I would love to hear views on should you make Diversity & Inclusion training mandatory? Why or why not? Thanks for any feedback.

I think there should be 2 tiers. A mandatory session that covers the basics, outlines how it supports your company core values, and why it's important to create a workplace that is safe (physically and psychologically) for all people. Beyond that, there are a lot of more in-depth courses that you can offer to employees through LinkedIn Learning and other platforms.

I think everyone should get to learn their fellow co workers and their backgrounds. Worse thing that happens is you learn something new and you get educated about their background.

We are requiring it … but the training isn’t good and wasn’t done by a professional D&I person

I would incorporate it in other courses that align with company culture/values so it’s always associated together. For DE&I specific courses I would leave as voluntary but I would make sure that key leaders are talking about it with their teams as promo. It’s sometimes hard to believe because we live DE&I but for some people, embracing this is new and not their top priority. Anything mandatory can always be taken wrong or approached with great skepticism. I always stick to leaving compliance as the only mandatory attendance for team members.

I can not see any justification for not providing mandatory DE&I training. As an earlier post explained, maybe two tiers. Perhaps all colleague and leadership.

I do think it should be mandatory in the sense that everyone should have access to the information about diversity and inclusion but maybe taking a different approach instead of saying that it’s a training may do the trick — sometimes “training” comes with a negative connotation.

I agree that it should be foundational in all onboarding, not just one distinct course

I think you should focus on the why it is important first. What are the outcomes you are trying to achieve? Is there a need for it? Has there been any incidents? Sometimes we jump to training without doing root cause analysis. I wouldn't always assume that training is the answer. Knowing and doing are not linked. People know if they exercise and eat healthy they will lose weight, but they don't necessarily do these things. Just because you have provided the knowledge on diversity and inclusion, doesn't mean people will apply it. You should instead focus on the pillars/principles that make a workplace diverse and inclusive and build that into your culture strategy. Diversity and Inclusion is not a tickbox exercise, if you want to get it right, you need to build it into the culture and work.

https://hbr.org/2016/07/why-diversity-programs-fail

We are making the initial “workshops” mandatory because it is important. We are also holding round table discussions that are optional once everyone understands the why and what.

Yes. It’s everyone’s responsibility to weave DEI into the daily fabric of our roles, regardless of where we are in the organization. Again: Equity is everyone’s responsibility. Start at leadership and develop programs for every level and as appropriate to each discipline whenever/however possible.