HR Diversity and Inclusion Certification Program by HR University

Price: $299

Duration: 20 hours

HR University specializes in HR management and sensitivity & diversity training and offers an excellent HR Diversity and Inclusion Certification program. It is an instructor-led course ideal for beginners and seasoned HR professionals. It also comes with instructor feedback on your capstone project to ensure you can implement effective sensitivity training programs in your organization.

HR University’s Diversity and Inclusion Training Program teaches you the best practices and HR techniques to encourage workplace diversity.

The diversity training materials consist of:

• Short videos
• Interviews with diversity training experts
• Assessments
• Tutorial videos
• Over 90 lectures
• Instructor feedback
• Case studies

The diversity training program is excellent for business owners who want to encourage diversity and inclusion to improve their work environment. HR managers and new employees can also benefit from this course.

One of the main features of this diversity course is that it teaches you how to handle tough conversations and difficult questions involving sensitivity and diversity in the workplace.

The diversity training program includes the following training topics:

• Micro behaviors
• categories of diversity
• Unconscious and conscious bias
• Different types of bias and bias consequences
• Diversity management
• Microaggression management
• Different types of harassment
• Workplace bullying
• sexual orientation
• People with disabilities

2. Culture-Driven Team Building Specialization on Coursera

Price: Free to Enroll with Paid Certificate

Duration: Self-paced (3hrs/week Avg.)

Coursera is a massive online learning platform that offers courses from top universities to anyone worldwide. The University of Pennsylvania offers this Culture-Driven Team Building Specialization course. The Ivy League school, Penn, is one of the US’s oldest institutions of higher education.

This specialization caters specifically to team leaders and managers. Who learn the skills to form, lead and manage diverse teams more effectively. It includes modules on how to build cultural sensitivity in teams.

This comprehensive specialization program also includes skills related to conflict management, motivation, and establishing rules.

• A self-paced online course
• You get a shareable certificate

67% of students who complete this program start new careers, and 50% say they have been promoted or given a raise.

There are five modules within this specialization, culminating in a capstone where you will apply the skills learned to an actual team culture case from N2Growth.

You can learn more about the course here.

3. Sensitivity Training Course by Oculus

Price: Custom Pricing or $162/Month Membership-Smart Package

Duration: Depends on Individual Plans

Canada-based Oculus Training Group is one of the most prominent brands that supply various services to help organizations be more competitive, from customer service to employee development. As a fusion of many worlds, such as customer service programs, sales experience work, and human resources consulting, they offer a wide variety of courses and workshops to target your company’s specific needs, including their sensitivity training program.

They provide three options:

1. Trainer-led training at your location
2. Webinars
3. Pre-recorded E-Learning

There are many courses in sensitivity and diversity training programs available to help support and direct your staff with various concerns. These sensitivity and diversity training sessions allow your team members to learn about themselves and situational factors in their workplace—your session tailors to your needs.

Some key features of the courses:

• 100% Customization
• Online Availability
• Desktop Work Tools
• Standard Operating Procedures

4. DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION Cornell Certificate Program

Price: $950/4 months

Duration: 2 Weeks

Cornell University offers a variety of high-quality sensitivity and workplace diversity training programs in their online e-Cornell University program. The faculty of Cornell University develop all diversity training courses with insights from professionals.

They offer four courses compiled towards developing consistent sensitivity standards and policies that promote engagement levels while encouraging workplace diversity.

Some distinctive features of their diversity and inclusion course include:

• Instructor-led course: Subject matter experts guide and provide challenges for thoughts and actions, and help tie your concepts into real-world job scenarios.
• Flexible schedule for busy professionals: Courses are offered at your convenience and fit into any schedule.
• Group learning: Each class is a transformative experience with fellow learners from diverse backgrounds. One hallmark of the diversity training course is the opportunity for group discussion, which helps classmates exchange insights and practices.

You can learn more about their diversity and inclusion course here.

