We hear the phrase ‘duty of care’ all the time, especially in the health and social care industry. But, a lot of people don’t know what it actually means when it comes down to it and what responsibilities are expected from them.

To keep it simple, we often have a duty of care to keep other people safe, protecting them from harm and bad situations, whether it’s caused by themselves or others.

Usually, this duty arises from a working relationship, like a client or patient, as well as to towards other employees and even your organization.

Of course, we aren’t just talking about a moral obligation. Having a duty of care is a legal obligation too. In this respect, you don’t have a choice what your responsibilities are – you are expected to follow them to the best of your abilities to abide by company and legal rules.

This is why it’s important to learn all about duty of care and what your responsibilities are so you can do everything right.

In addition, it’s essential to know what’s expected of you so you can figure out what you should do if something goes wrong. Both employees and managers can benefit from training on this subject and this is where a duty of care training course will help.

Things can get complicated, especially when your duty of care clashes with someone’s individual rights. For example, if a patient makes a choice that you disagree with or you feel is unsafe.

It’s crucial to remember that you can advise someone and even carry out a risk assessment, but ultimately, it’s their choice and you can’t decide for them. Your duty of care is to promote wellbeing and safety, but not control the situation.

You’ve got to respect individual rights, promote independence and enable the person to make an informed choice on their own. The only exception to this is if the individual lacks the capability to understand the choices they are making due to a mental capacity issue.

Duty of care includes supporting individuals with complaints and this even applies if it’s to do with the care you’ve provided. This section explains that the best way to deal with comments is quickly and as positively as possible.

Complaints are a learning opportunity for you and you can use it as a way to look for improvements. In addition, it’s also required by legislation and local authorities to listen to patient comments.

It’s all about creating an environment where there’s an honest approach to dealing with someone’s comments or complaints.

Ways you can do this include providing a private setting, adhering to confidentiality, using active listening skills, not judging someone, offering support and thanking them for feedback.

Why is a duty of care training course important?

It’s always vital that employees know what’s expected of them and are aware of their responsibilities in the workplace, especially towards patients and colleagues.

With a duty of care training course, employees can be clear on what their role includes, as well as what they can do if they experience a problem regarding their duty of care.

This will make sure that patients receive the best care possible and it will avoid any negligence cases being brought against the employee and organization in the future.

Get Duty of Care for your team with Go1 Premium now!

False

Do you want to make sure everyone contributes and makes your meeting productive?

Everyone knows that meetings are all about teamwork and coming together to be creative and productive. You know what they say, alone we can do so little, but together we can do much, much more. But, there’s one thing getting in the way.

It’s often hard to have a successful meeting when there are so many different personalities in one room.

When you’re in an office full of people, there are lots of personal traits, habits and personalities at work. Of course, this means that you naturally won’t see eye-to-eye with everyone, certainly not in the real world. There will definitely be things that will get on your nerves.

However, while you can ignore people outside of the office, you can’t do the same in meetings.

This doesn’t mean all is lost – it just means you’ve got to know how to manage different personalities effectively. Once you know how to do this, your meetings can be creative, energetic and most importantly, productive!

So, let’s break down the Managing Meeting Personalities course to see what it’s all about and how it can benefit our employees.

There’s no doubt this course will be valuable for all employees, but this is especially so for those that plan to manage meetings and set the agenda.

The main attraction of this online e-learning course is the animated and interactive video, which explains all the main points for employees using an engaging and funny voiceover. It’s only a few minutes long, which keeps everyone active in the course.

There is also an infographic included with the course, which reiterates all of the information from the video, with colorful images to keep staff interested in the content. It’s great for ongoing learning in the workplace.

Manage Meeting Personalities – the content

The course takes a humorous approach to learning, with the storyline of the Meeting Squad and taking on characters, called the seven most deadly and dangerous Meeting Assassins.

The point is that everyone will recognize some of these personalities in meetings:

The Dominator – this is the person who’s all about their own ideas and finds it hard to listen and accept other people’s perspectives. In other words, it’s their way or the highway.

Captain Rambler – The person that derails the meeting and doesn’t stick to the important points. They can be there all day and waste precious time, as well as boring everyone. This is no good!

