The BBC has reported that one in three employees feel they have been bullied in the workplace, and a further one in five have witnessed a colleague being bullied.

Bullying is a serious problem for businesses which can lead to loss of morale, decreased motivation and reduced productivity, as well as having a negative impact on the health and wellbeing of the victim.

Businesses must therefore put measures in place to ensure that bullying is not tolerated in the workplace, and understand the crucial role of the manager in shaping corporate culture.

Role of the manager

Often, managers may not be aware that bullying is even taking place, highlighting the importance of developing open, communicative relationships which enable employees to feel confident about approaching managers with any bullying-related concerns.

On other occasions, managers may be aware of bullying taking place, but not feel confident in handling the situation – especially where it involves confronting a known bully.

However, the way that a manager responds to these situations goes a long way in establishing the culture of a business, and avoiding addressing these issues can cause problems to continue, and possibly escalate – with serious consequences to the business, as well as the victims of bullying.

Acting immediately to address the situation may be challenging for a manager, but will ultimately earn them the respect and trust of their employees, ensure the bully is aware of the issue, and hopefully lead to a positive resolution.

Our Manager’s Guide to Handling Difficult Conversations eLearning course can help managers to deal with these situations with confidence, a key factor in establishing a bully-free workplace culture.

In an exposé published earlier this month in the New York Times, online retail giant Amazon was described as a ‘bruising’ place to work, coming under fire over allegations around its work conditions.

These included being described as subjecting its workers to “brutal exploitation” and making staff “physically and mentally ill.”

The problem has been attributed to the level of scrutiny under which all employees perform, with high minimum performance levels in place and almost everything measured – allegedly leading to work-related stress and anxiety in some cases.

The report also suggests that working less than 80 hours a week is frowned upon, emails are expected to be replied to 24/7, and even personal crises aren’t call for reduction in performance targets.

Some have defended Amazon online, suggesting that the company remains compliant with employment laws, with employees made aware of what is expected of them when they join, and pointing to the company’s large growth and continuing innovation.

And Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s founder and CEO, came out to defend the company, saying the article didn’t describe the Amazon he knew.

Whether or not the article is an accurate depiction of life at Amazon, it raises a question for businesses: What kind of business do we want to be, and how do we achieve that?

It’s natural for businesses to want to perform to their maximum capacity, but this should include getting the most from employees – not pushing them beyond their limits to breaking point.

Our Manager’s Guide to Objective Setting eLearning course is an in-depth resource to help managers get the most out of their staff by setting the right objectives, which both push employees to reach their potential and meet organisational goals.

Taken from the course, these Six P’s of Effective Objective Setting can help any business in setting the right objectives:

  • Participate – managers and employees should work together to set objectives that the employee buys into, with the employee owning responsibility to complete the objectives and the line manager responsible for mapping out strategies to ensure this is possible.
  • Precise – objectives should be precise and logical so that both employee and line manager know what is expected. Using a SMARTER (Specify, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound, Exciting, Reviewed regularly) framework for objective setting can help with precision.
  • Push – objectives should push employees to the extent of their capacity, so they realise their potential and optimise their performance – but objectives must still be achievable.
  • Purpose – objectives should be aligned between individual, team and organisational goals, providing motivation to the individual while incorporating the bigger picture.
  • Pathway – there should be a clear pathway to achieving objectives to help employees stay on track. Setting milestones and combining long and short term goals which can be regularly monitored can help to achieve this.
  • Performance Feedback – managers should regularly seek and provide feedback about employee objectives, ensuring that feedback remains focused on the tasks and is based on measurable indicators.

eLearning courses are an effective way to shape the culture within your business, and make delivering consistent training to all employees straightforward and cost effective. Our Performance Management Suite contains a number of ready-made eLearning courses designed to deliver essential training in all areas of performance, which can be tailored to meet your particular business needs.

VinciWorks has released version 2 of the Risk Management System. The new system features:

  • All new, modern design
  • Interactive dashboard
  • New graphical reports
  • Instant editing
  • And many more technical improvements

Overview of new features

Why a Risk Management System?

The SRA Handbook and Lexcel v6 clearly require that law firms have effective systems in place to properly manage risk. Using the VinciWorks Risk Management System will enable firms to satisfy legal requirements, easily generate reports, track risks, implement a control plan, and receive alerts when things are amiss.

SRA requirements

Continue reading

CIPD report released this month highlights the need for improved recruitment techniques in order to create diverse workplaces.

The report, “A head for hiring: The behavioural science of recruitment and selection,” suggests that there is a long way to go when it comes to recruiting the best candidates for roles, including “biases and judgment errors that may occur on the assessor’s side.”

Failing to choose the best candidate for a job, for whatever reason, unnecessarily limits the potential productivity of the role. Equally serious, rejected candidates may have a case for discrimination if the reason for them not being selected is found to have been unrelated to skills.

Our Performance Management Suite contains eLearning courses which help managers achieve the best possible results while complying with relevant employment law, and includes a Manager’s Guide to Interviewing Skills.

Taken from that course, here are some dos and don’ts of interviewing, which can help to ensure the best candidates are hired for your business:

Do

  • Review anonymised CV’s alongside the job description to identify relevant skills and experience, as well as highlight possible gaps which could be areas for questioning.
  • Agree roles with anyone else involved in the interview, including deciding who will ask which questions and who will take notes.
  • Greet the candidate, introduce yourself and anyone else involved, and offer the candidate a drink. This is your first opportunity to build a rapport with the candidate to put them at ease.
  • Signpost what will happen during the interview, providing timings.
  • Ask a variety of questions including biographical questions which explore the candidate’s career history and experience, and situational questions which explore the behaviours and skills they’ve utilised in managing different situations.
  • Ask open and probing questions which will enable you to identify whether the candidate is right for the role, asking clarifying questions to clear up any ambiguity.
  • Listen actively while the candidate is talking.
  • Answer any questions the candidate has about the role in as much detail as possible – this is a chance for both of you to identify if the role would be a good fit.
  • Record both quantitative and qualitative data during the interview which can be used to make a decision later on based on the candidate’s suitability for the role.

