A single BLR PowerPoint® program includes 10 separate presentations in the areas most likely to cause legal troubles.
If yesterday’s article offering a “termination primer” said anything, it pointed out the importance of training managers and supervisors in how much classic principles like “employment at will” have been modified by a society in which “sue at will” is now a prevailing concept.
How delicate is the balance? One BLR training program, a Microsoft Powerpoint program titled Easy Trainer: Hiring, Discipline & Termination, warns against making any statement, no matter how seemingly trivial, that could result in a court later concluding that you made a contract with an employee that guaranteed a job.
“Employers today,” say the speaker’s notes accompanying one of the slides, “are more likely to be held to commitments they weren’t even aware they had made. For example, employers may be bound to promises made …even by a manager in a message posted on the bulletin board.” It’s pretty common, for example, for a new hire announcement to include a platitude like, “We plan to have Lee with us for many years to come.” Well, indeed they may … whether they want Lee there or not.
Interviewing-hiring-performance appraisal-discipline-termination. Train in all of them at the cost of 1 with BLR’s Easy Trainer: Hiring, Discipline & Termination. Try it at no cost or risk for 30 days. Click info.
In preparing yesterday’s story, we’re glad we had an opportunity to review this program. BLR has more than 1,500 products, and it’s difficult (at least for us) to know them all. This one turned out to be somewhat of a hidden treasure … and much needed in a day when the manner in which you train line managers and supervisors in HR can mean the difference between spending your time advancing your organization’s goals at work rather than defending them in court.
First thing to catch our eye was the coverage. As the title suggests, Easy Trainer: Hiring, Discipline & Termination, handles not only the end of employment, but also its start and progression in disciplinary terms… an “employment life cycle” approach.
In fact, it includes 10 separate PowerPoint presentations, which can be used in a learning sequence or each on their own. Each is fully self-contained. Here’s the list.
–Dealing with Change
–Diversity
–Hiring Legally
–Interviewing Skills for Supervisors
–Job Descriptions
–New Employee Orientation
–Performance Appraisals
–Progressive Discipline
–Reducing Turnover
–Terminating Employees
If you’ll notice one thing about this list, it’s that all the topics are the day-to-day activities of supervisors that carry the greatest potential for legal problems unless handled properly. This is not a program for teaching your supervisors to behave nicely; it’s one to keep you out of court.
A Remarkably Clear Way of Communicating
We were especially impressed with the skill with which that training is handled. Easy Trainer has got all the usual accoutrements of a good PowerPoint program, including trainee’s slides, word-for-word, read-aloud speaker notes, quizzes, exercises and handouts for each topic, with all customizable to include your company’s specifics. But it’s also got a remarkably clear, concise, and understandable way of communicating.
Here’s just one paragraph from the speaker notes from the section on Hiring Legally:
The Civil Rights Act of 1964, commonly known as Title VII, is the grandparent of employment discrimination laws in this country. It says you cannot consider race, color, sex, religion, or national origin when making any employment decision, including hiring.
If you’ve seen the mangled descriptions of Title VII given elsewhere, you likely appreciate how well constructed this one is. The writer captured the essence of the law, laid out its most important elements, and even gave it a historical perspective, all in just two sentences. That tone permeates the whole product.
Try Easy Trainer: Hiring, Discipline & Termination on CD-ROM for 30 days. Click for info.
If you’re looking for a complete and easy way to train your supervisors and managers in the most critical aspects of hiring, discipline, and termination, in 10 separate units at the cost of only one program, this “hidden treasure” of a CD-ROM is worth a look. We’ve supplied links to show you some sample slides and also set up a way you can check it out on a no-risk basis. Details are below:
View multiple slide sample
View speaker notes sample
10 Supervisor Training Programs for the Price of 1 … Try it at No Cost!
Train supervisors in 10 key HR areas that cover employees’ first day with you (e.g., hiring legally/orientation) right through to their last (e.g., progressive discipline/termination). Each topic gets a separate, customizable PowerPoint presentation, making BLR’s Easy Trainer: Hiring, Discipline & Termination the best value in training supervisors in HR that we know of. Try it at no cost! Read more.