Mr. Latecomer – The one that’s never on time for your scheduled meeting, which can be disruptive and affect productivity for everyone else.

The Multi-tasker – From answering emails to checking social media, this person is always busy. But, the one problem is that they are contributing to everything other than your meeting!

Virtual Girl – The person virtually attending the meeting. While technology’s great for connecting us, something’s always wrong and this brings down productivity.

The Pro – This is the person that loves meetings, even when it’s unnecessary, which wastes everyone’s time and affects productivity.

Mr. Unprepared – Someone that’s never organized for a meeting, whether it’s not booking the room or not creating an agenda for the scheduled time.

The valuable part of this course is that it tells you how you can stop these personalities ruining your next meeting. It’s all about managing them and taking control of your meeting.

Users can click the characters on-screen to see the different techniques for management:

Dominant – creating a meeting agenda will combat colleagues that become dominant in meetings and want to take over. You can send a list of topics in order of their importance beforehand. In the meeting itself, you can politely remind them of the meeting’s goal.

Prolonged Speaker – If your meeting’s straying off-topic or someone’s taking too long to explain their point, you can explain that time’s running out and you’ve got to stick to the agenda of the meeting - the topic can be revisited at the end if there’s time.

Latecomers – make it clear you’ll be starting sharp at the meeting time and stress this point in the invitations. In addition, making comments that commit employees to attending at that time.

Distracted – the best way to combat those glazed over eyes is to keep meetings quick and focused on the important stuff. Short and snappy!

Meeting Professional – sometimes meetings just aren’t necessary. Think about sending an email or calling instead. Plus, enthusiasm can go a long way in making sure everyone’s on board and wants to attend a meeting.

Why is a Managing Meeting Personalities course important?

When employees learn about how to manage different personalities during a meeting, everyone performs better at their job. It’s all about how you can maximize the effectiveness of your meetings and make the most of your time. There’s no time to waste in business!

This course is going to let employees know how they can manage conflicting personalities and make sure they don’t ruin your next meeting, so they can get through everything that’s on the agenda.

Armed with the best ways to achieve success in the office, employees can feel confident and know they’re making progress for the future.

Most importantly, this course allows meetings to be more productive, enjoyable and time efficient – everyone’s a winner!

Get Managing Meeting Personalities plus more with Go1 Premium!

How to manage different personalities in meetings

When you resign from a job, the last thing you probably want to think about is handing over the reins to a new person. Most likely, your focus is already on your next exciting career move. However, creating insightful handover notes can make a massive difference for the incoming employee, your teammates, your manager, and the business overall. 

Many of us have probably experienced a job where we were thrown into the deep end from day one and left to fend for ourselves with no handover notes and no direction. Or, worse, a few days in you discover there are a million questions you wish you’d had an opportunity to ask your predecessor. To put it mildly, it's not much fun. That’s why thorough, detailed handover notes are crucial.  

Handovers are an essential process for any organisation. While organisations usually place a lot of focus on onboarding, offboarding exiting employees and completing a formal handover process is just as vital. 

When an employee leaves a position — regardless of the circumstances — they should always carry out a proper handover process to ensure a smooth transition. Having exiting employees hand over their workload will help the new hire hit the ground running and know exactly what’s expected of them.

If you’re an employer or manager, it’s your responsibility to ensure incoming employees receive a detailed handover — whether they’re joining the team long-term or just covering the position for a maternity or long-service leave stint.

Unfortunately, many organisations neglect this handover process, with a study by Aberdeen Research finding that 71% of organisations say they have no formal handover process in place. We think it’s about time that changed. 

So, here’s everything you need to know about handovers for exiting employees. We'll start by asking why you need to prepare a good handover, before looking at what to include in your handover notes and asking what managers can do to help with the handover process. 

Why do you need to prepare a good handover?

A good handover (sometimes known as offboarding) will help new team members settle into their position more quickly and feel comfortable and confident with their new job.

A detailed handover can also benefit other staff and the broader business, as you’ll find much less disruption to team workflows and productivity rates.

As RWA Insights explains, "[handovers] are particularly important if a role is being taken over by a new  member of staff, who will be unfamiliar with the organisation in  general. Clear, detailed notes that fully outline any processes and  procedures will help the incoming member of staff settle in and get to  grips with the job more quickly."

