Learning at Work Week arrived this week, taking place between 15^th -21^st May 2023, and is  a great opportunity to give your business a boost.

Do not underestimate the value of workplace learning.

The value of workplace learning shouldn’t be underestimated – whatever time and resources you have available you can make learning work for your business. 

Looking for a quick and easy way to get started?

• Take five minutes to be a ‘gap-finder’
• The dangers of ‘quiet lay-offs’ – Learn the latest HR trends
• Discover HR’s hottest topics
• Raise your HR skillset with bespoke training
• A 3-minute focus guide to HR areas with a bad reputation

Navigate the complexities of Employment Law with our commercial advice.

Build a bespoke interactive course for your management team, covering key HR areas.

Avoid unnecessary wastage of management time with our professional help when defending tribunal claims.

1. Take five minutes to be a ‘gap-finder’

To make sure your business gets the most out of training, it’s important that it’s targeted and focused on the needs of your business and employees – so find those gaps! Carrying out a quick training audit can help get you started. Try thinking about matters such as:

• What training has already been provided to your workforce and when did this take place? Do you have records of this?
• Have the needs of your business, the demands of a role, or the skills, knowledge or expertise required changed? Is additional / refresher training needed?
• Is there a skills shortage in part of your business / difficulty recruiting? Could existing employees be upskilled / cross-trained?
• Are your employees working as efficiently as you’d like? Could they be working ‘smarter’? For example, have there been technological developments or are there new and better ways of doing things that could be harnessed with the right training/guidance in place
• Do you have any ‘problem areas’ that would benefit from being addressed? For example, is there an unusually high error rate amongst employees when dealing with a particular type of issue/part of a process/procedure?
• What are your business goals for the future? Does your business already have the skills it needs to achieve them? If not, where are your areas for development, what can you do to help your business get to where you want it to be?
• Have your employees and managers had the training they need on key areas such as discrimination, bullying and harassment to help reduce the risk of issues arising in your business?

Even carrying out a quick training audit can be revealing. It can help you to identify and prioritise your business’s training needs and start thinking about what training will be right for your workplace, whether that be internal, external training or a mixture.

If time is at a premium, you might want to consider ‘virtual’ / ‘online’ training to help to minimise the amount of time your people are away from their usual tasks.

Been advocating for training in your business for a while? A training audit could help provide the evidence you need to make your argument more persuasive.

• Set your standards and expectations through tailored policies, recognising your business ethos.
• Approach poor performance with target driven processes to achieve a desirable outcome for your business.
• Manage requests for reduced hours or hybrid working, in line with what works best for you.

2. Learn about the dangers of ‘quiet lay-offs’

Not heard the term ‘quiet lay-offs’ yet? You’re in for a treat. It can be described as the use of ‘the dark-arts’ of suggestion, persuasion, and in some cases just plain bad behaviour to try to get an employee to resign from a business; thereby avoiding the need to formally exit them yourself, for example by carrying out a fair redundancy process.

‘Quiet lay-offs’ could initially seem an attractive if unconventional route for a business (the suggestion/persuasion elements at least!).

After all, if an employee resigns it could see them leaving sooner and with less effort than if you were to follow a formal process. It may also initially seem to save the business some money, such as a redundancy payment, but it is a dangerous game to play.

Here are some of the reasons why:

• You might end up with a constructive unfair dismissal claim on your hands

If you suggest an employee should resign or ask them to, or they are treated badly (for example a hostile work environment is created for them) they may argue that far from resigning they were actually ‘forced out’.

In most cases, employees need at least two years’ service to bring a constructive unfair dismissal claim.

• Your business could be vulnerable to a discrimination or harassment claim

It’s not too hard to imagine that an employee who is unhappy about their treatment may try to argue that they have been discriminated against or harassed in some way, for example, that they have been asked to leave because of a protected characteristic such as pregnancy.

Even where this isn’t the case, this may be harder to evidence without following a fair and proper process to deal with the genuine situation that your business was facing.

• Grievances could be raised

Even if your employee does resign, they might not go quickly or quietly! If they raise a grievance this could cause problems for your business, not least because it will take management time to address.

• Covert recordings could catch you out

Whilst you may think you are deploying the dark arts in private you may be surprised to find out later that your carefully crafted persuasions, not-so-subtle hints, or other tactics have been caught ‘on tape’.

There have been cases where tribunals have allowed employees to use covert recordings so beware.

If you need/want to exit an employee from your business without following a process, there can be better ways than deploying the ‘dark arts’, find out more by reading our blogs dismiss short-serving employees the easy way and Could a Settlement Agreement Help Your Organisation?

Before taking any action it’s vital to get the advice and support your business needs. Missteps can be costly, so get in touch to discuss your specific situation.

3. HR’s hottest topics

If you’ve seen the national headlines lately it will come as no surprise that some of HR’s hottest topics are bullying, sexual harassment, and redundancy. Find out what your business needs to know to get started in tackling these areas, and catch up on what you may have missed:

Bullying

• Our free quick and easy checklist can help you to identify your business’s ‘anti-bullying readiness’ and highlight areas of risk or where targeted action may be needed.
• Is your management style risking the business?

Sexual Harassment

• Tackling sexual harassment in the workplace.

Redundancy

• How do I write a business redundancy case?
• Supporting Employees Who Have Survived Redundancy

4. Raise your HR skills to the next level with tailor made training for your business

Whether you are an experienced manager or are new to the role, targeted and effective management training can benefit you and your business.

Our Employment Law Training for Managers is bespoke, practical and can help raise your HR skills to the next level.

Interested? Take a peek below to find out more.

About the training

As a manager you are on the frontline when it comes to employee matters, so you need training that delivers results. Our management training packages are:

• Written and delivered by employment law experts you can trust
• Praised by managers and employers for being practical, engaging and effective. Through interactive workbooks, case-studies and activities you have the opportunity to develop your skills and test your learning
• Cost effective and tailored to meet the needs of your organisation

Content

We tailor the content of the training to meet your specific needs and the time you have available for manager training, whether this is half a day, one day or two days.

Typically, for a one day manager training course we would cover:

• The Equality Act for managers
• Employment law basics
• Managing conduct and poor performance
• Managing sickness absences
• Grievances

Want to cover different topics? Let us know – we work with you to design the bespoke training you need.

Your place or ours?

We understand that finding time to attend training can be difficult and many managers and businesses want to minimise the time spent away from the usual duties. That’s why we ask your place or ours or would you prefer remote learning? Your training your way.

Want to discuss your training needs or find out more? Get in touch.

5. Raise your HR game with our three minute fast focus guides to some areas of HR that have a bad reputation

Does the thought of dealing with part-time working issues bring you out in a cold sweat? Maybe flexible working gets you feeling flustered or is it uncertainty about whistle-blower protection that makes you go weak at the knees?

Whilst many aspects of HR can be tricky these are a few of the areas that we often find have a particularly bad reputation amongst managers for being ‘hard to handle’. So, let’s get back to basics and get you empowered with some fast facts.

• Fast focus part-time working
• Flexible working
• Whistle-blower protection