5. Diversity & Sensitivity in the Workplace for Employees/Supervisors by Compliance Training Group

Price: $19.99

Duration: 1 hour

Compliance Training Group is a national employment background screening and compliance training company headquartered in the Greater Los Angeles area that provides services to executives, supervisors, and employees. They are multi-certified, with services ranging from Human Resources to workplace compliance training.

Their sensitivity and diversity training tackle cultural differences and various diversity issues. It helps participants become aware of other cultures and lifestyles to increase empathy among co-workers. The diversity training program aims to enlighten employees and management with knowledge about how prejudice and unconscious bias contribute to employee behavior. It is an excellent course to understand how diversity works.

Some topics covered at the training are:

• Conscious or unconscious racial & cultural biases
• Inclusion & equal opportunity
• Discrimination laws, tackling language discrimination or gender-based or sexual harassment
• Religious accommodation
• Stereotypes & disparate treatment
• Employee rights
• Avoiding legal exposure
• Suggestions & practical examples of best practices
• Activities- such as discussion scenarios, interactive quizzes, games

Many more programs are available catering to diversity, inclusiveness, equity, sensitivity, and bias.

6. Professional Certificate in Inclusive Leadership by Catalyst

Price: $132

Duration: Self-paced (1-2 Hrs/week average)

Catalyst is a renowned organization providing virtual learning workshops and courses for organizations of all sizes. One of their recent offerings, aimed at leaders in today’s marketplace, is on diversity and inclusion.

The Inclusive Leadership Professional Certificate is an online program offered by Catalyst to help managers build the necessary skills for inclusivity and create diversity awareness. It provides students with detailed case studies, lectures, discussions, and assessments.

The goal is to learn inclusive leadership skills that can take your diverse team to the next level of performance and apply in any setting.

This program has three training courses:

1. Becoming a Successful Leader
2. Get Beyond Work-Life Balance
3. Leading with Effective Communication

Enroll in Catalyst’s Certificate in Inclusive Leadership program and learn more about becoming a leader who values human diversity, upholds inclusion as imperative for organizational success, and understands how differences enhance group intelligence and increase understanding among people with divergent perspectives.

The course is self-paced, with flexible deadlines. Most students can finish the course in about three months.

7. Identify and Overcome Unconscious Bias by AMA

Price: $1,245

Duration: 1 Hour

The American Management Association (AMA) is an international nonprofit, membership-based company that provides a variety of management development and educational services to members. AMA offers individuals and organizations the knowledge, skills, and tools to achieve innovation and excellence.

Its Identify and Overcome Unconscious Bias Course is suitable for all professionals in the workplace who want to promote an inclusive environment and understand the importance of the effects of unconscious bias.

The course teaches how to manage diversity and unconscious bias to increase employee satisfaction. The program is suitable for both employers and employees.

The course covers:

• Defining bias
• Understanding biases
• Overcoming bias through dialogue and decision making
• Understanding allies
• Becoming an ally
• Action planning

Available as both an online and in-person class, this diversity training course is a one-hour-long lesson. You can choose your location and schedule to best fit your needs. Discounts are also available for members of the American Management Association.

8. Communicating with Diverse Audiences at Future Learn

Price: Free to join for 1st 6 weeks

Duration: 4 Weeks

The FutureLearn portal is an online education service that offers many free courses from top universities and institutions worldwide. They are a free nonprofit platform dedicated to making learning accessible for everyone.

Communicating with Diverse Audience course by the University of Surrey explores how to communicate among different audiences and peers, specifically those who are culturally diverse. This unique perspective can be beneficial for anyone looking to broaden their horizons.

• Endorsed by CPD Certification Service
• A series of steps, including daily and weekly activities
• Self-paced program
• This diversity training course includes videos, articles, audio, and interactive exercises

The class teaches strategies that communicators can use when communicating among diverse peers and audiences—including how language impacts communication barriers between people from different cultural backgrounds. Once enrolled in this online program, you can join international classrooms where learners worldwide will interact with one another on similar topics.

