HR and Employment Services In-House Courses

This event will benefit HR officers and may also be of interest to line managers wanting to understand the different forms of employment and covers:

• Permanent, fixed term and temporary
• Casual working versus zero hours
• Part time and seasonal work
• Agency and self-employed
• Contractors
• Contracts of employment

This event provides an overview of processes and tools to manage Appraisals and Performance and covers:

• The purpose and benefits of appraisals
• Builds an understanding of the appraisal process
• Explores the skills needed for effective and positive appraisals
• Looks at how to measure and monitor individual performance through objective setting
• Links between individual, team and organisational objectives
• Giving feedback in relation to performance management
• Managing poor performance

This event is for HR professionals, managers and anyone involved in undertaking job evaluation.  It provides a theoretical and practical understanding of either the National Joint Council (NJC) or the Greater London Provincial Council (GLPC) job evaluation schemes. This event is normally a 1-day event.

• Basic understanding of Equal Pay legislation
• Basic principles of job evaluation
• Comprehensive understanding of the job evaluation scheme
• Practical experience through mock evaluation panels
• Practical considerations for job evaluation processes

This event delivers an overview of effective management of staff absences:

• Cost and impact of staff absence
• Legislative framework
• ACAS code of Practice
• Applying organisational policy
• Calculating staff absence
• Improving attendance
• Return to Work meetings
• Sources of support

This event delivers an overview of effective management of staff performance and attendance:

• Legislative context
• Establishing a performance framework
• Measuring and monitoring individual performance
• Managing short term absence
• Managing long term absence

This programme is appropriate for employees, managers or Councillors who are interested in learning how to effectively mediate to resolve conflict in the workplace, in the community or between external partners.

The 3-day programme is delivered by experienced practitioners and covers the skills required by an effective mediator to build confidence to undertake mediation, from the initial meeting with the parties through to closure, following a widely recognised and established mediation model.

The programme is designed to be highly interactive with a range of facilitator input, group discussions, and practical exercises. Participants are encouraged to develop individual action plans, and apply the learning in the workplace. It is strongly suggested that participants maintain contact with each other, as a support network, when back in the workplace.

The programme can be delivered in-person or remotely using Zoom or MS Teams. For remote delivery, the content and activities have been reviewed to ensure practical engagement and interaction, combining a mixture of on and offline activities.

Content

DAY 1 – Understanding and dealing with conflict:

• Introductions, objectives and expectations
• Overview of assignments and assessment process
• Benefits of dealing with conflict in the workplace
• Signs, causes and effects of conflict
• Roles, responsibilities and behaviours
• Deciding which intervention is appropriate
• Role of mediation in dealing with conflict
• Links with HR policies and practice
• Overview of the mediation process
• Skills and behaviours for dealing with conflict effectively
• Mediation strategies
• The stages of mediation
• Good practice in mediation – and standards

DAY 2 – Preparing for and using mediation:

• Role of a Mediator
• Professional standards
• The mediation model: Stages 1 – 5
• Explaining mediation to others
• Preparing for mediation
• Practising mediation: activity
• Feedback and learning points

DAY 3 – Developing mediation skills:

• Practising mediation: activity (cont)
• Building mediation agreements
• Dealing with the ‘no agreement’ situation
• Benefits and challenges of mediation
• Equality and diversity issues
• Reflecting on own mediation practice
• Developing self-awareness
• Learning points and action planning
• Review and evaluation
• Preparing for assessment

How is it assessed?

The programme is assessed through the completion of 3 assessed assignments:

Assignment 1:         A written assignment demonstrating your understanding and knowledge of mediation in the workplace

Assignment 2:         A written assignment outlining how you would plan and prepare for a mediation intervention

Assignment 3:        A professional discussion reflecting on your skills and qualities as a mediator

Currently available for groups as an in-house course (the optimum group size is 6, however, up to 12 learners can be accommodated although additional assessment time will be required for the professional discussions

This event provides managers with a practical overview of the skills and techniques needed for dealing with workplace conflict and an understanding of how mediation can be used to prevent and resolve issues:

• Causes of conflict and its effect on performance and individuals
• Stages in the development of conflict
• Managers’ responsibility in minimising and resolving conflict
• Techniques to minimise and resolve conflict
• When to use mediation
• The principles and the process
• Choosing internal or external mediators
• HR and legislative issues
• Skills, techniques and attributes for successful mediation

This event is for anyone involved in the recruitment process who wants to avoid making a risky staff appointment and covers:

• What are pre-employment checks and why are they are needed?
• How are they carried out?
• Home Office advice and guidance
• Understanding relevant Employment Law
• What is the Right to Work in the UK?
• ID checking and what to look out for
• Dealing with references
• Checking qualifications
• DBS
• Dealing with unfavourable outcomes and taking appropriate action

This event is ideal for anyone involved in the recruitment of employees and covers:

• Reviewing vacancies
• Creating job roles
• Job descriptions and person specifications
• Selection methods and interview options
• Preparing for and conducting interviews
• Providing feedback to unsuccessful candidates