Planning 2027 harassment training starts with understanding your workforce. Where do employees work? Who supervises others? What resources will help employees recognize concerns and respond appropriately?
Answering these questions early can help you build a harassment prevention training plan that fits your organization and gives employees practical guidance they can use throughout the year.
Use this checklist to organize your 2027 planning.
1. Confirm where employees work
Start with an accurate picture of your workforce’s locations, including employees who work remotely or across multiple sites.
- Each employee’s primary work location.
- Home locations for remote and hybrid employees.
- Employees who regularly work in more than one jurisdiction.
- New offices, acquisitions, or planned workforce moves.
- Employees outside the United States who need locally relevant training.
Work with HR and your legal or compliance team to determine which requirements apply. State, city, and country requirements can differ, so a single course assignment may not fit every employee. Do not assume an employee’s home address or your headquarters location alone determines the appropriate assignment.
Planning question: Can your employee data reliably support the training assignments you need to make?
2. Verify employee and manager roles
Your training plan should reflect what employees are responsible for, especially when they supervise others or receive workplace concerns.
- Current employee and supervisor classifications.
- Employees recently promoted into management.
- Team leads or others whose responsibilities need closer review.
- Managers who supervise employees across multiple locations.
- HR staff and others who receive or investigate reports.
Beyond course assignments, consider what managers need to practice. A manager who receives a concern should understand how to respond, where to escalate it, and why promising confidentiality or handling the issue independently can create problems.
Planning question: Does your manager training prepare people to respond when an employee comes forward?
3. Review applicable training requirements
Before selecting courses or setting deadlines, confirm the requirements that apply to your workforce for the upcoming training cycle.
- Required training frequency and duration.
- Deadlines for new hires and newly appointed supervisors.
- Required topics, examples, and interactive elements.
- Instructor or delivery requirements, where applicable.
- Language and accessibility needs.
- Documentation and record retention requirements.
Assign someone to verify requirements before launch and monitor changes during the year. Use official jurisdiction resources, such as New York State’s employer guide to sexual harassment prevention, as part of that review. Confirm the rules for every relevant location rather than applying one state’s guidance across your workforce.
Planning question: Who owns the requirements review, and when will it be completed?
4. Check that the content reflects your workplace
Employees need to recognize how harassment, inappropriate conduct, and retaliation can arise in their own working environment.
- In person, remote, and hybrid work.
- Email, messaging platforms, and video meetings.
- Customer, vendor, and contractor interactions.
- Business travel and work related social events.
- Different levels of authority and workplace influence.
Look for clear, realistic examples that help employees understand expectations and decide what to do. The EEOC’s promising practices for preventing harassment recommend interactive training tailored to the workplace and audience.
Planning question: Will employees recognize their working environment in the training?
5. Connect training to your policies and reporting resources
Training should help employees find support when they need it. Before launch, check that the course and related communications point to accurate, accessible resources.
- Your harassment prevention and nonretaliation policies are current.
- Reporting contacts, links, and phone numbers work.
- Employees understand the available reporting channels.
- Guidance explains how to raise a concern involving a direct supervisor.
- Managers know how to escalate reports.
- Translated policies and resources are available where needed.
Explain what employees can expect after raising a concern without promising a specific outcome or absolute confidentiality. The EEOC’s prevention guidance also addresses accessible reporting options and protecting privacy to the extent possible while allowing a thorough investigation.
Planning question: Could an employee quickly find a reporting option after completing the course?
6. Plan for language, accessibility, and access
A course is useful only if employees can access and understand it.
- The languages employees need to learn effectively.
- Captions, transcripts, and other accessibility features.
- Access for employees without a company email address or dedicated computer.
- Device compatibility and login instructions.
- Time and space for employees to complete training.
- A clear contact for technical or training questions.
Test the experience from the learner’s perspective, including any translated or accessible versions you plan to assign.
Planning question: What could prevent an employee from successfully completing the training?
7. Prepare assignments, communications, and records
Build the delivery process before announcing the program.
- Course assignments based on verified locations and roles.
- Completion deadlines and reminder schedules.
- A process for new hires, promotions, transfers, and leaves of absence.
- Clear employee instructions explaining why the training matters.
- Manager visibility into outstanding assignments.
- Completion records and a process for resolving assignment errors.
If you use an LMS, test a sample of employee records before launch. Include remote employees, managers, and people working across locations to check that assignment rules behave as intended.
Planning question: How will you catch an incorrect assignment before it reaches a learner?
8. Reinforce expectations throughout the year
Your training program provides a foundation. Employees also benefit from reminders that keep expectations and reporting resources visible.
- Respectful behavior in everyday interactions.
- How to raise a concern.
- How managers should respond to a report.
- Recognizing and preventing retaliation.
- Expectations during team events, travel, and online communication.
Use employee questions and appropriate, aggregated feedback to identify topics that need clarification. Completion data can show who finished training, but it cannot establish whether employees feel comfortable speaking up.
Planning question: What will help employees remember and apply the training after completion?
Start with the workforce, then build the program
A practical 2027 harassment training plan connects accurate workforce information, relevant learning, accessible resources, and reliable administration.
Begin by confirming locations and roles. Then review applicable requirements, evaluate the learning experience, and make sure employees know where to turn for help.
Ethiciti’s Harassment Prevention Program offers employee and manager training with options for different workforce locations and customization to reflect your organization’s policies and culture.
This checklist provides general planning information and is not legal advice. Verify current requirements with your legal or compliance team before assigning training.