9. Diversity and Inclusion in Retail by EDApp

Price: Free

Duration: 5 to 10 minutes per lesson

EdApp is a mobile-friendly and free training platform. It offers unlimited lessons and analytical tools, with the freedom to tailor the program according to your needs.

Their Diversity and Inclusion in Retail Course covers topics and information marketing managers, and employees need to know to provide a safe and inclusive retail environment.

The program teaches to pay attention to implicit bias in conversations, handling high-stress conditions when dealing with customers, adjusting attitudes, and taking proper steps to collect customer feedback, including apologizing for any inconvenience and recording their complaints.

Because the micro-lessons take only a few minutes, your employees can complete these lessons in a break.

Conclusion: As the world becomes increasingly more diverse, everyone needs to understand how to respect and communicate with people who differ. These programs can help individuals learn about their biases and prejudices while teaching others about theirs. We can all work together toward a society where diversity isn’t a threat but an opportunity. Every organization should include sensitivity training in its employee onboarding process so that every person knows what they need to do to ensure there is no discrimination or harassment on the job.

You can learn more about their sensitivity training program here.

FAQ

What is Sensitivity Training?

Sensitivity and diversity training courses create an inclusive and safe environment for all employees in the workplace. These types of training help people realize their biases and come up with ways to avoid them, as well as educate them on different cultures that may be unfamiliar.

What are Different Types of Sensitivity Training?

There are different sensitivity training courses for a company to choose from:

• Sensitivity Training about race and ethnicity
• Sensitivity Training about sexual orientation or gender identity Diversity & Inclusion Training Programs
• Sensitivity training to overcome biases
• Sensitivity training about disabilities

What are the Benefits of Sensitivity Training?

Many companies understand the importance of incorporating sensitivity training into their company culture.

Sensitivity training is educating employees about how to be sensitive and aware of others’ thoughts, feelings, cultural backgrounds, beliefs, etc. Sensitivity training is essential for any organization because it can help avoid future conflict in the workplace. It also helps make your company more inclusive, leading to a more productive workforce.

For example, in a study by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation, it was found that LGBTQ-inclusive policies such as nondiscrimination protections and gender-neutral restrooms lead to higher retention rates among LGBTQ workers.

Sensitivity training can benefit your business by helping you avoid conflict that could hurt productivity and lead to less engaged employees. If your company wants to become more diverse, focus more on workplace sensitivity training. Sensitivity training is an essential element in today’s corporate culture.

What Should Take Sensitivity Training?

• The first step in sensitivity training is increasing awareness of one’s biases and stereotypes.
• Followed by understanding how they can affect perceptions and decisions.
• Acknowledge differences in people, cultures, and lifestyles is a good way. To do this, the program should provide participants with a framework for examining their beliefs about different groups.
• It also helps to have an interactive component that allows people to practice new behaviors and skills.
• Once a learner has identified the problem, they need to find out why it exists and who benefits from it.
• After that, participants should create an action plan for change with concrete steps to achieve the desired outcome.
• Good training should ensure everyone knows their roles, so they know what they need to do when things don’t go as planned.
• Finally, it’s essential to be aware of the limitations of these programs – there are no guarantees that they will work or last long-term if used alone.

How to Become a Certified Sensitivity Trainer?

There is no one right way to become a certified Sensitivity Trainer. Most importantly, you’re passionate about the work and committed to ongoing professional development. It’s never too late to earn your certification—you can start today.

• Get a certificate from an accredited institution or course provider
• Evaluate your strengths and skills and choose what you are best at teaching
• Work with an experienced certified trainer to further polish your teaching methods
• Keep up with industry news on Sensitivity Trainers

You’ll be on your way from being just another trainer or coach into a proper sensitivity trainer.

Josh Fechter

Josh Fechter is the founder of The Product Company and a partner at Product Manager HQ.