'Sounds optional to me': Employee declines optional training course, boss reprimands her, claims it was mandatory to attend

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Ben Weiss • Writer and Editor
Oct 5, 2024 8:00 AM EDT

Look, if a work event is mandatory, then employers need to be transparent about it. Time is valuable for everyone, and saying that employees are "strongly encouraged" to participate in an extracurricular activity does not exactly mean that it's required. The only way in which employers could possibly think those concepts mean the same thing is if they have a backward sense of authority and control over their subordinates.

Here, we have an employee who received an email about a training course from HR that she was "strongly encouraged" to attend. Unfortunately, that week, they were swamped with other work-related obligations and opted not to attend to do her regular job. Well, after the meeting, her boss suddenly decided to claim it was mandatory for her to go and reprimanded her for ignoring the event. As one can imagine, the employee quickly began looking for other job opportunities soon thereafter.

Keep scrolling below for the full story and for the best reactions from folks in the comments section. For more, check out this post about a new hire whose hours and requests were not honored.

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    Safari File Edit View History Bookmarks De = M Gmail Q Search mail Compose 4 C: Primary
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    This image is for illustration only, and the subjects are models; the image does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

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    In trouble because apparently emails that say, "We encourage everyone to take advantage of this opportunity," and
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    "why you should attend?" means MANDATORY.
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    I was sent an email last month, of "an exciting training opportunity," from HR. The subject title
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    says it's an "invitation to crucial conversations training." It gave points. on what the course
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    covered, followed with a separate paragraph stating, "why you should attend," with several reasons why.
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    To attend, I needed to register and confirm my attendance via the email.
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    "We encourage everyone to take advantage of this opportunity." That's nice,
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    sounds optional to me. I did not register and declined the appointment for my Outlook.
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    Now I gotta provide answers as to why I wasn't in attendance for today's MANDATORY training, instead of ya know... Working.
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    I've been applying to jobs for a month and I can't wait to leave this place.
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    badho... 19h ago • • Tell them that you hope HR took the training because they failed that crucial conversation by making it sound optional to overworked employees.
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    Intere... 18h ago • The only answer is that the email states they encourage you to go not that it's mandatory. If they
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    expect you to be there they need to be clear that it's mandatory and not "encouraged".
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    Abrup... • 17h ago. HR offered training. My supervisor did not include it in my tasks. I'll let HR take that up with my supervisor.
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    NoSha... 19h ago • That sounds really frustrating! It's wild how they say "invitation" but mean mandatory.
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    Just stick to your gos and explain your misunderstanding; it's not your fault they weren't clear.
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    • Unhap... 16h ago • A response could be something like. I had work to do and when I saw the "Invitation" to this
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    "opportunity" I in no way thought it was a required, compulsory or mandatory piece of training that you had to prioritise over work.
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    My reason for interpreting the "invitation" to this "opportunity" in this way is largely because the words:
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    Compulsory, Mandatory, Required, None of these words were in the mail you received and you are required to do the job you are paid for
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    and required to do as per your contract. As you didn't have "spare" time to attend something that you didn't know was mandatory you cannot be held accountable.
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    You could suggest the enquiry goes to HR as to why they decided to give you the option to attend.
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    You could also point out regardless of if you were the only one that didn't attend that they are lucky some of so many others didn't hace work to do and that attendance was so good.
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