Despite the doom and gloom regarding the country’s economy that we’re currently hearing being predicted by the Bank of England and institutions such as the CBI and OECD, vacancies in the UK still stand at above 1.1million. Staff recruitment and retention still remain significant challenges for employers. However, that shouldn’t be an excuse for shortcutting the recruitment process or for recruiting the wrong individuals. Furthermore, induction processes and probation periods need to work more in the employer’s favour.

What was once an opportunity to be briefed on one’s duties and to meet colleagues in other departments in the organisation, an induction programme these days needs to be a robust and thorough process. We’re seeing a rise in employee claims and challenges against their employers and so businesses must ensure they protect themselves by providing appropriate training and being prepared to challenge performance in the early days and weeks of a new recruit’s employment.

Required compliance training in the usual suspects like Health and Safety and Safeguarding should already be baked in, however with societal expectations changing, it has never been more important to cover Equality, Diversity & Inclusivity and company values. Failure to ensure that employees have been demonstrably trained in areas of legal compliance can make it difficult and expensive to dismiss underperformers at a later stage and leaves a door wide open for tribunal claims or a costly settlement under the threat of one.

Poorly planned probationary periods for new recruits can also create headaches when review meetings aren’t scheduled or carried out or when the probation deadline drifts past without action. Whilst passing the probation period doesn’t make an employee bulletproof, properly administered probation periods are considered best practice. You might have an uphill battle in justifying a dismissal just a few months after an employee’s probation period has ended.

During their probation period, new employees should have regular meetings with their line managers to measure their performance against targets and objectives, starting with weekly and moving to fortnightly and monthly as competence develops. Consistent under-performance should prompt closer monitoring and support culminating in dismissal if the employee doesn’t make the grade; this doesn’t have to wait until the probationary period is complete.

Too often we see an arbitrary decision to dismiss at the three month probation stage based on what the manager feels at that time. When an employee is truly unsuitable for a role, a properly executed probation will expose this so it can be dealt with it in a more timely manner, enabling the business to get back to the job of recruiting a more suitable candidate.

Induction and probation should both be considered part of the overall recruitment process, which in itself should be carried out thoroughly and professionally. Failing to send regret letters to unsuccessful candidates for example is not only impolite and unfair on the applicants, it is a sign that other parts of the process may be lacking too.

Statistics tell us that 51% of candidates will continue looking for roles even after they have accepted a job offer so if your recruitment and induction process leaves anything to be desired then you may find yourself losing the best talent. A poor process overall could mean that your bridges are burned with your second and third choice candidates too.

Investing time in a professional recruitment process will pay higher returns in the long run as your churn of new recruits will be less and the initial experience recruits have of your business will outweigh that of your competitors. The process should work in your favour too though so implement a robust probation that enables you to fail quickly and a comprehensive induction plan that protects the business in the long run.

For more support and advice in the recruitment and induction process, call us on 01452 331331 or contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

The resignation of Scottish First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, this week, came as a shock to most of us. The reason she gave for quitting was simply that she felt it was time to go. This followed a similar decision by New Zealand former Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern in January who had decided that she had nothing more to give.

Ms Sturgeon had held the position of Scottish First Minister for over eight years, so her decision to simply throw in the towel has led us to re-visit the topic of leadership qualities and whether ‘knowing when to quit’ is one of them.
Within our Leadership and Management training, discussion and debate around the qualities and traits of great leaders is a common occurrence, as you would probably expect. Indeed, it’s something we analyse during most of our training courses, across all levels from 2 to 5. Perhaps not surprisingly, regardless of at which level the debate is held, the characteristics suggested by our delegates are always very similar.

Typically, we expect to see:

• Integrity
• Communication
• Influence
• Empathy
• Courage
• Respect

However, after asking the question of our trainers, ‘knowing when to quit’ has never been a suggestion made by a delegate during our training. At least no-one ever remembers it being a suggestion. But does that mean that we shouldn’t consider knowing when to quit as a relevant leadership characteristic?