Additionally, when long-term team members leave an organisation, there’s always a risk of accrued knowledge and experience departing with them.  In fact, research by Digital Skynet finds that 27% of all Intellectual Property (IP) loss is down to human error such as this. Handovers reduce the risk of IP loss by helping to transition knowledge between the exiting team member and the new hire.

Despite this, HR leaders dedicate 8x more time to creating, implementing, and administering onboarding programs than offboarding (or handover) programs. What’s more, only 29% of organisations say they have a formal program to transition employees out of a company. Yet, research shows that organisations with a formal handover process are 14% more likely to improve retention and 11% more likely to improve engagement. 

Additionally, a recent report found that 76% of IT Leaders believe a lack of offboarding processes represents a significant security threat. Further research suggests that lax offboarding processes lead to $300 million in lost revenue and $8.3 million in cyber security breaches per year! In light of the great resignation, where companies are dealing with employee resignations and offboarding more than ever before, these statistics should be alarming. 

Naturally, the detail and length of a handover will vary depending on the complexity or seniority of a job, as well as how long the position is being covered. However, a standardised handover strategy is essential for all high-impact teams.

According to Emily Das, an independent adviser at HR Consultants Ltd, incoming employees should spend at least a couple of hours with the outgoing staff member. 

"It's absolutely critical that there is at least a basic handover, because in a small firm, jobs often cover more than the employee was originally recruited for," says Das.

For a long-term handover, there should always be both a face-to-face conversation and a written document.

"If it's a key role, it might even be worthwhile bringing the new employee in early for work shadowing," suggests Das. This process would see both employees — old and new — working together for up to a week, so the new team member can carry out tasks under the guidance of the experienced employee and ask any questions that may arise. 

To see some of these tips in action, start your free trial with Go1 today to access a dedicated course on Successful handovers — How to make a smooth transition. 

Your handover notes should include all the information the new employee will need to ensure a smooth transition. When preparing handover notes, mentally go through a typical week in your role, noting all the significant tasks, processes, and people that a new hire will need to know. 

"The handover should be structured, take at least half a day and include all the employee's day-to-day tasks," says Das. "There should also be a written note, with specific instructions about systems or projects, and useful contact numbers.”

Here are some things you might want to include in your handover notes:

A description of all your daily tasks and processes

Access to all relevant spreadsheets, documents, and files (ensure you share copies of these with existing team members so they aren't deleted or lost when your account is removed)

Ongoing project deadlines and status updates

Information about any regular/recurring meetings

A list of key contacts – customers, clients, stakeholders, managers, team members etc. 

Details of all logins and passwords, and information on who to contact for tech support 

Housekeeping – location of keys, stationery, tools etc.

Any other miscellaneous information that may be useful to help the new hire settle in 

Think about everything you would need to know if you were starting the job afresh. You can also include questions you had when you first started the job. You might even find that preparing your handover notes can be a nice little boost, as you reflect on all the tasks and projects you’ve completed!

What can managers do to help with the handover process?

While it’s up to exiting employees to develop thorough handover notes, managers are responsible for ensuring this process happens in the first place. 

As mentioned, it’s not uncommon for an exiting employee to feel checked out or unmotivated to create detailed handover notes. Therefore, managers should emphasise the importance of this process. Have the exiting employee start preparing for a handover as soon as they hand in their resignation. Make it clear that this is their top priority before they leave.

Give exiting employees time to prepare handover notes 

You might also want to collaborate with employees on their handover notes to provide direction and cover specific things you’d like them to pass on before they go.

At the same time, don’t add to their existing workload by giving them too many new projects or deadlines. Depending on the job, it may be necessary to reduce their workload to ensure they have ample time to prepare detailed handover notes. 

If you’ve made it clear that the exiting employee should focus on preparing handover notes, it's your responsibility as a manager to give them time and space to complete this task.

If you’re an employee leaving a position, do your best to give a detailed handover to the new person. Depending on the circumstances of your departure, you may be feeling disengaged, checked out, burnt out, or just plain excited about moving on! But leaving your job on good terms and ensuring a smooth transition for the next person will show your true professionalism.