Don’t

  • Ask candidates about their age, or make any related questions such as enquiring about the year they finished school.
  • Ask candidates whether they have children or are planning to have children in the future, or about their marital / civil partnership status.
  • Ask closed questions which don’t invite further elaboration, such as “Do you agree?”
  • Ask questions which aren’t relevant to the skills and experience necessary for the role.
  • Tell the candidate how you personally would face a similar situation to the ones discussed – the interview is about the candidate.
  • Forget to sell the organisation to the candidate – if you make an offer, they still need to accept it.
  • Discriminate against a candidate on the grounds of their race, sex, age, disability, sexual orientation, religion or belief, marriage or civil partnership, gender reassignment.
  • Take your mobile phone, computer or any other form of distraction into interviews – ensure the candidate has your full attention.
  • Forget to explain the next steps at the close of the interview, including when the candidate can expect to hear back from you.

Robust integration with Outlook – users will never miss a training event

We understand that Outlook is an important part of your workflow and your users’ workflow. We wanted to create an experience that focuses on how you work and makes sure that people can easily get events on their calendar and ensure that they show up on time.

When inviting users to events, appointments are sent directly to Outlook.

Adding users just got easier

We have improved the Add New User and Edit User page so that Job Title, Department and Practice Group fields appear as drop-down lists of all existing values in the system.

This fix makes adding new users a breeze, and prevents the pitfalls of human error inherent in data entry.

On 1 July 2015, the new Modern Slavery Act came into force.

Under the act there is a requirement that, starting October 2015, commercial organisations with a turnover of £36 million or more carrying on business in the UK will have to prepare a slavery and human trafficking statement each financial year, stating the steps they have taken to ensure their business and supply chains are slavery free.

The statement requires sign-off from those responsible for the organisation and should outline the steps taken by the business to ensure that no slavery or trafficking is occurring in its supply chain or within its operations.

Section 54(5) under Part 6 of the Act elaborates on what provisions should be included in a statement, such as: Continue reading

In the latest in a series of high profile data breaches, the personal details of up to 2.4 million Carphone Warehouse customers may have been stolen following a cyber-attack last Wednesday.

Notably, the cyber attack is thought to only affect the customers of three of the websites belonging to the group: onestopphoneshop.com, e2save.com, and mobiles.co.uk – leading to speculation that vulnerabilities specific to those particular sites were exploited.

Customers of Dixons Carphone’s Currys and PC World businesses, as well as “the vast majority of Carphone Warehouse customers” are said to have been unaffected by the breach, but have still joined those customers whose data was accessed in expressing concerns over their privacy and safety, highlighting the need for businesses to put consistent and robust Data Protection policies in place which reach every corner of their organisation.

Shares in Dixons Carphone, the umbrella corporation containing Carphone Warehouse, have fallen by 1.75% following the attack.

The incident will now be investigated by the Information Commissioner’s Office, which has the power to impose a fine of up to £500,000 should the data protection in place be found to be inadequate.

Fines aside, it’s damage limitation for Dixons Carphone, which must now work to regain the trust of the 2.4 million affected customers, millions of concerned customers of its other businesses, and its shareholders.

Uber, whose mobile app lets users provide and book taxi services, is facing legal action over its drivers’ health and safety rights.

Currently, Uber does not consider its drivers to be employees, but the professional drivers’ union GMB has claimed that drivers are owed the same rights as any employee is owed by its employer.

These include rights provisioned by the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and the Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, which require employers to take reasonable measures to ensure the health, safety and welfare of all employees and carry out risk assessments for all employees and work tasks.

Health and Safety responsibilities

The case highlights the health and safety responsibilities of all employers whose staff drive for work purposes – not just professional drivers.

Work-related driving accounts for around quarter of road accidents in the UK, making it one of the most dangerous work activities people undertake. Whether in their own vehicle or a company vehicle, if staff drive to reach meetings, make deliveries, transport clients, or attend events then several health and safety procedures must be in place.

As described in detail in our Driving At Work eLearning course, undertaking risk assessments, checking documentation, and providing communication and consultation with employees are some of the measures employers must put in place to ensure compliance with Health and Safety legislation.

Health and Safety measures should also ensure that drivers are fit to drive, their vehicles are well maintained, and the chance of an accident is minimal.

Discussing Uber, Steve Garelick of the GMB said: “Operators like Uber must understand that they have an ethical and social policy that matches society’s expectations of fair and honest treatment,” something which also applies to all businesses whose employees drive for work.

In July 2015, individuals and organisations found to have failed to meet Work at Height legislation requirements were fined and ordered to pay costs totalling over £0.5m.

Seven cases were reported by the HSE where proper Health and Safety was not in place, including four resulting in the deaths of workers, two cases of life changing injuries, and one case where lives were put at risk.

The total fines and costs related to the seven cases reported by the HSE in July were £576,376.90.

All businesses have a legal responsibility to ensure the correct training is undertaken before any Work at Height takes place, something VinciWorks can help with, with our responsive Working At Height Essentials course, designed to provide an overview for all employees likely to work at height – including on footstools – and our Working At Height Advanced eLearning course, which covers working at height at an industrial level including construction.