my boss wants me to go on a course, I don't want to waste my time AIBU?

[PersephoneSmith]

Please can you help me decide if I should just suck it up and attend or make a big deal about how I shouldn't have to do it?

Course is in person, about 3 hours in a classroom, in another city, so will mean expensive peak time train journey as well.

I wrote the course material and used to deliver the course for the company, before being promoted last year. I trained the person who now delivers the course.

My boss says I have to attend because 'it is mandatory'

AIBU?

if you have to travel there, the company should pay.
Clear that up first: they don't pay, you don't go.

Outside of that: why not? it's a few hours. Check if you get a certificate out of it too.

ETA: I mean, it's not as if it is going to be super strenuous if you wrote the materials. Just zone out.

Will they be paying your train fare?

Yeah company should pay travel. I'd also just go for a jolly - they get a tick in their box, you get a free lunch.

Loving the hilarity of you on the course that you wrote!

Mandatory because of a regulatory/legal requirement. Or mandatory because he said so?

Plenty of industries have mandatory requirements for an annual refresher of training, even for experts.

Either way, you should be able to expense the travel if the company is requiring you to attend.

That does seem crazy that you need to attend a course you used to deliver? It is something legally mandatory like safeguarding, first aid etc. Or 'company mandatory'?
I'm a paediatric health professional with 20 years experience, but still have to attend first aid training to 'tick the box'

Or sign in and then clear out again, and have a nose around the town.

Well if it's mandatory, it's mandatory. I don't understand why you have to pay the train fare though

I don't have to pay the train fare, sorry if it wasn't clear, but it is a waste of the company's money.
It is only company mandatory, no legal requirement.
I find the travelling so hugely stressful sometimes, maybe I should have added that in my OP. I guess if taking a train early in the morning to another city is easy for you to do, you wouldn't mind so much, but for me it's a right pain.

YABU. If it is company mandatory and you are being paid, including travel, you need to go, even if you just sit there and daydream for three hours. It's their money to waste 🤷‍♀️
If you don't want to go on the train specifically, can you get a coach instead? Or negotiate them getting you a room the night before to take the edge off the early morning travel. Worth a shot.

I think you just need to suck it up. It sounds like the issue is the train. Could you just drive it? Lots of companies encourage train use but sometimes it’s easier just to do it yourself and drive.

@PersephoneSmith you make a valid, rational point.

However I would just go, to keep my boss happy, It's not a biggie in the scheme of things.

Agree when PP, sounds like a bit of a waste of time but if it's "mandatory" just do it.
As for not wanting to waste the company's money on a train ticket; I can guarantee you that there is a lot more waste than a single train ticket! It'll be nothing to them.

Go, but make it clear that as you wrote the course material you will be feeding back on how it's presented.

They may not want you to go in that case

I'd make the most of having a day out of the office for a 3 hour course! Nice lunch, bit of shopping...

Just suck it up. It's mandatory, so why make it difficult for your boss.

You work for them, they pay for your time, you do what the ask you to do, in the time that they pay for, as long as it’s within your JD.

That’s the very nature of an employment contract.

You don’t work in a Democracy, you work in a hierarchy.

It’s not for you to decide, on behalf of the organisation, whether you go or not.

If it's a one off rather than an annual refresher, then it does seem absurd to send you if you wrote the course. If I felt like you do about the travel I'd certainly push back a bit. I'd consider kicking up more a real fuss if I was secure in my new position and confident my boss wouldn't hold it against me. Those are judgements no one MN will be able to make for you.

I still have to do the mandatory training that’s on my specialism (but is meant for everyone) I’m pretty senior as well, I do it because I can’t be telling other people to do it if I haven’t! Even if it is pretty pointless…

Guess it depends how regulated you are, I’m in the public sector. If you’re allowed to be a grown up about it common sense may prevail!

If it's mandatory to attend, you need to go. The reality is even if you wrote the content, they still need to mark your attendance. In our company not doing mandatory learning means you can't continue to work here so it's a big deal. There are many of us that think we are wasting our time attending the mandatory training but nobody cares and we just do it as it's mandatory. Our CEO does it too.

Can you book a seat and listen to some music etc or read a book

You wrote and delivered the course and now you have to attend it?

Surely you can evidence that you know the materials?

And that is the most bonkers, jobsworth attitude from your boss I've ever heard!

But what will she learn??

Surely she can evidence that she knows the material?

If their policy is that it's mandatory then they cannot make an exception for just one person.

I can see both sides. I used to deliver a training course that I wrote… and everyone had to listen to me annually. It would be a pain (but not impossible) to override the system saying I didn’t need to attend. But frankly if it had been over a year since the last delivery I would have had to go. I’d likely suck it up and have an easy day.