How to Reduce Costs of Workplace Absence and Leave

legal-island.com
How to Reduce Costs of
Workplace Absence and Leave
9:20am - 4:30pm on Thursday 22nd May 2014
Hilton Hotel, Lanyon Place, Belfast
Speakers include
Absence and leave entitlements cost huge amounts of time and money for organisations.
Our experts highlight legal changes and practical actions that will benefit organisations and
individuals, creating a more productive and motivated workforce at the same time as
reducing costs of time away from work.
What are the benefits of attending:
• Understand health trends expected to reshape the workforce.
• Know practical measures you and your managers can take to
reduce absence costs and better motivate employees to attend
work and create more.
• Have knowledge of and detailed notes on all the expected legal
changes in this area – from shared parental leave, to extended
rights on flexible working and a new occupational health service.
• Be able to answer difficult questions relating to disability-related
absences; older workers; zero-hour contracts; and much, much
more.
Who should attend?
Here is what our customers said
after last year’s conference
“Very informative and I enjoyed the
opportunity to talk with guest
speakers and left feeling motivated to
try new healthier concepts in the
workplace.”
Julie Taggart HR Coordinator, Lidl Northern Ireland GmbH
This event is ideal for HR professionals and managers concerned
with absence and engagement levels in the workplace.
When and where?
9:20am - 4:30pm on Thursday 22nd May 2014
Hilton Hotel, Lanyon Place, Belfast
Price
Standard Rate: £450+VAT
“I came away much better informed
and feeling empowered to tackle
future issues.”
Johnny Wylie HR Officer, Asidua
Special Offers
To avail of our special offers,
please contact Vanessa Porter
on 028 9446 3888
How to Book Your Place
Online – www.legal-island.com
· Click on ‘Upcoming Events’ tab
· Select your event
Telephone – 028 9446 3888
· Contact our Customer Service Team to register
Email – vanessa@legal-island.com
· Please include the course title plus your name,
organisation and contact telephone number
“Great range of topics, going above
more than the legal aspects of absence
management to wellbeing, prevention
etc.”
Claire Anderson HR Advisor, CCEA
Programme
9:20am Introduction and Welcome
Scott Alexander, Head of Learning and Development, Legal-Island.
9:30am Health Trends That Will Reshape the Workforce
In November 2013 the CIPD and Unum produced a white paper that explored six key health trends HR professionals need to understand, their
implications and how HR departments in organisations large and small should react. Dr Philip McCrea of OH Consultants sets out the importance of
these trends and gives his views on what else HR professionals should be looking out for and doing now to minimise future risks.
Q&A at 10.10am
10:15am Exit Interviews – A Driver to Reduce Absence Rates and Turnover
We all use, or should use exit interviews. They can root out underlying problems and poor management, help with recruitment, cut down staff turnover
and protect against claims. Using a template form and interactive exercises, expert trainer Michele Berry, Director, Charis Consultancy Services, takes
you through best practice, from planning to recording and driving internal improvements.
Q&A throughout
11:00am Break and Networking
11:30am Shared Parental Leave and More
We expect to see a shared parental leave Bill introduced in the NI Assembly before the summer recess. When commenced, working parents will be
allowed to share paid and unpaid leave. How is this likely to work in practice? What are the notice requirements? What information must be provided?
What will be the provision for KIT days? Mark McAllister, Employment Relations Manager, Labour Relations Agency, sets out the likely rules you will
need to know.
We also look ahead to the expected extension to all employees of the right to request flexible working and consider the implications in NI of GB
proposals on a state-funded occupational health service where employees are off sick for more than four weeks, plus SSP changes from April 2014.
Q&A at 12.10pm
12:15pm Absence Compendium
Gareth Walls, Partner, A&L Goodbody takes you through FAQ’s, setting out answers to common topics,
such as:
• How long does an absence have to be before I can argue frustration of contract?
• Can I introduce zero-hour contracts and what are the pros and cons?
• Can I ban e-cigarettes in the workplace and order employees to take ‘smoke’ breaks outside?
• What is the best way to handle an employee out on stress during a disciplinary process?
• How do I manage staff absences amongst manual workers who are no longer able to carry out their
role as they get older, without falling foul of age discrimination laws?
• What can I do if I do not know that the employee has a disability and the medical diagnosis is not
definitive?
Q&A at 12.55pm
12:15pm Absence Compendium
Also with this session: All delegates
receive Managing Absence Risks
template documents on:
• Absence Management
• Patterns of Absence
• Stress
• Using Social Media to Spot Absence
Trends
• Standard wording for zero hour
contracts
1:00pm Lunch and Networking
2:00pm Engaged or Disengaged?
The importance of employee engagement in keeping absence and turnover rates low cannot be overestimated. Grainne Cochrane, Director of
Woodland Training Services, delivers a fascinating session on employee engagement through exploring mental and physical vitality. Discover the
formula for ‘flourishing’; how to tame the stress response by reframing your perceptions; learn about the mind / body connection and its impact on
performance. Develop practical strategies to enhance efficiency, effectiveness and engagement for you and your team. Trust us: you’ll enjoy this and
learn from it.
Q&A throughout
2:45pm A choice of workshops to round off the day
Delegates attend two but receive notes from all four. Each workshop is introduced by the presenter in the plenary session before delegates choose
their preference.
2.45pm Case Study: Workforce Management Plans
The key to unlocking employee potential is a well-designed workforce
management plan, aimed at improving employee satisfaction and
reducing absence. Shauna Hughes, Director, Eye Change Consultancy
takes you through their workplace management plan and identifies
lessons learned and opportunities lost and gained. Q&A throughout
3:30pm Break and Networking
3:45pm Case Study
Antrim Borough Council secured significant performance improvements
by tackling absenteeism during a period of significant financial pressure.
