TikTok users can't stop dunking on cheesy HR training videos

"Workplace training invites are dropping in many employees' inboxes now that the new year is underway. Most employers require staff to complete multiple HR modules annually: training on harassment, workplace relationships, or conflicts of interest, for example, followed by a quick quiz. Recently, however, a new TikTok trend imagining fake workplace "training modules" is going viral. "It's 5 pm and you notice one of your colleagues is crying at their desk," creator @ pepsimasc posted in November."

"In the final scenario, he explains: "You're walking to the lunchroom and notice someone has smashed a glass on the floor and left it there. Do you A: contact facilities, B: clean it up immediately, or C: spill baby oil around it so someone can fall onto the glass?" For those well-acquainted with this type of training, the multiple-choice framing should be painfully familiar. The videos even share that familiar elevator music that plays in the background as you click your way through the slides."

Workplace training invitations commonly arrive in employees' inboxes at the start of the year. Employers typically require staff to complete multiple HR modules annually, covering topics like harassment, workplace relationships, and conflicts of interest, usually followed by a brief quiz. A viral TikTok trend parodies those modules by presenting fake training slides with multiple-choice scenarios that exaggerate workplace situations for comedic effect. Creators stage scenarios such as a colleague crying at their desk, a bullying incident in a meeting, and a smashed glass in the lunchroom, often offering absurd or malicious answer choices and using familiar elevator music to mimic the training experience.

Read at Fast Company