Handover HR Ltd held two workshops at the Business South Exhibition this year.

The first workshop will, titled Ostriches, Lions & Meerkats - Lessons in Conflict Management contained the following:

In 2008/9 over 150,000 claims were accepted by employment tribunals and these figures may worsen given the economic downturn.  With average awards for unfair dismissal at £8000, which doesn’t include legal fees or loss of management time, what lessons have we learnt from the first decade of the 21st century?

Without doubt businesses fear and resent employment law, wishing they just for a day could be Sir Alan Sugar and tell their troublesome employee “You’re Fired” without fear of recourse.  However to grow a business you must employ people, unless you have found a way of cloning yourself or squeezing that elusive 25th hour into the day, so it is inevitable at some point you will encounter conflict.  Just because you encounter it though, does it mean you will end up in a tribunal … no. 

So whether you bury your head like an Ostrich at the first sign of trouble, roar like a lion to show everyone who is boss or watch out for trouble and alert your colleagues like a meerkat, by the end of the session we want you to have identified at least one new idea as we discuss:

• Developing Robust Documentation
• Following The Procedures You Painstakingly Put Together, Or Paid Someone to Do For You
• Tackling Conflict Early, By Eating That Frog!
• The Benefits Of Investigating The Facts
• Disciplining & Dismissing Without Fear
• What Mediation Is All About

The second workshop, titled Delivering Profit Through People contained the following:

Want to make more money?  You could sell more, increase your pricing or cut your costs.  How about if you could increase your profit by £1500 for each person you employ?  Would you be interested?  Of course you would be.  This is profit through people, the world of employee engagement. 

Once upon a time HR dreamt up an idea, Employee Engagement.  But is it just something that HR professionals can write academic long reports about or is it something that businesses of all sizes should pay attention to?  Asking yourself

Are you concerned you'll lose good staff in 2010 when the jobs market improves?

Why do some people put in more effort than others?

How long would your employees work for you for nothing?

According to a Government report you could improve profitability by £1500 per person by increasing investment in workplace practices relating to engaging employees.  Our interactive workshop will seek to look at the challenge to business, the journey to be undertaken and the outcome that you can expect if you succeed.  By the end of the session we want you to have identified at least one new idea as we discuss:

• The Role of Leaders & Managers
• Communicating With Impact
• Involving Rather Than Excluding People
• Innovation Rather Than Revolution
• Talent Development
• If Size Matters (of the Business that is!)

The exhibition was a great success and we thank all of those that attended.

If you would like to learn more about the workshops then give us a call on 0845 389 3505.

To see the slideshow please click here.