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?

Your carers normal working hours must be a valid reason to say you cannot get the train on time.. I wouldn't be offering up the fact they could come earlier!

I understand you wrote the training and I agree with you that it seems rather redundant making you do the training you wrote and coordinated.

If your boss is saying you need to do it though, I think it's a case of suck it and see.

You shouldn't be expected to travel for it though. They should be reducing and eliminating barriers for accessing their mandatory training. Presenteeism is not a reasonable request when to be present you would/could face additional unforeseeable barriers. Have they even made sure the venue is wheelchair accessible or done any sort of risk assessment and journey planning?

It's hard to know whether to laugh or cry usnt it. So utterly ridiculous.

WTF? No, of course you shouldn't be made to attend a course you literally wrote.

If this is indicative of a general lack of respect for your time and expertise, I'd start looking for another job tbh. This is farcical.

But if you’re an expert in the course; it likely won’t be hard for you to do what you need to do to pass. Surely you’re familiar enough with it where it won’t be a huge undertaking.

I’d see if I can negotiate remote attendance but I wouldn’t push back on the qualification itself. It’s the easiest qualification you will gain, given how well you know the material.

Where does it say the OP will get a qualification out of it?

I'm astonished at the number of posters here who think it's fine for the OP's time to be wasted like this.

So what if the boss wants her to do it. They are plainly being ridiculous.

Why are people so encouraging of telling lies.
If being deceitful is in your nature it's easy I guess.

Good to see OP has decided to go. If it's company policy, just get it done and put of the way.

Why shouldn't I lie to someone who has so little respect for my time?

No, it's not good if she goes. Her boss is being utterly unreasonable.

Jesus, you can tell this country didn't have a revolution. Bet the French wouldn't stand for this!

Can they do special accommodation either by paying for a taxi or change the time of the course to a little bit later in the day?

No revolution has any bearing on your morals.

Why is it good? We should be challenging stupid, no benefit, company policies.

Why does it need to be good for you?
I think it's good, you don't, end of.

Oh op, this is really shitty! No, I would not be going! The travelling sounds stressful and utterly unpleasant and the reasons for you to attend ridiculous. The request is completely unreasonable and if once explained my boss didn't get that, then I would escalate it higher. Please do not attend. If the box tick really is required then a remote option needs to be explored.

Yes if it's mandatory you need to go! Mandatory training is usually the sort that you go on a refresher for every year. If you used to deliver the course you should ace it. Just have it as an easy day.

Yabu. It’s mandatory and your boss told you to go. Go.

I don’t disagree with your logic but you don’t make the rules here.

A) Does your boss know you wrote the course, used to give the course, and you trained the present trainer?

B) You make it sound as though it would cost you money. If it's a company training course, they should pay all your expenses!

C) If it's mandatory for all staff, then it's mandatory, however bloidy stupid that is. If you HAVE to attend, treat it as a day off, take a book to read on the train, make sure you get expenses to cover all food and travel, and enjoy the trainer squirming in embarrassment when he/she realises you are in the audience.

No no no you don’t have to suck it up

as others have said - reasonable adjustments.

It’s quite unreasonable and stressful for you to have to piss about for a non legally required 3 hour course - that you wrote and trained the course leader in - absolutely bloody ridiculous. It’s putting you at a disadvantage because of the additional hassle the travelling has for you for something completely unnecessary

either you do it via teams or you don’t do it all

boss may not have considered this but tell him that you can’t go to course in person and you need a reasonable adjustment.

Clearly it’s a waste of time. I’d argue it and if necessary get my previous boss whom I worked for when I produced that material to note that my mandatory training in that subject was completed.

Could you explain to your bos about the travel and ask if you can log in remotely from your office to join the training

As you do the training yourself, I assume you're familiar with the legal requirements around it. So check whether it actually is mandatory for someone in your position. If it isn't, provide chapter and verse to your employers and tell them you won't be going.

The important issues have been well covered. I just want to add something possibly light hearted in a way, but I think might give OP some satisfaction.

If after attending the course you are asked to give feedback, as attendees often are, please give glowing praise to the course content and note it was written by you. Some one might pick up on how ridiculous it was to make your attendance mandatory. If they do and have the gumption to admit that to you, ask for a day off in lieu.

There are some very good suggestions here, thank you all.
To answer a couple of questions, no one has ever suggested they need to do a risk assessment for my travel, it’s really not a thing. It sounds infantilising.

There’s a fine line between asking for adjustments and for things like special taxis to be provided, and being seen as the needy disabled pain in the arse. I’m sure I’m not the only wheelchair user who prefers to keep my head under the parapet.

it will cost me extra for the carer to come early, there’s a knock on effect, as she then has to use her childminder to take her kids to school rather than do it herself. Asking for this money back from the company would be a big example of head above parapet.

There’s nothing legal or required about the training course. It is a lesson on how to best use our proprietary software. There are no refresher courses. Like riding a bike, once you know how to do it, job done. My boss is fully aware that I wrote the training material.

I'd be fascinated to see a course I'd written being given by someone else. I'd like to discover what they bring to it. I'd want to see what bits worked well and not so well, depending on how they were delivered. I'd be interested in whether any of it had dated. I'd like to think I'd left room for the presenter to bring in their own stuff and to adapt the material to their own style.

In fact, now I start to ponder it, I think it should be mandatory for the writers of courses to attend them once a year.

I’m not sure who suggested risk assessments- but there needs to be a degree of risk assessment for anyone and anything really … it’s enshrined in law so if for some reason your travel arrangements were inherently unsafe then that does need to be factored in

for example asking an epileptic to get a train at 6 in the morning from Manchester to London to be present for a meeting when they would probably normally get up at 7 to start work locally at 9 - unacceptable risk - risk assessment would therefore dictate a reasonable adjustment of travelling down the day before and staying overnight on expenses. Or attending remotely.

someone else mentioned checking the venue is accessible. This also means a risk assessment. Can you easily leave if there was an emergency evacuation ?

I get that you are very independent but people are only trying to help with suggestions. I don’t think they are trying to infantilise the situation or cause offence.

and no - asking for the additional cost to cover the additional care is not putting your head above the parapet!! The meeting is creating a disadvantage, the costs should be met!

going back to the example with epilepsy above, if the person needed someone to accompany them in case of illness, then those persons costs should also be met.

By not holding the company to account for the adjustments they are legally obliged to make then you make the process harder for the people that follow you.

have you actually told your boss that attending the course will cause disadvantage because of the barriers it creates or have you just said you don’t want to go because you feel it’s pointless??

Would the company let you travel up the night before in off-peak times and stay in a hotel? Forget about the cost, it's not coming out of your pocket.