Health & Safety round-up   £50k passive smoking payout

Risk Assessment Workshop   Just £55, your first step to managing your Health and Safety

Performance Management Tips   How well are you managing your greatest asset?

New Equality Laws coming into force in December   What employers need to know

New managers/supervisors workshop   A one-day workshop for £75

Health & Safety round-up

Casino worker receives passive smoking payout of £50,000

Smoking in the workplace is part of managing risks. Most organisation today, have designated areas for smoking but what about our public houses, clubs and restaurants?

In a recent case, a casino employee claimed he developed asthma through passive smoking at work. The employer settled out-of-court for a sum of £50,000.

A report commissioned by ASH, the TUC and the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health (CIEH) for a conference on workplace smoking said "More people died in 2002 from passive smoking at work in the UK than were killed by the Great London smog of 1952. This study shows that previous research has seriously underestimated the number of people killed by second-hand smoke at work." Further, the report revealed that each year 900 office workers, 165 bar staff and 145 factory workers in the UK die as a result of breathing other people's tobacco smoke at work. These figures mean that passive smoking causes three times as many deaths at work than industrial injuries.

We believe such claims will only gain momentum over the next few years. An employer who allows smoking in confined workspaces must put systems in place to monitor (one way is to use occupational health professionals) and take steps to reduce the risks to employees who are exposed to the smoke.

If you would like advice and guidance on this and any other H & S issue please call us on 01473 890037

Risk Assessment Workshop

Just £55 on the 16th September

ALL employers and self employed people are required by legislation to perform risk assessment in the workplace. Risk assessment really is the first step to successfully managing health and safety. If you have not identified your significant risks, how do you know what you are trying to manage?

Furthermore, If you employ five or more people the risk assessments must be documented.

The aim of this half-day workshop is to introduce you to a simple five step approach, giving give you the tools needed so that you can confidently return to your place of work and start the risk assessment process right away.

Performance Management Tips

The key to managerial success is to manage people for high performance.

Performance management is about creating an environment and relationship that encourages each individual to flourish. If this is done and they are still not performing, then take formal action and if they still don’t improve say good bye to them.

Managers at all levels can be quick to judge an individuals performance or behaviour. An excellent manager, however will first ask whether there is anything they are doing or not doing that is hampering this individual’s performance.

The Environment

Certain conditions are helpful if you want people to deliver certain things.

1. Tell them what you want them to do
2. Ask them if they need any help in doing it
3. Delegate to them the responsibility and budget needed
4. Tell them what the rules are
5. Measure how good they are at it but don’t breath down their neck – leave them to it.
6. If you can afford it, pay them related to how good they are at it and how important it is to business success. Either way tell them if they're good at it. If they are not, try to find out why.

Many HR systems can put processes around all this - classically with lots of forms for job descriptions and guides to appraisal. These can of course be useful, particularly to gain uniformity of process in large organisations. BUT performance management is about individuals.

The best job description defines:

1. How the job contributes to business success (in no more than two sentences)
2. What the outputs expected of the job are (no more than 7)

This is best accompanied by a list of about 3 to 5 things you really want the person to deliver - this should be reviewed regularly and can be the basis of bonus or other targets.

Targets should be SMART:

Specific - and unambiguous

Measurable - as far as possible, without judgement being required - quantifiable

Agreed - by both boss & subordinate & sometimes colleagues

Realistic

Time bound

Good performance management begins with trust in your people’s ability to meet the Company’s requirements but first having ensured they understand what those requirements are.

Picasso HR can run an in-house workshop for managers at all levels on performance management as well as conducting appraisals

Here is an outline of our performance management workshop:

Aims

To introduce managers to the principles and practice of managing the performance of their people.

Objectives

• To gain an understanding of the principles of performance management
• To have an awareness of the main organisational processes that managers can use to meet performance requirements
• To learn some techniques for managing poor performance

Content

The workshop will cover:

• Establishing standards of performance
• Linking individual and organisational objectives
• Communicating organisational values and beliefs
• Performance management tools, such as appraisal processes, training and development and knowledge sharing
• Understanding why dealing with performance issues is so difficult for some managers and often avoided all together
• How to manage poor performance

Call Lina Hogg on 01473 890037 for further information or to discuss your training needs.

New Equality Laws coming into force in December

Sexual Orientation Discrimination

On 1st December 2003 the Employment Equality (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2003 will come into force. This will make it unlawful to discriminate on grounds of sexual orientation in employment and vocational training. This will extend to direct discrimination, indirect discrimination, victimisation and harassment.

Religious discrimination

On 2nd December 2003 the Employment Equality (Religion or Belief) Regulations 2003 will make it unlawful to discriminate on grounds of religion or belief in employment and vocational training. This will include direct discrimination, indirect discrimination, victimisation and harassment.

Only time will tell how well employers have taken these regulations on board in their employment practices.

Do you know what to do if one your employees undergoes a sex change? Will you know how to deal with the individual and his or her colleague’s reactions? Such situations will require sensitive handling and an understanding of the legislation. For advice and guidance please call us on 01473 890037.

Employment Equality (Religion or Belief) Regulations 2003

From December 2, 2003 it will be unlawful to discriminate against workers because of religion or similar beliefs.

A Religion or Belief is defined as being any religion, religious belief or similar philosophical belief. This does not include any philosophical or political belief unless it is similar to religious belief. It will be for the Employment Tribunals and other courts to decide whether particular circumstances are covered by the Regulations.

These regulations apply to all areas of employment including recruitment, training, promotions, transfers and dismissals. It will be unlawful to:

• Discriminate against anyone on the grounds of religion or belief, that is to treat them less favourably than others because of their religion or belief,
• Discriminate indirectly against someone on similar grounds. This would be to apply a criterion, provision or practice, in the course of employment, which disadvantages people of a particular religion or belief without a justifiable reason.
• Harass someone on these grounds.
• Victimise someone because they have made a complaint or allegation under these regulations for discrimination on the grounds of religion or belief.
• Lastly, a new provision brought in by case law, discriminate against someone after employment has ended, but the employment relationship still exists.

As with other anti-discrimination legislation, the only exception is if the discrimination is based on a genuine occupational requirement for the employee to be of a specific religion or belief. An example of this would be having a requirement that all teachers at a Christian school be Christian and promote Christianity with pupils.

New managers/supervisors workshop

The first experience as a new manager can be daunting, perhaps even a case of sink or swim. This programme is designed to help new managers gain the knowledge, skills and confidence that will help them succeed as a manager of people. A great motivator at the start of their management career.

The programme is designed for anyone new to managing people.

During the programme you will learn about:

Duration: 1 day

We hope to run this in late September or early October

Call Lina Hogg on 01473 890037 to book a place

The information in this newsletter is of a general nature and is not a substitute for professional advice. You are recommended to obtain specific professional advice before you take any action.

For further information, advice or assistance on any of the matters raised in this newsletter please contact Picasso HR on 01473 890037.

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