Why is now the best time to invest in skills?

“When a recession bites, it makes us all short sighted” according to CBE, Chief executive of the UK Commission for Employment and Skills. Employers who don’t invest in training are two-and-a-half times more likely to fail than those who do!

Last October, a coalition of the UK’s most senior businessmen took the unprecedented step of calling on employers not to slash staff training in a bit to cut costs. They said; “It is the people we employ who will get us through...Investing now in building new skills will put us in the strongest position as the economy recovers.”

There are 3 things employers can do to make sure they are in the best possible position for recovery:

1. Motivate your staff. That means remaining positive and continuing to invest in them. It is their commitment, productivity and ability to add value that will keep you competitive.

2. Take all the assistance you can get. As Bristol Business College is a recognised quality training provider with TRAIN TO GAIN, you can get up to £1,000 free training for your staff.

3. Don’t believe everything you read. Things are bad but the media tends to exaggerate the extent of a downturn. Statistics can be misleading as the media focuses on whatever is eye-catching. Don’t just look at next week, look at next year, and make sure you continue to innovate and progress.

At Bristol Business College you can avail of 1 full day’s training for 3 of your senior managers at just £117 + VAT with Train to Gain. We handle all funding applications and arrange tailored training onsite for you. An insight into our popular training workshops:

• Business Development in Challenging Times is a dynamic, focused and motivating training day for staff. It examines current practises and challenges you to be innovative and creative
• Inspirational Leadership & Performance Management is a wakeup call for managers at all levels. It takes a fresh look at self leadership skills, managing development and performance, team management and managing yourself.

A sample of what some of our recent clients had to say:

“Excellent, trainer really good, delighted”
“The training was excellent, clear and easy to understand’
“Excellent training course, fulfilled all training needs”
“The course was brilliant”
“Excellent experience, I am really glad I had the chance to attend
this workshop. Very interesting and inspiring”

For information on any of our training workshops please visit http://www.bristolbusinesscollege.com/trainingworkshops/index.html

Top 10 Tips on: How to construct an Effective Appraisals System

Why bother with appraisals?

1. Simon Jones, the chief executive of Investors in People has advised that employers are not using appraisals to their advantage. The primary reason to do anything is to further the aims of the organisation, for everyone from the apprentice to the CEO. He added that appraisals are a powerful tool: for managers to make sure they are getting the most out of staff; and for employees to demonstrate what they are doing well and to identify areas for development.

Should they be linked to pay?

2. It is advisable to hold having appraisals on the anniversary of the employee joining the company, rather than at the same time as the salary review. It takes the pressure away from the appraisal being directly linked to a salary increase.

Be aware of the legalities

3. Norton Rose, the law firm, pointed out that if a bonus is based on individual performance, employees will look for some consistency between what they are paid and how they were appraised,” meaning that if employees get a good appraisal but a reduced bonus, and their contract links performance to their bonus, it could become a legal issue.

Be honest

4. We're in the situation at the moment where a lot of organisations are struggling just to survive, let alone give bonuses. In the main, employees have to accept that the survival of the organisation comes first. As long as people understand what's going on in the company they will generally accept that.

Bite the bullet

5. The main reason for an appraisals process not working is an understandable unwillingness on the part of managers to talk through difficult issues with people they work with daily. It's about training your managers in what you're trying to get out of the appraisals process. Employers should try to see the process as “fine-tuning the motor in your car. Every once in a while you have to say, ‘Something's not ticking right; let's constructively change it.'”

Encourage self appraisal and follow up with training

6. The appraisal meeting affords the chance to identify training needs and agree when training is going to happen. Encouraging employees to engage with their own career progression in this way is a good motivation tool, as long as training promises are followed through.

Simplify the system

7. Too much bureaucracy and form-filling makes a manager feel resentful about the process and detracts from the reasons for doing it, which are to motivate staff, review performance, tease out any problems and set objectives for the future.

Make them a priority

8. This is a tough ask if the future of the business is at stake. But appraisals are an excellent opportunity to motivate staff. If these discussions don't take place, employees lose interest in their own progression and grow cynical and lose motivation.

The public sector is different

9. The director of HR at Swindon Borough Council, believes that there is a culture in the public sector that doesn't encourage senior leaders to have difficult conversations about performance with their juniors. He puts this down in part to the difficulty of measuring performance in terms of the delivery of services, rather than in financial terms, as in the private sector. For him, the appraisal is the chance to offer incentives to staff. “Incentivisation is often financial in the private sector; in the public sector it's more around development,” he said, but the appraisals process still needs to set employees very clear targets.

Create an appraisals culture

10. Appraisal is not necessarily having an annual review; it needs to be taking place on a weekly basis. The formal appraisals process should be the cherry on the cake. What is more important is that employer and employee feel that they can be honest with each other at all times.