Knowing the line
New KPA service provides sexual harassment awareness training on-line for its membership

By DAVID GREER
Member Services Director

The Kentucky Press Association is ready to begin its newest member service ­ online sexual harassment training for employees of member newspapers.

To offer the service, KPA has affiliated with New Media Learning of Napa, Calif., an online-training provider. KPA’s board voted for the association to pay the initial license fee but for newspapers to pay for their employees’ training ­ not to exceed $10 per employee. And the cost could be lower depending on the number of signups.

The first step for each newspaper wanting to participate is to e-mail its flag and sexual harassment policy to New Media Learning no later than June 23. Arlene Gunter, New Media Learning’s vice president of sales, said papers meeting the deadline will be ready to begin online training and testing by July 1.

Flags and policies should be e-mailed to Gunter at arlene.gunter@newmedialearning.com. At first, papers will be added to the training web site on a monthly basis. Later, that will probably change to quarterly.

Kentucky New Era publisher Taylor Hayes, a KPA board member, first brought the idea to the full board.

“I have been researching a feasible solution to address ongoing training on this issue for the last six months,” Hayes told board members in October. “Upon speaking with several HR managers whose organizations are using online sexual harassment training, I am sold on the concept.”

Another publisher sold on it is Randy Fuqua of the News Democrat & Leader in Russellville, owned by Heartland Publications. Fuqua’s paper became the first large-scale KPA user.

“We’re very pleased,” Fuqua said. “It’s a wonderful way to offer training. It’s affordable and it’s very practical. For the price, you can’t go wrong.

“It gives you centralized billing and recordkeeping. It’s very affordable and easy to do.”

Because the News Democrat & Leader is a KPA member, all 27 Heartland Publications papers spread across six states were eligible to sign up for the service. More than 100 Heartland employees have taken the online training and test, Fuqua said.

Larger papers often offer sexual harassment training to employees in a classroom setting. But that might not be a good option for smaller papers, Fuqua said. And in a classroom setting, people’s minds may wander. Online training allows employees to take the training at their work computer with no travel time or distractions. Exempt employees can take the training and test on their own time although Heartland permitted everyone to participate during work hours, Fuqua said.

Human resource professionals agree that providing sexual harassment training and testing strengthens an employer’s position if a sexual harassment issue does ever arise.

It typically takes about 40 minutes for an employee to receive the training and complete the online test. When first signing onto the web site, an employee will see a greeting and general message from KPA. Later in the program, a “choice” page can be inserted that permits employees to identify their employer through a drop-down menu. Then the sexual harassment policy for that specific paper appears. When the employee finishes reading their paper’s policy, they will be taken back to the main program.

After completing the course, the employee enters their name and takes a brief multiple-choice test on the material. A drop-down menu will allow them to enter the name of their paper. After completing the test, the employee can print a certificate that states they completed the KPA Preventing Sexual Harassment Training Program. The certificate is given to the employer where it’s kept on file.

Each participating paper will receive a monthly employee course-completion report via e-mail.

Online training offers several benefits:

• Low cost compared to traditional on-site training sessions led by a trainer.

• Immediate availability for newly hired employees. Traditional on-site training is often conducted annually which means some new employees could go nearly a year before being trained.

• Employees are tested on the material covered and employers can set a minimum passing score.

• Company-owned papers offering on-site sexual harassment training might find the online training to be an excellent supplement to what they already offer.

KPA will bill participating newspapers or the paper’s corporate office one month after the newspaper sends its flag and harassment policy to New Media. Additional billings may be necessary as more of the newspaper's employees complete the training.

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