Not only is preparing detailed handover notes a sign of your professionalism, but it is rarely a good idea to burn bridges in these scenarios. There's always a chance you might rely on your former employer for a reference in the future. However, more importantly, research shows that 15% of employees ‘boomerang’ and return to work for a former employer. Plus, a massive 40% of employees say they would consider ‘boomeranging’ back to work for a former employer. If you burn bridges by preparing poor handover notes, this option might be off the table. 

Finally, preparing a thorough handover means being respectful to your teammates who are staying. These teammates will carry the extra workload while the new employee settles in, so, a smooth handover will be particularly beneficial for them. By taking the time to carry out a proper handover, you’ll be closing off this phase of your career with a clear mind, ready to start the next exciting chapter of your professional life.

For more insights on offboarding, subscribe to the Go1 newsletter to stay on top of all the latest L&D trends. Or, you can book a demo today to find out how Go1 can help with your team’s learning needs.

Handovers are an essential process for any organisation. Here’s everything you need to know about handovers for exiting employees.

The importance of handovers for exiting employees

Are the rumors true – is it really that hard to keep millennial staff happy?

Well, it’s no secret that millennials have become known as job hoppers. In today’s world, people don’t spend their entire life with the same employer as much as they used.

In particular, millennials are more likely to leave a company if they don’t feel like they’re valued and are more resilient when it comes to making a career.

Perhaps it’s because millennials are more ambitious and independent or maybe it’s that they’re impatient and anxious to progress.

There’s a bunch of reasons why staff turnover is higher than it used to be. But, what’s most important is what you can do to change this in your company.

The answer is setting up a good onboarding program.

Onboarding is all about welcoming new employees into the office and preparing them for their new role in the company.

This includes introducing them to the daily running of the office and allowing them time and the support to build up the skills and knowledge they need to feel comfortable in the job.

But, the truth is, a lot of employers don’t spend enough time and effort with new employees and this is what can lead to a high staff turnover. That’s why a good onboarding program for millennial staff is important now more than ever before.

After all, it can take months to find the right candidate for the job. It’s take a lot of time and effort, not to mention, money. You want your new employee to stay after all that work, right?

That’s why you can’t just give employees a handbook and leave them to their own devices after a quick tour around the office. You’ve got to put in the hard work from the beginning to make sure they settle in, know what they are doing and importantly, stay.

So, you’ve got to have a good onboarding program from the start. First impressions count.

When we’ve been in a job for a long time, we forget how hard it is when you’re new. But, a good onboarding program is the way to make this transition into a new workplace a lot easier and more enjoyable for the employee.

You want to promote integration for maximum staff retention. A good onboarding program is simple to introduce to the office and it all starts with online e-learning courses for training and orientation. You can add these courses to your LMS instantly and you’re all ready to go!

So, let’s have a look at some of the benefits to e-learning, compared to more traditional forms of training.

From an employer’s point of view, it’s going to save you a lot of money on instructors and classes. Now you don’t have to send away new employees for training – you can do it right in the office. This all saves time.

From an employee’s perspective, e-learning offers familiarity and value. With today’s technology, millennials are always on their phone or using the internet for everyday tasks.

That means that e-learning is a way of tapping into those tech savvy skills they have in a way that offers familiarity with their everyday routine.

Most importantly, e-learning courses offer value to new employees. You can introduce all the key concepts they need to know through short videos and presentations that are more engaging and interesting than traditional forms of training.

You can also use simulations to teach employees about software they’ll be using, as well as practice assessments. This will allow new employees to build up their confidence and advance their own skills, instead of being launched into the real world with no experience.

You can even use gamification to encourage your employees to learn and give them targets and goals to work towards while they get used to the office. Every loves games - so what’s better than an educational one?

Since e-learning courses can now be access from anywhere and from any device, employees can learn at their own pace. This ensures everyone can progress at a speed they are comfortable with.

In addition, you can keep an eye on an employee’s progress and provide feedback through quizzes and mini tests. You’ll be able to see who’s scoring well and completing their courses, as well as who could do with some additional support.

The great thing about e-learning courses is the endless variety you can choose from. It doesn’t matter what sector your company is in, there’s a course for everyone.

