Employment law refresher training for our partners – how and why?

One of the most important things we do with new partners is our bespoke training. We have a range of things we cover during initial training, all designed to make sure consultants are fully equipped with all the skills and knowledge they need to grow a successful consultancy business as soon as possible.

It’s important to us that we tailor training to the individual consultant, to ensure they get exactly what they need. Although some of the training is common to each new consultant, the area where it probably gets tailored the most is the employment law refresher section.

It’s really important new consultants have excellent employment law knowledge. They need to be confident giving advice to small business owners from a solid legal understanding, and have an ability to grasp and explain any legal vulnerabilities or considerations clearly.  That confidence is also important in marketing activities, as it comes across when they talk to new contacts and potential clients, and reassures people who are considering working with the consultant.

However it is very common for there to be gaps in their knowledge, particularly where HR professionals have spent a long time working in one sector, or even in one organisation. They may not have dealt with a particular issue for a long time, or perhaps ever. Sometimes there might have been a colleague or specialist department who used to deal with particular areas of HR which meant our new consultant didn’t have a lot to do with it in their last job. Some of them might have spent a few months out of the workplace due to maternity leave or other career break, and could have missed case law or other new developments.

So we work with our new consultants to identify where they would like us to focus during their employment law refresher training. The key is to make sure they are confident on the following:

• A good understanding of legislation and case law relating to the particular area of employment law
• Practical information about what both legislation and case law actually means in terms of processes and requirements for employers
• Realistic understanding of how the area of employment law is likely to manifest itself in small and medium sized clients and how they can best advise those clients.

We usually do a brief overview of the areas they are most confident in, then go into more detail with the areas they feel perhaps a bit rusty on. We supplement this with plenty of real-life examples and resources, including factsheets, case studies and guidance notes, so that they feel fully equipped and confident on day one to go out there and talk comfortably about HR issues from a solid base of good legal knowledge.

If you’d like to find out more about becoming a partner with face2faceHR, download a prospectus or email [email protected].