The achievements were recognised nationally when the Council became
finalists for a Health & Wellbeing Award in 2012 and a Diversity Award in
2013. Find out why the CIPD published an Absence Management case
study detailing Council’s unique approach to this area and what practical
tools and techniques can be employed to secure significant savings with
limited resources. What made it work? Can it work for you?
Elaine Magee, Assistant Director of Human Resources, explains.
Q&A throughout
4:30pm Close
Improving Occupational Health & Safety to Reduce Absence
Our speaker Dr Bill Jenkinson MBE, Director of Occupational Health &
Safety at Bombardier Aerospace argues that, although some absences are
inevitable, many simple and cost-effective occupational health and safety
improvements can hugely improve absence rates and lead to greater
output. Q&A throughout
Calculating Holiday Pay (Part 1)
Recent case law, such as Neal v Freightliner Ltd and Lock v British Gas
Trading Ltd has indicated that casual overtime and commission must be
included in holiday pay calculations. What does this case law really say?
Should employers create contingency funds? Are there any lawful ways to
minimise holiday pay liabilities? Sheena Murphy, Principal at Murphys
Solicitors explains.
Holiday Pay (Part 2)
Now you know the law, how are you calculating holiday pay? Are you likely
to be in breach of EU laws and facing a huge bill for back pay? Sheena
takes you through group exercises designed to challenge your
understanding and reinforce learning. Q&A throughout part 2
About the speakers
Dr Philip McCrea
Managing Director, OH Consultants
Dr McCrea has been a full-time occupational physician since
1988 and is an accredited specialist in occupational
medicine with specialist qualifications from the Faculties of
Occupational Medicine in London and Dublin.
Michele Berry
Director, Charis Consultancy Services
Michele has been a self-employed employment relations
consultant working across all sectors since 1999 and works
extensively in dispute resolution through the delivery of
mediation, arbitration, independent appeals and
investigation services. Michele has particular expertise in
training and consultancy services in responding to bullying
and harassment in the workplace; in particular using
psychodynamic coachmentoring interventions to enable
behavioural change.
Mark McAllister
Employment Relations Manager, LRA
Mark specialises in dispute prevention and joint working. He
is the Northern Ireland Convenor of the Chartered Institute of
Arbitrators and is an accredited mediator. Mark is also a
member of the employment lawyers group and the Industrial
Law Society and is a regular speaker on the employment law
circuit and contributor to employment law publications.
Gareth Walls
Partner, A&L Goodbody
Gareth has more than ten years experience practising as a
specialist employment lawyer and has built a strong
reputation for excellence in his contentious and noncontentious work aspects of employment law, notably on
discrimination matters in the Fair Employment Tribunal but
also in TUPE advices and corporate support. Gareth acts for
a wide variety of employer clients in the private sector and
the public advising on re-structuring issues, the internal
application of policies and procedures, notably grievance
and disciplinary matters.
Grainne Cochrane
Director, Woodland Training Services
Grainne Cochrane, Director of Woodland Training Services,
has over twenty years experience designing and delivering
training to public, private and voluntary sector clients in the
UK and Republic of Ireland. In 2004 she successfully
completed an MSSc in Organisation and Management at
Queen’s University Belfast in which her dissertation focused
on the transfer of knowledge from training courses to reality.
She is passionate about the link between mental and
physical vitality leading to personal and professional
excellence.
Shauna Hughes
Director, Eye Change Consultancy
Shauna Hughes spent some 18 years with Caterpillar Inc,
where she was Regional People and Organisational
Development Manager for Europe, Asia and the US until
2013. She know runs her own consultancy business and has
a particular focus on creating transformational change
through working with individual business leaders in
multinational settings. Shauna was also a tutor on the CIPD
Diploma in Personnel Management at QUB for a number of
years. She is currently the Lead Regional Ambassador for
Engage for Success in Northern Ireland.
Dr Bill Jenkinson MBE
Director of Occupational Health & Safety,
Bombardier Aerospace
Dr Jenkinson introduced one of the first workplace based
counselling services in 1990 and has been instrumental in
the introduction of employee assistance programmes in a
number of large organisations including Bombardier
Aerospace. He has been an accredited specialist with the
faculty of occupational medicine since 1994 and has held
the position of chairman of the Society of Occupational
Medicine and regional speciality advisor in occupational
medicine in Northern Ireland. Dr Jenkinson has a wide range
of experience of working with organisations in the provision
of occupational health services to public sector services and
private sector manufacturing.
Catherine McFarland
Director of Corporate and Regulatory Services (Deputy
Chief Executive), Antrim Borough Council
Catherine has been Director of Corporate and Regulatory
Services (Deputy Chief Executive) for the last eight years
and is responsible for ensuring that it operates within a
robust corporate governance framework, is a people
focused organisation where customer service excellence is
the norm and where staff are properly supported and
equipped to perform to the highest standards. She is
currently responsible for both front line and back office
services including Finance, HR, ICT, PR, Administration,
Policy, Legal, Health and Well-being, Environmental Health
and Building Control. Her experience spans 29 years in
Local Government and Education sectors, she is a
Chartered Public Finance Accountant with an MA in Law and
Public Administration, an MSc in Innovation in Public Service
and is a visiting lecturer to the University of Ulster.
Sheena Murphy
Principal, Murphys Solicitors
Sheena commenced employment with a large firm in County
Down and played an integral part in the establishment and
operation of the firm’s Employment Law Unit at its Belfast
office. In October 1999 Sheena opened her own practice,
Murphys Solicitors, specialising in employment and
employer law matters. Sheena has extensive experience in
all aspects of employment law advice including matters
arising in the Office of Industrial Tribunals and the Fair
Employment Tribunal, as well as the High Court of Justice.