What is Employee Onboarding?

Employee onboarding is the process of welcoming and integrating new workers into the workplace, ensuring they have everything they need to be productive, successful and comfortable in their new role.

Employee onboarding ensures new employees are supported and fully understand the work tasks, work environment, expectations, team structure and company culture. It’s also a great opportunity to give that all-important positive first impression of the company, as it can easily influence how the new worker feels about their new workplace.

Onboarding begins as soon as the new hire has received their job offer and continues for weeks or even months after the employee’s first day at work, usually until the point when the employee feels fully adjusted to their new role.

A well-planned employee onboarding procedure has many benefits, for both new employees and businesses, including:

• New employees will settle into their role quickly.
• New workers will reach full productivity at a faster rate.
• Employees are more likely to stay with the company leading to better employee retention.
• Teams are stronger, closer and work together better .

Employee onboarding is particularly important for remote workers or hybrid workers, who are likely to face additional barriers and challenges compared with those who work alongside their colleagues every day. It’s a good idea to create a separate onboarding procedure specifically for remote employees if they are a common feature of your business.

Onboarding Process Steps

Following a series of onboarding steps with each new employee ensures you have a well-thought-out plan that can be used time after time. An intentional employee onboarding process ensures that new hires, whatever their position, have all the necessary information to start work and feel supported and positive about their new role. 

Onboarding process steps can be categorised into four key areas: pre-boarding tasks, first day tasks, first week tasks and first month tasks. Breaking it down into categories ensures you don’t miss anything and don’t overwhelm the new employee by giving them everything all at once.

Pre-boarding Tasks

Pre-boarding tasks are the things you need to do as soon as the new employee receives their job offer and before they officially join the business. Employee pre-boarding steps include:

• Emailing the new employee – before the employee begins work, send them an email with key information, such as their start date and time, the address of the company and who their line manager will be.
• Collecting personal details and legal information – ensure you have all the information you need from the new employee before they begin work, such as their contact details, emergency information, references, proof of right to work, signed contract, etc.
• Sharing company policies and documents – give the new employee copies of important documents such as the job description, dress code, company handbook, benefits, pension information, holiday policy, safeguarding policy, etc.
• Ordering work equipment – ensure you have everything you need for the employee to hit the ground running, such as computer equipment, a desk chair, tools, etc.
• Preparing the employee’s workstation – the new employee wants to feel welcome from the moment they arrive, so make sure you have a desk ready for them and everything is set up ready to go, including computer software, stationery items, etc.
• Creating logins and passwords – for a seamless first day, ensure the new employee’s login details are created in advance so they can access all necessary systems and software immediately. This might also involve allocating keycards or lanyards for access to rooms and buildings.
• Setting up the employee’s email inbox – create the new worker’s email address and inbox ahead of time so they can access it from day one. You can also use it to invite them to any first week meetings and orientations, ensuring they have full visibility of their calendar from the moment they arrive.
• Assigning a buddy – choose someone on the employee’s new team to pair up with your new starter as their mentor. This person will help to support the new worker, answer their questions and help them integrate into the workplace.
• Planning the employee’s first week – it’s a good idea to meticulously plan the new hire’s first week to ensure they have a clear plan for their first days on the job and aren’t left wondering what to do next. This might include meetings and orientation sessions, training courses, meet and greets, etc.

First Day Tasks

The very first day at work can be overwhelming for new hires as they face a barrage of new people, information and learning. By setting out a series of first day tasks like those listed below, you can help to ensure the worker’s first day is streamlined, focused and welcoming. First day tasks include:

• Doing a company walkthrough – when the new employee first arrives, be welcoming, happy and positive. Introduce them to their new colleagues, walk them around the workplace and help them feel acquainted with where everything and everyone is located. This is also sometimes known as a company orientation.
• Introducing the employee to their buddy – the new employee may already know who their buddy is and have communicated with them by email before arriving, but this is their first time meeting in-person.
• Hosting a welcome meeting – schedule a meeting, coffee break or lunch with the new employee and their new team so that they can all meet each other properly. It’s important to make time for the new hire so they feel welcomed and have a positive first impression of the business.
• Notifying the business of the new starter – send an email round to the whole company, or put a message in your team chat, to welcome the new employee and explain who they are and what role they’ll be working in. This ensures everyone is aware of the new employee and can welcome them into the company.
• Giving them a copy of the onboarding checklist – provide your new worker with a copy of your onboarding procedure so they can see the structure of their first day, week and month.
• Sharing the company handbook – if you haven’t shared this by email in advance, give the new employee a copy of the handbook and any related documents, such as benefits and pension information.
• Providing a ‘welcome hamper’ – a welcome pack or hamper can be made up of whatever you think best represents your business and is a great way to showcase your company culture and make the new employee feel valued. Include items such as technology and desk equipment, stationery items, branded clothing and snacks, for example.

