New Course Launch – Diversity: A Practical Overview

VinciWorks has just released the new course — Diversity: A Practical Overview.

In just 30 minutes, the course provides an overview of the key obligations and best practice impacting day-to-day work at the firm. It digests the material into concise principles, featuring media stories and legal precedents that bring the topic to life.

Diversity training is an imperative first step to protecting the rights of individuals and advancing equality of opportunity for all. The course outlines the behaviours expected of all employees, the reasons to comply with those behaviours and the consequences of non-compliance.

The course is designed to adapt beautifully to any size screen, and provides an engaging and immersive learning experience. It is recommended for use by anyone at the firm as part of the onboarding process or as a regular refresher.

Learn more

Is your performance management failing to perform?

Is your performance management failing to perform?

Just 36 per cent of UK companies believe their Performance Management processes to be efficient, according to a study conducted by professional services company Towers Watson.

“These findings will not surprise many people,” said Radha Chakraborty, Director at Towers Watson, “but they do highlight the important gaps that companies will need to address if the effectiveness and perceptions of performance management are to improve.”

Efficient performance management = efficient performance

Dynamic performance management processes are essential for a company to achieve optimum levels of organisational performance. Ideally they should be should be both strategic and integrated, and must incorporate development, performance improvement and behaviour management.

At its core, performance management is about ensuring that each employee’s performance contributes to the organisation’s overall goals in the most efficient way possible. However, 45 per cent of those surveyed said that managers don’t see the value in it and 53 per cent considered that they don’t have the time to do performance management effectively.

Further, Towers Watson found that traditional – non-automated – performance management processes still dominate over three quarters of the organisations surveyed. When 87 per cent of companies surveyed report that performance management is their primary method for aligning individual performance objectives with strategic business priorities, this is cause for concern.

Radha Chakraborty continued: “Clearly, we have an opportunity to make a business impact by reshaping the delivery of performance management. How we do that must align to the culture, as well as the priorities, of the business.”

Performance Management Training

VinciWorks’ Performance Management suite provides the knowledge and steps to deliver high quality appraisals and get the most from team members through performance capability and objective setting. The eLearning courses are available on demand, so are there to support you in dealing with common performance management issues efficiently as they arise.

Half of workers don’t call in sick – and your productivity suffers

Half of workers don’t call in sick – and your productivity suffers

According to a new study, showing up for work when ill causes a greater drop in office productivity than staying at home tucked up under the duvet.

“The fact is that when people are sick and still turn up for work, productivity and efficiency levels drop dramatically,” said Andy Sumner, Managing Director of Monster who conducted the survey. His conclusion is supported by another study conducted by Staples, which found that nearly 30% of workers feel that coming in sick for work is worse for productivity than a natural disaster.

Personal productivity drops to nearly half the usual level when an employee is under the weather. Working through sickness has been found to be the cause of an increase in errors and a decrease in efficiency and performance. Further, Dr Mariella Miraglia of the Centre for Mental Health, said: “Working while ill can compound the effects of the initial illness and result in negative job attitudes and withdrawal from work.”

Why do workers show up when they’re ill?

The study found that job insecurity is the main reason people come into the office despite being ill, which is doubly detrimental as anxiety over job security is a leading cause of ill health. Researchers from Harvard Business School and Stanford University discovered that people who are worried about losing their jobs are 50% more likely to suffer from poor health – which could in turn cause absences.

What can employers do?

“Job insecurity continues to be a major issue, and employers should do more to communicate with their staff that taking sick leave will not put their position in jeopardy,” said Andy Sumner.

By creating a culture of wellness and encouraging employees to take time to rest when necessary, employers could increase their long term productivity levels.

Instituting a policy of telecommuting for when an employee is infectious but insists they want to work could at least prevent the infection from spreading and affecting the rest of the team.

Support your managers with on-demand training

Managers do not always have the skills to handle delicate personnel issues such as sickness and absences. We offer online training that is designed to cover the gaps in knowledge – whenever they occur.

Mental health at work: is your organisation doing enough to support employees?

In CIPD’s latest absence management survey they report a rise in mental health problems among employees. Two-fifths of the employers surveyed reported rises in both stress-related absences and mental health issues.

Given that stress and mental health problems are on the rise, what steps can businesses take to support their employees and minimise the impact on performance?

Tackle the root cause of stress, anxiety and depression

Employers may have developed the skills to react appropriately when employees suffer from mental health problems, but how many organisations are investigating – and treating – the root causes of mental health issues?

As Ben Willmott, CIPD’s Head of Public Policy suggests, “attention needs to shift to understanding and addressing contributory factors at work.”

Proactive employee wellbeing

Do you consider your employees’ wellbeing when making management decisions? Do operational demands ever take precedence over employee wellbeing? Shortcuts in employee wellbeing may offer short-term gains, but long working hours, lack of work-life balance and a culture focused purely on performance are likely to result in stress.

Ben Willmott recommends that “an effective absence management approach is one which is coupled with a focus on health promotion and employee well-being.”

Set absence targets

By recording employee absences you can more easily spot patterns and trends. Setting absence targets can also encourage managers to find ways to minimise absences and support employee wellbeing.

Ben Willmott suggests that “the organisations that have a target for reducing absence, or have absence levels as a key performance indicator, are considerably more proactive in their approaches. They are more likely to offer a range of well-being benefits and support rehabilitation back into work”.

Train managers to tackle mental health issues

Are your managers equipped to have difficult conversations with employees? Managers are often on the front line – the first point of contact for employees experiencing difficulties. And it’s crucial that managers are able to respond to employees sensitively and supportively – and understand what support they can offer in the moment.

Ben Willmott agrees: “Manager training is crucial, as they are often employees’ first point of call for reporting an issue, but only 30% of organisations currently provide it.”

eLearning from VinciWorks

Help your managers to handle complex employee situations, including stress in the workplace and sickness absence, with eLearning from VinciWorks. Our training packages are available as off-the-shelf solutions, or we can tailor our training to match your needs..

Combating corruption: what can your business do?

Combating corruption: what can your business do?

We have seen yet another large scale corporate corruption scandal come to light following a BBC Panorama investigation into British American Tobacco.

In a documentary broadcast recently, it was alleged that BAT, the UK’s fifth largest company, paid bribes to government officials in Africa with the intention of undermining anti-smoking legislation and made facilitation payments to damage rival companies.

Former employee turned whistleblower Paul Hopkins said he was told bribery was the cost of doing business in Africa, but bribery in any country contravenes the UK Bribery Act 2010.

So, ahead of International Corruption Day, what can your business do to combat corruption?

Raising awareness

Getting training right is vital in tackling corruption. Companies judged to have failed to prevent bribery from taking place can be subject to potentially unlimited fines as well as reputational damage.

Both committing bribery and being bribed are criminal offences and, as highlighted in the documentary when a government minister was allegedly bought a flight in exchange for undermining an anti-smoking bill, giving and receiving gifts can also constitute bribery.

Raising awareness levels throughout your organisation is therefore a must. To help businesses do this, VinciWorks provide a range of eLearning including three Anti-Bribery and Corruption courses designed to meet the requirements of various job roles.

So, whether a member of staff deals exclusively in the UK, engages in global financial transactions, or simply requires an overview to reduce the risk of being bribed, we have the training solution.

Contact us today to find out more.