Croner Training

Employment & HR

Absence management

Date	16 June 2010
Duration	1 Day
Price	GBP 649 + VAT Membership Price: 324.5 + VAT
Location	London
Venue	Prospero House (Etc Venues)
Registration	9.00-9.30
Close of Seminar	5.00
Our code	34318
Also held on	8 December 2010, London

• Why you should attend this seminar
• Who should attend?
• Benefits of attending
• Programme
• Speakers
• Quotes from past delegates
• Are you a Croner publications subscriber?
• 2nd delegate discount
• In-house training
• A total compliance solution

Why you should attend this seminar

Poor employee attendance and timekeeping problems can cost your organisation money and it comes straight off your profits. A recent CIPD survey shows that it costs over £650 per employee across the entire UK workforce. As all organisations begin to focus on reducing expenditure, this is an obvious place to start. You need to employ more staff and pay more overtime, not to mention the costs of sick pay and health insurance premiums. Then there’s the cost of your time and those of your colleagues organising cover for the absentees and the cost of short term agency staff or for recruiting temporary staff. Furthermore there aren’t just the direct costs; the staff in work often get tired of having to cover for their colleagues who are absent or late into work and having to absorb the pressure absence or lateness creates. Eventually this frustration will boil over into employee relation issues or, worse still, staff turnover, increasing your costs still further. But even these costs pale into insignificance compared to the cost of losing a customer if they do not get their order on time and cancel or go elsewhere next time. The business implications of absence from work cannot be over-estimated. Improving employee attendance and timekeeping will improve your profits. It is one area where the HR function can make a cast iron case for its contribution to the business. This seminar will show you how.

Who should attend?

This seminar is a must for any HR or line managers, whether in the public or private sector, who have identified improved timekeeping and attendance as a business critical issue. It has been designed specifically to support:

• Experienced HR managers and officers looking for a refresher or who have a specific problem to address
• Newly appointed HR officers and assistants, providing a fast introduction to the subject
• Line managers who have responsibilities for a range of staff who need to improve their staff timekeeping and attendance

Benefits of attending

This intensive yet enjoyable seminar will deliver innumerable benefits to you and your organisation:

1. Learn how you can reduce your organisation’s costs
2. Find out how to improve employee attendance at work
3. Understand how to tackle irritating short-term absences
4. Learn how to help the long-term sick back to work as soon as possible
5. Understand the legal context for dealing with timekeeping and attendance
6. Learn how to develop the policies and procedures for improving employee attendance
7. Discover the ways to stop poor attenders from joining your organisation
8. Learn how to weed out regular absentees as soon as possible

Above all, this seminar will help you get to the root of the problem, improve employee attendance, boost productivity and save money.

Programme

1. Getting to grips with the problem

• Profit improvements are possible
• Industry norms
• Responsibilities for tackling attendance
• Recording methods and statistics
• Monitoring methods and typical standards
• Identifying patterns and trends of absence
• Working patterns and health issues
• Attitude surveys
• Job satisfaction

2. Legal issues

• ACAS Code of Practice on Disciplinary and Grievance Procedures
• Contracts of employment
• Disability Discrimination Act
• Medical reports
• Statutory absence from work
• Data Protection Act
• Medical records
• Flexible working
• Transfers and alternative work
• Information and Consultation Regulations
• Case law

3. Dealing with long-term absence

• Managing the return to work
• Occupational health involvement
• Dealing with stress, back pain and similar illnesses
• Employer brand issues
• Permanent health insurance and life assurance
• Employee assistance schemes
• Non-sickness absence
• Dismissing long term absentees
• Practical examples

4. Dealing with short-term absence

• Types of short-term absence
• Attendance and timekeeping policies
• Tests of reasonableness
• Return to work interviews
• Investigations
• Occupational health involvement
• Action triggers
• Appropriate actions to take, including fair dismissal
• Handling grievances and appeals
• Non-sickness absence
• Practical examples

5. Formulating and introducing an absence and attendance policy

• Policy content
• HR and line management responsibilities
• Consultation and employee representatives’ involvement
• Employee responsibilities
• Relationships between attendance and sick pay
• Long-term disability insurance issues
• Recording and information requirements

6. Other strategies for improving employee attendance

• Recruitment issues
• Induction training
• Dealing with early problems
• Reward issues
• Absence and timekeeping as a key performance indicator
• Cultural and management behavioural issues
• Developing effective people managers
• Helping employees with short-term domestic/ personal problems

Speakers

Steve Flather: Steve Flather, Greystones Consulting Steve Flather is a business leader with 30 years’ experience in the HR field. After 10 years as a trainer and HR manager with blue chip organisations such as Plessey and Wedgwood he became a director of a major reward specialist company, leading it as managing director for 12 years. In addition to his corporate responsibilities (which included leading a management buyout and subsequent sale), he often ran training courses on reward and benefits issues and spoke at seminars, conferences and on radio and TV. Steve Flather is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development and now runs his own reward and HR consulting company. Throughout his career in human resources and general management, Steve has focused on improving employee attendance as a business issue with profit and productivity benefits.

Mike Foster: Mike Foster is a fellow of the CIPD and embarked on a consultancy career after over 30 years of experience as an HR professional. He has most recently worked in interim positions with two fast growing service sector companies, one of which was for two years listed in the Sunday Times Fast Track 100. Practical and creative in developing solutions and getting things done, he has been involved in numerous projects, including formulating absence management policy and associated line management training and support.

Quotes from past delegates

“Really interesting content and exchange of views“ Karren Housley, The Clarendon College

“Great interaction with group” Julie Bardall, Woodbridge Park Education Service

---

Are you a Croner publications subscriber?

If so then you are entitled to an additional 5% discount on your booking. Simply enter your Croner BP number on our online booking form to qualify (offer applies to online bookings only).

If you are interested in subscribing to any Croner title and receiving this and other benefits then call 020 8547 3333 for more information.

2nd delegate discount

Booking a second place on this event entitles the second delegate to a 10% discount

In-house training

Croner Training can:

• Bring this or any of our other 100 courses directly to your place of work, removing any time, travel and accommodation overheads you may have
• Tailor the programme to meet the specific needs of your organisation
• Maximise the impact and value of your training by having a whole team on a single course at once
• Allow you to choose when and where your training is held to minimise the disruption to your business

With over 1000 speakers from leading companies and consultancies we firmly believe our courses are some of the best in the workplace.

For more information about this service – and a no-obligation quotation – please call the in-house team on

0845 076 0679 or e-mail incompany@cronertraining.co.uk

A total compliance solution

Whether you’re an HR professional in a multi-national, managing personnel issues in a medium-sized organisation or running a small business we have the HR information you need to get the most out of your staff and comply with the law. From consultancy, and comprehensive online information services to books we have you covered. Simply visit www.croner.co.uk for more information.

Send this page to a colleague