As well as off-the-shelf courses, you can also use software to create your own short videos. This gives you the chance to introduce the workplace and values that are important for your company.

You can show your brand and make it more personal for new employees.

You can even talk with current employees and let them explain their roles and give an example of where new hires can go in the future. This can allow them to aspire and reach new goals within the company.

At the end of the day, a good onboarding program is going to help your company and your new employees equally. Not only can you keep staff turnover down, but you can also enjoy having more knowledgeable and productive staff.

Plus, employees can enjoy better job satisfaction and progress their skills. This can make them feel included and it can cement a loyalty to the company from the very beginning.


How a good onboarding program can reduce millennial staff turnover

As a new hire at Go1, I’m getting to experience the unique way that Go1 on-boards their staff. Of course, there’s a lot of nice meet and greets and face to face learning, but on top of this I’m glad to have been able to dive into the myriad of learning content available as part of Go1 Premium. So, I thought I’d put together a few of the essential courses that any new hire should complete within their first month.

Business is risky and compliance is necessary. Whether you’re a high-growth tech startup or a big player in the construction market, every organisation needs to be compliant with the relevant regulatory training in their industry. From a general point of view, a course like Work Health and Safety Fundamentals is a great place to start. As a course that’s been reviewed by the National Safety Council of Australia, and designed to provide an understanding of health and safety in the workplace, it lays a great foundation for any employee to start with.

We’ve all been there. Someone from the accounting and finance department starts speaking to you about cash flow and ratios or sends through a spreadsheet, and suddenly it seems like they’re speaking in tongues and writing in code. Finance for Non-Finance Managers is just one example of the great courses in the Go1 Premium library designed to help you build your skillset outside of what you were hired to do.

There’s more to work than just the technical execution of what you do. In dynamic and often stressful environments, the difference between a great employee and the rest can quite easily be how they communicate and work with each other. Courses like Managing Emotions include strategies and guidelines to deal with a variety of scenarios from success to failure, dealing with rejection, and handling general workplace stress.

STEP 4: Look after yourself and those around you

Workplaces are a collection of people from a variety of different backgrounds, all with individual personal lives. You might not think it, but 1 in 6 of us is dealing with a mental health problem like anxiety, depression, or stress. The effects of these illnesses are as real as a broken leg, but there’s no plaster cast to show for it. So it can be really difficult to spot the signs, and even harder to talk about, especially at work where many people still feel scared and confused about the issue. Mental Health at Work is a fantastic course which begins to simplify and de-myth a lot of issues, and even covers things from a legal and policy perspective.

There you have it – four great courses that will help any new employee that’s settling into a workplace.
Whether it’s getting compliant in order to have a safe work day, looking after yourself in another way, or simply learning new things - there’s a wide range of courses available to suit your interests.


We live in an increasingly diverse society, which is reflected in our work environment. So it’s important to promote a culture of equality, inclusiveness and diversity in the workplace.

At work, all employees have the right to equal treatment and equal opportunity. And under employment laws, it’s illegal to discriminate against staff on the grounds of gender, race and ethnicity, disability, religion, sexuality, class and age.

If you’re an employer or manager, take a realistic look at your organisation: how are you working to promote a positive and diverse work culture? Are you fostering a sense of belonging for staff, across all cultures, religions and backgrounds?

Businesses perform better when individuals feel included. When employers show that they are strongly committed to supporting diversity, it leads to a far more open, respectful and inclusive organisational culture and work environment for all.

Learn more about promoting cultural diversity in the workplace with our top three online courses.

Through this eLearning course, you’ll look closely at the issues around equality and diversity in the workplace.

You’ll learn what the ‘equality’ and ‘diversity’ really mean, and how the terms differ – and why that’s important.

You’ll also learn how a diversity policy can help your organisation to work within guidelines and avoid discrimination. And see how important it is to have legislation in place to foster an inclusive working environment.

As the instructor reinforces, “any form of ‘difference’ should never prove to be an obstacle in career progression or indeed getting a job in the first place.”

The course also gives clear and interesting examples of direct discrimination, indirect discrimination, associative discrimination and perception discrimination. You might think you’ve got a handle on discrimination, but do you know the difference between those terms?