Certainly, there is something to be said for ‘failing quickly’. That is to say, being able to recognise when something probably isn’t going to work out in your favour or to your original plan.
There have been numerous stories from modern business where those in charge keep borrowing and investing time and money into a venture that is doomed. Cutting your losses is often the best tactic in such circumstances, but the skill is knowing when that time has come.

As managers, we may have to make the decision to fail quickly with an employee. If an individual doesn’t display the right aptitude or attitude to do the job they are employed to do, then better to let them go early rather than persevere with someone who will never make the grade. That’s what probationary periods are for after all.

An aspect of Ms Sturgeon’s resignation we should applaud is actually making the decision. As a leader, sometimes making a decision, even of it is potentially the wrong one, can lead to a better outcome than no decision at. Having a team that is floundering and lacking any sense of direction will lead to frustration and conflict.

We should also consider that knowing when to quit isn’t necessarily a sign of failure. Whilst President Putin perhaps takes a different view on this point, stepping aside can be viewed as a courageous move, made for the benefit of the greater good; and courage is a characteristic of leaders that we discuss often.

Our Leadership and Management training courses are already scheduled for the year. Take a look at how you and your team can benefit from ongoing leadership development, accredited by the ILM. We have a new Leadership Programme option too which enables you to get the most cost effective solution. Call us on 01452 331331 or e-mail This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Investigations are held to clarify and establish the facts of a case. It will potentially result in decision on whether to call a disciplinary or dismiss a member of staff. Conducting an investigation can be time-consuming and complicated. However, if carried correctly and in a timely fashion, an investigation can contain a problem and minimise distraction from the business. Employers are liable if poor investigations lead to an unfair dismissal therefore providing managers with the expertise to conduct investigations avoids litigation risk. Our course will provide managers with the essential skills for conducting an effective investigation from gathering evidence to writing a report.

Who should attend?

This course is suitable for people managers and HR professionals who want to be confident in leading effective investigations or improve existing knowledge on best workplace investigation practice.  

Course Content

Module 1 -

What is the purpose of an investigation?

Module 2 -

The law: investigation and legislation 

Module 3 - 

From policy to practice: a fair investigation process, the burden of proof and understanding all possible next steps 

Module 4 - 

Questioning techniques for an effective investigation

Module 5 - 

How to write a report with case studies

 To find out more about this course or to book on, just get in touch. 

Unconscious bias is a term that describes the associations that are outside of our control. It is triggered by our mind automatically making assumptions about someone based on their visible characteristics, background, and even their voice. This course explains how we can overcome our unconscious biases to improve decision making and professional relationships leading to open, inclusive and effective organisations. Unconscious bias can influence key decisions in the workplace and can contribute to inequality in, for example, recruitment, appraisals and promotions.  This course takes a straightforward look at one of the most important issues in diversity management.

Who should attend?

This course is suitable for managers with any recruitment and performance management responsibility. The course can also be adapted to enable the whole team to uncover their unconscious bias.

Course Content

Module 1 -

What do we mean by 'unconscious bias'?

Module 2 -

How to recognise natural biases that affect manage and employees in the workplace

Module 3 -

Creating a positive approach to difference

Module 4 - 

Harnessing the benefits of diversity for positive organisational value 

Module 5 -

Practical tips to uncover personal bias and manage inappropriate attitudes 

To find out more about this course or to book on, just get in touch. 

We know that employers have a fundamental duty of care for the health, safety and welfare of their employees. Covid has brought employee wellbeing into much sharper focus and with moves at Government level to legislate for Mental Health First Aiders in every organisation, a formal wellbeing strategy should be a adopted by all employers.

Not only will employers reap the rewards of a motivated and engaged workforce, an integrated approach to wellbeing will promote longer term organisational success.

HR Champions can support you business in developing their own employee wellbeing strategy through training and policy implementation that will ultimately engender a wellbeing culture that makes yours, a good company to work for.

