How an e-course can raise awareness about safe workplace relationships and responding to inappropriate behavior
The Police and Border Guard Board, Mindshifters, and Stories for Impact created an e-course to help employees recognize and respond to inappropriate workplace behavior.
A recommended training for all employees on a complex topic that should still be genuinely engaging, humane, and encouraging? Sounds like a tough nut to crack — and one we were eager to take on! 🥜
Together with Stories For Impact and the Estonian Police and Border Guard Board (PPA), we created an e-course that opens the door to difficult but essential topics: safe workplace relationships and how to notice and respond to inappropriate behavior.
In recent years, occupational health has increasingly focused on psychosocial risk factors such as burnout, bullying, harassment, and other mental health risks related to work.
These are not just personal concerns but systemic risks present in any large organization — and employers can play a key role in preventing them.
Of course, one e-course can’t save the world or instantly change an organization’s culture — but it can be a good start to:
- show that the organization stands up for its people,
- create a shared understanding of boundaries in workplace communication,
- provide knowledge and confidence to act,
- and spark conversations where there used to be silence.
Here’s a closer look at how this course came to life — and the impact it’s already having.
🔎 1. Who and Why?
Client: Estonian Police and Border Guard Board (PPA)
Sector: Internal Security
Goal: To create learning materials for PPA employees that support mental well-being and ensure safe relationships at work — including guidance on how to act in cases of bullying or harassment. This is part of PPA’s organization-wide prevention program to strengthen employees’ mental health and work environment, equipping them with the knowledge and skills needed to care for and restore both their own and others’ well-being.
🛠️ 2. The Solution
The typical route for mandatory training is fast and dry: legal clauses + internal regulations + a signature.
But our partners at PPA wanted something more — something clear, human, and truly supportive of learning.
We started by reflecting: What challenges does the target group face? What should the course change? What defines successful learning outcomes?
We held a 2.5-hour learning design sprint, bringing together the design team and PPA staff to share experiences, questions, and needs related to the e-course — helping us understand the learners more deeply.
From this session, we built a learning design framework — the course structure — based on three key actions:
👉 Identify 👉 Respond 👉 Prevent
The course combines research summaries, legal context, real-life stories, and expert insights.
It also includes supportive models and frameworks that help participants better understand and navigate difficult situations.
All content is designed to be simple, fact-based, and visually clear.
Multimedia, exercises, and reflection questions create space for personal insight as well as team discussions.
Each module begins with an introductory video, filmed in real PPA workplaces — familiar settings, real people.
The course flows smoothly, provides food for thought, and creates a safe framework that encourages conversations even beyond the screen.
💬 4. Feedback
The course was only recently launched, but the initial feedback has been overwhelmingly positive:
“This is a truly excellent course. From the very first minutes, I realized it goes deep — it’s going to make a real difference for our people.”
“One of the best e-courses I’ve ever taken at work.”
“The design and structure are so engaging that you want to complete it just to see what comes next and what new insights you’ll gain.”
Kirsika Aas, Project Lead at PPA and Head of the Occupational Environment Group, shared her reflections on the collaboration:
“The cooperation was open and trusting. For me, it was crucial that before creating anything, time was taken to truly understand our target group and needs. The design sprint involving our own people gave the course a solid foundation. The entire creation process was transparent and inclusive.
This approach ensured the course didn’t remain purely theoretical — participants can complete exercises, listen to real stories, and hear expert explanations. The structure is simple and logical, making it both convenient and interesting to complete. It’s also powerful that the videos were filmed in our own workplaces and feature our own employees and partners. This makes the course instantly familiar and trustworthy.
The course doesn’t just provide information — it invites reflection and creates room for dialogue.”
Thank you to the whole team for this exciting and enlightening collaboration!
___________
Research & Text Development: Jaan Aps
Learning Design & Text Development:Jaanika Siiroja, Helena Heidemann
Multimedia Content: Marta Pulk
Special thanks to: Kirsika Aas, Dan-Kristjan Tops, Arno Lauk, Marge Sillaots, Annika Maksimov, Kristel Pailk, Merle Raun, Heiko Leesment, Erik Rüütel, Kristo Viiding, Mattias Veermets, Kauri Lemberg, Anett Aedla, Janar Hakk, Madli Maasikas, Hendrik Mägar, Mariliis Sild, Karen Vapper.
Completion year: 2025
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