[patio11]

California requires 20 hours of training to get a license for health and accident insurance, 20 hours to get a license for life insurance, and an additional 12 hours on ethics training for people wanting to pass the exam for either. These are tick-box requirements that allow you to take the exam you need to pass to get the relevant license. Several providers have online courses you can take for $50 < N < $100 which fill up the required 52 hours and, importantly for the purpose of box ticking, generate documentation certifying that you put in your 52 hours.

Here's the regulator's description of half of the requirements:

http://www.insurance.ca.gov/0200-industry/0050-renew-license...

There exist many tick-box requirements in the vast, vast field that is compliance in regulated industries. There is a political valence to this observation.

My personal favorite one is the time where I had to threaten to fire myself if I ever misused patient information. I threatened to fire myself if I ever misused patient information. I then documented the fact that I had threatened to fire myself if I ever misused patient information. If I am ever investigated on suspicion of failing to have threatened to fire myself if I ever misused patient information (a crime which is separate from misusing patient information), I will be able to produce adequate documentation attesting to the fact that I threatened to fire myself if I ever misused patient information.

[yummyfajitas]

As further detail, the way these things work is the following. The "training" consists of watching some powerpoints and listening to a voiceover reading the slide. You can't click "next slide" until the voiceover has finished. The voiceovers add up to 52 hours.

Typically the voiceovers are short, e.g. 60 seconds, to ensure that you are actually at your computer clicking "next" rather than just letting the voiceover run while you do something productive.

Once you've clicked "next" 52x60=3120 times you are then permitted to take the exam.

Zenefits "Macro" automated the clicking, allowing their people to simply learn the material and then take the exam.

tl;dr; The state of California says "you must learn this material very slowly" and Zenefits employees are fast learners.

[loumf]

Also, at the end they have you attest that you actually did the training under penalty of perjury. Zenefits instructed their employees to lie instead.