Wellbeing Strategy Plan:

• Starting from the top, ensure senior leaders and managers understand the gravity of workplace health and wellbeing, and take the matter seriously.
• Train line managers and supervisors in good management skills ensuring targets, workloads and deadlines are manageable and realistic. Instil the importance of regular one-to-one meetings and performance reviews. Give them the skills to hold sensitive and difficult conversations with confidence. Empower them to offer flexibility and adjustments where they identify the need.
• Provide a clear and easy pathway to occupational health support and any other specialist therapies such counselling or mediation.
• Initiate strategies to generate an evidence-based understanding of the causes of poor physical and mental health in the organisation an of any unhealthy practices.
• Encourage an open and honest work environment and one where employees feel safe and able to discuss issues with fear of reprisal.
• Ensure policies and practices are aligned with the organisational and employee needs rather than relying on off-the-shelf quick fix solutions
• Promote a good mental wellbeing ethos and engender a culture where people can talk about mental health and seek help where needed.

An authentic employee health and wellbeing strategy should be a core element of any organisation operation and not simply a tick-box exercise. It should be an ongoing project that forms part of the overall company culture. 

Talk to us about how we can support you own Employee Wellbeing Strategy.

Get in touch to find out more.

Employee engagement surveys are designed to measure and assess your employees' motivation and engagement. Employee wellbeing surveys invite employees to reflect on their physical and mental health and allow the company to consider the ways in which staff are supported. Once revealed through survey results, underlying issues, which managers may have been previously unaware of, can be addressed head-on. Surveys can be made anonymous to give employees confidence to answer truthfully, and even though individual results may not be revealed, trends in the overall workforce results can provide invaluable insight to influence corporate decision making for the benefit of staff.

Surveys can be conducted at any interval with brief monthly conducted surveys giving a regular check-in for employees that avoids problems being allowed to fester. 

How we can help with your staff survey:

• Surveys managed from start to finish
• Greater engagement when surveys are outsourced to a third party
• Anonymity for survey responders
• Collaborative approach to question setting
• Work with you to understand your aims exactly
• Surveys managed online including e-mails
• Detailed, graphical response reports
• Monitor response rates and encourage engagement 
• Make recommendations on actions to take following the survey
• Support with action implementation

Costs depends upon our level of involvement and the number of staff surveyed. Please contact us to discuss.

Get in touch to find out more.

Suicidal thoughts are much more common than people think. As MP Dean Russel put it, "If suicide was a virus, we would be on the hunt for a vaccine." However, huge stigma remains when talking about suicide. People might not view suicide as a workplace issue however employers have a legal duty of care to provide a safe working environment. The Hazards Campaign estimates that 650 work-related suicides happen every year in the UK. That equates to 10% of all suicides. As an employee, manager or HR professional, it can be an extremely difficult and emotional situation when a colleague discloses suicidal feelings. Our course is designed to build confidence in the team to have supportive conversations and to sensitively signpost to the appropriate services.

This is a 4-hour session to raise awareness of wellbeing and mental health, and for delegates to learn how to recognise and look after their own mental health. 

What you’ll learn:

• The case for understanding the link between suicide and the workplace
• Roles, responsibilities and Duty of Care: the employer and the Mental Health First Aider
• The four attitudes towards suicide
• Supportive conversations: having the confidence to listen and signpost a colleague
• Knowing when to escalate and de-escalate

Price:

1/2 day in-house training for up to 12 delegates - £999 (+ VAT)

Get in touch to find out more.

Mental Health Training has been part of our suite of training courses for over eight years now. We made the decision to offer it following the wider acceptance that employers should take greater responsibility for the wellbeing of their employees and should play a more pro-active role in the promotion of good Mental Health as part of this.

Currently, employers are not obliged to provide mental health training for employees, although it has become much more widespread recently and many businesses have taken it upon themselves to implement it; particularly since Covid. Businesses are becoming more alert to that fact that a mentally heathy workforce with good morale is significantly more productive with less days lost to absence.

Optional Mental Health training for employees may soon become a thing of the past however if Dean Russell, Conservative MP for Watford, sees his recently proposed bill made into UK law.

