Introduction

In your daily dealing with your staff, you need to motivate and guide them. However, at times, you also need to counsel and discipline them. What do you do if someone is not prepared to listen and accept your counseling and advice? How do you handle a staff who may just need to learn the hard way - discipline? When taking disciplinary action, how do you know you are being fair? If the company is unionized, how would the Union react to your disciplinary action? What if they allege victimization? What should you do if the employee is not happy and take up the issue as a grievance with his/her union?

In some instances, the best option is to take the most extreme form of action – dismissal. If you need to resort to terminating their service, how do you know the action is justified? In a nutshell, how do you discipline and punish recalcitrant staff and still gain the respect and trust of your staff? Well, if you want to know how to develop a positive working relationship with your staff and handle disciplinary action with confidence, this is the Workshop for you.


Objectives

At the end of this seminar, you have be able to answer the following typical questions:

1) What are grievances?
2) How are grievances handled at the workplace?
3) How do I develop an effectively grievance-handling procedure?
4) What can I do if I have an employee who is always creating trouble at the workplace?
5) What must I do before I discipline a worker who is not performing?
6) Can a union raise issue with the Ministry of Manpower if a unionized staff is disciplined for wrong-doing?
7) What procedure must I follow before issuing a staff with a warning letter?
8) Can I terminate the service of a staff who is not up to performance standard?
9) What is the difference between termination of service and dismissal?
10) What must I do before I dismiss a staff who has committed a non-work related offence?
11) Is there any recource for a staff who feels that he is wrongfully dismissed?

Outline:

Grievance and Grievance-Handling:

- Understanding grievances and why employees raised them
- Common grievances
- Negative response to grievance
- Consequences of mishandling grievances
- Handling grievance effectively
- Company’s grievance-handling procedure and what you need to do
- Case-studies

Discipline and Disciplinary Action:

- What is discipline?
- Why need to discipline?
- How do you discipline a staff without fear or favour?
- Progressive Discipline
- Golden Rules in Discipline
- Hot-Stove Rules
- Common types of discipline
- Company’s Code of Conduct & Discipline
- What are the common kinds of disciplinary infractions?
- How do you know the disciplinary action is fair?
- How do you determine what level of progressive discipline is appropriate for the offence?
- Case-studies

Termination and Dismissal:

- Contract and contractual rights
- Termination with notice
- Payment in lieu of notice
- Dismissal without notice
- Holding an Inquiry
- Right of staff to appeal for wrongly dismissal
- Consequences of wrongful dismissal
- Victimisation of union officials
- Handling dismissal effectively
- What must you do before resorting to dismissal?
- How can you ensure the dismissal is justified and fair?
- Case-studies

Developing Positive Working Relationship with your staff

- Dos and Don’ts
- Handling different types of staff

Methodology:

- Lectures, discussion, sharing and case-studies.


Comments from previous participants

"Very good. The cases that we discussed are similar to what we encountered in today's workplace." - Verlyn Tan, Federal Express

"Excellent workshop! Content coverage was very comprehensive and in-depth. Very good trainer." - Ivy Tan, Deloitte & Touche

"An enriching seminar & an eye opener to certain perspective." - Ong Hui Chin, ICA

"Excellent course." - Conan Wong, MOF

" Has been a very interesting and enlightening workshop. A great lecturer! Thanks Mr Chia!" - Yee Yoke Chun, S'pore Dental Council

" A very useful seminar with real-life examples shared." - Jan Wong, NTUC Income

Who should attend

HR & Non HR directors, managers, officers, executives, supervisors, foremen and assistants who deal with or will be handling grievances, discipline and termination matters in Singapore.

Consultant

Mr Chia Boon Cher has had over 16 years of experience in the Ministry of Manpower before he joined the private sector in 1990. At the Ministry, he held various appointments including Enforcement Officer (Labour Inspectorate), Assistant Director (Conciliation) and the Registrar of Trade Unions. His experiences encompassed enforcement of the various labour laws including the Employment Act and conciliation of trade disputes.

He also has wide knowledge of human resource management and industrial relations, having worked in Singapore National Employers’ Federation (SNEF), SmithKline Beecham and ST Aerospace.

He obtained his MA, HRD from George Washington University and BSc (Econs)(Hons, 2nd Upper) from London University. For the past 14 years, he has been sharing his experience and expertise in the field of labour laws and practices through lectures, talks and workshops with various institutes and organisations.

Admin

Date: Thursday, 10 August 2006
Time: 9am-5pm
Location: Hotel Phoenix, Singapore
Refreshment: Buffet lunch, Tea, coffee and snacks will be served
Closing Date: 1 August 2006

Cost

S$450 for HRSINGAPORE Premium subscribers.

S$480 for HRSINGAPORE Community subscribers.

S$545 for SMEs who register via SDF EasyNet (Course Code: 00015).

S$580 for Non Subscribers.


Registration Form