You’re sure to learn something from this insightful course, allowing you to help promote a more positive and inclusive culture within your own organisation.

Similar name to the course above, but this course is targeted specifically towards employees working in the health and social care sector.

It’s really important that people who are working in these environments, providing care and support to others, treat all individuals fairly and equally. If you’re a health and social care worker, it’s vital that you recognise this and practice it in your daily work.

As this course highlights, “it’s everyone’s responsibility to create an environment that is free from discrimination.”

You can reduce discrimination in your work by valuing diversity. Working in ways that promote equality, diversity and inclusion ensures that care is fair and individuals are not discriminated against. The course encourages employees to support individuals in a “person-centred way.”

A particularly interesting take-away from this course is their explanation of the definition of “equality.”

Do you consider equality to be treating all people in the same way? This is a common viewpoint. But as the course instructor explains, equality is more about “treating people equally, according to their individual needs.”

In a work environment, this can be seen in buildings with disabled access. And information being available in different formats and languages.

Therefore, equality is about striving to ensure that everyone is given equal opportunity, with their individual differences taken into account, to provide fair and equal treatment – in other words everyone is given the same chance.

This online course has been designed to “awaken your understanding of the unconscious.”

Most people these days will consider themselves to be unbiased. But as you’ll soon find out through this course – and which could be a shock to some of you – the human brain is hard-wired in a way that allows unconscious bias.

And this unconscious bias influences our actions, decisions and thought processes every single day.

“When we see someone, whether we think about it or not, we are automatically making judgements about them,” the instructor explains. And unfortunately, “the subtle assumptions we make about people can have lasting effects on who we’re promoting, who we’re hiring, and who we’re putting in leadership positions.”

This course can help you learn how to mitigate the impact of unconscious bias, through raising awareness and developing a more mindful approach at key decision-making times. Much like learning to avoid a dangerous blind spot when driving.

You’ll be shown case studies that demonstrate how unconscious bias can impact organisations that are actively trying to avoid discrimination. And you’ll see how different groups and individuals are affected by this.

Most importantly, you’ll learn to become more aware of your own biases, and how they impact your work life. If you work in a management, recruitment, or assessment role, it’s vital you take this course. But all employees are sure to find it interesting!


For more insights, subscribe to the Go1 newsletter to stay on top of all the latest L&D trends. Or, you can book a demo today to find out how Go1 can help with your team’s learning needs.

Top 3 courses for promoting diversity in the workplace

Have you noticed an increase in employee absenteeism across your organisation? Worried about certain team members who are taking more sick days than usual?

While it’s inevitable that staff will need to take time off from work every now and then, it’s important that employers and managers stay on top of absenteeism – for the wellbeing of your employees, as well as your business.

Absence from work due to sickness, injury, mental health, or caretaker duties should always be dealt with in a fair and compassionate way. However, unfortunately, some employee absences are based in less legitimate reasons – and this is where things can get tricky for managers and team leaders.

Let’s look at the various reasons behind employee absence, how it impacts a business, and what you can do to manage absenteeism across your organisation.

An employee could be away from the workplace for a number of possible reasons. As we said above, they could be dealing with illness or injury, taking a mental health day, going to a medical appointment, or looking after someone in their care. These are considered to be authorised absences, due to legitimate reasons.

On the other hand, they could be taking unauthorised absence: calling in sick to attend a job interview, work on their CV, hang out with friends, go to the beach, sleep off a hangover… you get the idea.

The thing is, there’s no real way to determine if a staff member is actually ill when they’re absent from work. As outlined in a recent article in Forbes, absenteeism is “an especially difficult problem to tackle, because there are both legitimate and poor excuses for missing work - and it can be challenging for employers to effectively monitor, control and reduce absenteeism.”

Here's where things can become even more complicated for managers: are you able to recognise and respond when the reasons behind an employee’s absenteeism are work-related? If a team member is staying away from work due to bullying, harassment, burnout, stress or any other work-related reason, employers and managers need to know. Or if someone is avoiding going into work because of heavy workloads, stressful meetings, or disengagement from their job.

If this is the case, it's essential that you get to the bottom of the issue to address it. You don’t want employees using their sick leave for these reasons, and you don’t want the kind of organisational culture where people are feeling too stressed, disengaged or under-valued to come to work.