Mr Russell proposed the new law in the House of Commons last Wednesday as a Ten Minute Rule Bill last Wednesday. The purpose of the bill, Mr Russell said is to “…create parity between mental health and physical health in the workplace for first aid.” In other words, employers’ responsibilities regarding the mental health of their employees will become as legislatively enforceable as for their physical health.

During his Bill reading, Mr Russell cited the proliferation of modern technology, social media and an ‘always-on’ culture as reasons why we are experiencing an increase in cases of mental health. He remarked how the rapid changes in culture and society have not been matched by changes in us as human beings, which is creating stress and anxiety.

“If suicide was a virus,” said Mr Russell, “we would be on the hunt for a vaccine. If loneliness was a disease, would we not search for a cure?” He went on to quote several statistics:

• In 2021 in the UK, 6319 deaths were reported as suicide in 2021.
• 10 million more people will need mental health support since Covid.
• Stress depression and anxiety have become the cause of the most lost work days since the 1990s.
• Annually, 1 million workers lose 18.6 days per year to work related stress, depression or anxiety, equating to 17 million days lost in 2021/22.
• According to Deloitte, the cost of mental health to UK business is £56billion.

He went on to say, “Mental health on the business agenda is an investment not a burden. People do not wear bandages to show where they have anxiety and depression. Many learn to hide their pain in fear of damaging their careers.”

This is the second time that Dean Russell has bought the bill to the House and he vowed to continue highlighting it until it gains proper attention. The second reading is scheduled for 24th February.

The general feeling is that it is a case of when rather than if this bill will become law, and it represent the most significant revision of our workplace Health & Safety Laws for some time. Workplaces will have to have somebody trained as a Mental Health First Aider in addition to provisions for employees’ physical health. The Mental health Forst Aider’s role will not be to treat, but to support those with mental health issues and signpost them to the appropriate services.

Clearly, this will see a rise in the demand for Mental Health training and so businesses may want to get ahead of the curve and train their Mental Health First Aiders now whilst there is availability and prices are low. We have a number of courses already scheduled throughout the year.

In addition, we run Mental Health Awareness courses for staff in general and Mental Health for Managers to equip line managers and supervisors with the skills to recognise the potential or occurrence of mental health issues within their own teams.

Take a look at our updated Mental Health & Wellbeing page on our website for further information about the courses we run and other support we offer. As usual you can contact us on 01452 331331, or e-mail This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

You can see the Dean Russell’s Bill reading on the BBC at https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m001j12r/ten-minute-rule-bill-mental-health-first-aid

Our expert HR consultants have designed this in-depth course to support your managers and business with their day-to-day HR banes. HR can be a tricky field to navigate. Line managers may feel their best option is to immediately escalate issues to HR or senior line managers. However, our course will teach them the fundamental aspects of HR which can support line managers to get the best from employees. It has been designed to help employee management, maintain productivity, and avoid escalation. The course provides knowledge for any manager with people management responsibilities and allows them to deal with everyday people related questions. 

Build managers’ confidence in the fundamentals of HR and people management

Who should attend?

This course is suitable for any manager with people management responsibilities. Be confident in the fundamentals of dealing with day-to-day employee related questions. 

Course Content

Role play and interactive Sessions
Throughout the training there are role plays, interactive sessions and games to help delegates practise and understand the processes and methods

To find out more about this course or to book on, just get in touch. 

This course is designed to provide delegates with the correct tools to train team members confidently enabling the team to do their job right. It can be a challenge to introduce new procedures and processes in your team especially if the team does not have a good teacher. You can avoid poor return on investment by ensuring your team have a confident and knowledgeable trainer to transfer information. Equip your team with the essential skills to welcome and understand new information as well as respecting their colleague-trainer. A team who train together work better together and ultimately add more organisational value. 

Encourage collective learning and development within the team 

Who should attend?

This course is suitable for any manager who has responsibility for training colleagues and team members regularly.

Course Content

 Role play and interactive Sessions
Throughout the training there are role plays, interactive sessions and games to help delegates practise and understand the processes and methods

To find out more about this course or to book on, just get in touch.