The Impact of Employee Absence on Your Business

As well as protecting the wellbeing of your staff members, you’ll be doing yourself a favour by managing employee absenteeism.

Many employers aren’t quite aware of how the total costs of absenteeism affect their business. Absenteeism costs companies billions of dollars each year in wages, extra management time, decreased productivity, and lower quality of goods/services.

In addition to these financial impacts, absenteeism can result in understaffing, increased safety risks (when under-trained staff fill in for others) and poor company morale.

As Forbes reminds us, “because missed work days have a profound financial effect on a company's bottom line, it is beneficial for most businesses to implement strategies to equitably monitor, reduce and respond to absenteeism.”

So what strategies can you implement to effectively manage absenteeism?

The Importance of an Employee Absenteeism Policy

You need to start by developing and implementing a strong employee absenteeism policy.

All employers need to ensure that they have current and up-to-date policies and procedures in place around this issue. Particularly in larger organisations, where it can be more difficult to control absences and their associated costs.

An absenteeism policy helps to make things clearer when it comes to how absences are monitored, recorded and managed across the company. Your policy will help to inform employees of the exact process they should follow for any absence, including who, how and when to notify their employer

Your policy will also include information on the difference between authorised and unauthorised absence, making it clear that unauthorised absence is a disciplinary matter that may result in action. When employees know that all absences are being monitored, reviewed and documented, the number of unauthorised absences is likely to decline.

However, an absenteeism policy isn’t just for the benefit of employers – these policies also protect workers, as all managers are required to follow the guidelines provided by the organisation’s absence policy and deal with issues in a fair and consistent way.

Do you feel confident that your employees are up-to-date with emergency training?

It’s really important that employers ensure staff know how to respond in the event of an emergency. Natural disasters, fires, evacuations – these things can, and do, happen. So it’s best to be prepared.

By providing workplace emergency training, you can help staff develop the skills – and confidence – they need to make the right decisions in the event of a fire or evacuation.

Helping staff to be prepared in case of emergency

Would your staff know what to do in the event of a workplace fire or evacuation?

As an employer, you have a responsibility to provide staff with a safe workplace, free from hazards and health risks. If you run a company or organisation, regardless of the industry you work in, your business needs to be compliant with current workplace safety laws and regulations. And delivering workplace emergency training is part of that.

Through training, your employees will become familiar with your organisation’s emergency procedures, which can make a huge difference on the day if a crisis does emerge. In the event of a fire, for example, the highest priority is always to get all occupants of the building out of harm’s way. Staff who have been trained in fire and evacuation procedures will know how to respond in an organised, methodical and efficient way, reducing risk to persons and property.

While employee safety is obviously number one when it comes to emergencies, as a business owner you should also consider how these situations can affect your company financially.

The financial costs of a fire can be devastating, with the annual cost to businesses through fire running to many millions of dollars. Considering the potential loss in productivity, legal expenses, fines and insurance arising from a workplace incident, emergency training is well worth the investment.

By committing to employee safety, and increasing staff awareness of fire and evacuation procedures, you’ll be lowering the chance of financial implications for your business. Emergency training will also help reduce the risk of workplace incidents across your organisation, in the case of fires that start at work or hazardous chemical spills.

Online courses for workplace emergency training

So what’s the best way to deliver emergency training to staff across your organisation?

If you’re an employer ready to invest in workplace emergency training, Go1 SafeWork can make this process a whole lot easier for you and your staff.

And you’ll get two other important workplace health and safety courses that all Australian businesses are required to complete. This makes providing workplace compliance training for your staff quick and easy, giving you peace of mind that you’re doing your best to provide a happier and healthier workplace for all.

Are you running emergency training for your team?

Are you conducting exit interviews when employees leave your organisation? When people make the decision to move on from a company, it’s important to figure out why – especially if you’re experiencing high staff turnover rates. And/or losing high-performing team members.

Recently, we looked at termination of employment and the legal requirements and procedures that you need to be aware of when ‘letting someone go.’ While we talk a fair bit about onboarding and hiring, there’s less discussion around the other end of the employment life cycle. But it's actually just as important.