First Week Tasks

When the new employee’s first day is out the way, you then want to ensure their first week of onboarding is well thought out so they quickly feel integrated into their new team and new role. First week tasks include:

• Talking about the job role and expectations – hold a meeting with the new employee during the first week to discuss their role, responsibilities and expectations, answer any questions and resolve any initial issues. Make sure the employee understands any targets they’re expected to meet or information about their probation period.
• Setting first-month goals – get your new worker to be proactive about filling their calendar and see what they’d like to focus on during their first month outside of their allocated tasks. This is key to their personal and professional development.
• Sharing important company policies – if you haven’t already, ensure the new employee is given copies of all your company policies and procedures and has signed them where necessary. Depending on your particular business, this might include HR policies, safeguarding policies, health and safety information and data protection guidelines.
• Scheduling training sessions – if your new starter is required to carry out training, whether it’s in health and safety compliance, data security or something more role-specific, make sure they have access to the relevant training courses and are given enough time and support to complete them.
• Planning an end-of-week activity – team-building is important in all situations but especially when you have a new worker who needs to integrate into the team. Schedule a lunch, coffee or walk for the end of the week with the new employee and their team to celebrate their first week at the company.
• Checking in at the end of the week – schedule a meeting for the last day of the week to talk to the new employee about their first impressions and experiences. Ask how they’re feeling, answer any questions, ask for feedback and discover whether they need any further support for the weeks ahead.

First Month Tasks

Employee onboarding doesn’t end after the first week and should continue until the new employee feels fully settled in their new team and role. This might mean your employee onboarding process lasts for a month, several months or until their probation period ends. Examples of first month tasks include:

• Keeping in touch – schedule a 1-2-1 meeting with the new employee, send them regular emails or direct messages, say hello in the corridor and do your best to remain visible and available.
• Setting up client meet and greets – if your new employee will be working with clients, customers or stakeholders in their role, the first month is a great time for them to meet the key players, whether in-person or over a video call. Meeting important people will help to establish good working relationships and ensure the ‘new person’ doesn’t feel so much like the ‘new person.’
• Scheduling a performance review meeting – put a performance review meeting in for the end of the month to talk through the new employee’s performance so far, remembering to ask for their opinion on what they’ve learnt and what they want to focus on going forward. Talk about what’s working well, what needs to change and what further support they need.
• Setting new goals – ask your new employee to set new goals for the months ahead, based on what they’ve learnt about their role so far. Encourage them to be ambitious and motivated and to look at personal goals as well as professional ones by using a PDP.
• Asking for feedback on the onboarding process – all procedures have room for improvement so it’s important to ask each of your new starters for their thoughts on their onboarding experience. You could obtain feedback anonymously or ask employees directly, but be sure to take their comments on board and make adjustments where needed.

Want to Learn More?

An important part of the employee onboarding process is ensuring new workers are fully trained. Our wide range of Online Training Courses has a course for everyone, from Data Protection and Sexual Harassment Training to Mental Health Awareness and Basic Health and Safety Training, ensuring your new starters have the knowledge and skills they need to perform their roles effectively and safely.

Employee Onboarding Checklist Template

An employee onboarding checklist provides you and your new employees with a structured schedule for their first days and weeks in your company. The checklist includes all of the important tasks that need to be completed in order to fully welcome, support and integrate new workers into the business.

Your company may prefer to have individual onboarding checklists for specific roles and departments, or you may choose to use a single employee onboarding checklist for everyone that can be adapted depending on the role.

Use the link below to download a free employee onboarding checklist template that you can use as a guide for your own onboarding process and edit to suit your own company’s needs.

Further Resources:

• Online Training Courses
• 10 Employee Engagement Strategies for 2025
• How to Write SMART Goals for Employees

The post Employee Onboarding Checklist: Free Template appeared first on The Hub | High Speed Training.

• What is Unconscious Bias in Recruitment?
• Am I Being Bullied at Work? 12 Signs of Bullying in the Workplace
• Unconscious Bias Online Training

The post Unconscious Bias Quiz appeared first on The Hub | High Speed Training.

In this article we will outline what a training calendar is and how your business can benefit from using one. You will also find guidance on how to prepare a training calendar along with free downloadable training calendar templates. 

What is a Training Calendar?

A training calendar is a schedule of training sessions, workshops and seminars. It acts as a visual guide of training opportunities that will further your employees’ professional growth and development. 

Providing your employees with a diverse range of training empowers them to enhance their skills whilst encouraging them to attain new ones. This boosts their confidence and increases their independence which in turn helps your business. The consequences of not training your employees can be severe, but a well organised training calendar will support the successful implementation of training in your business.

Why Use a Training Calendar for Employees?

The benefits of employee training include improved efficiency, greater job satisfaction and higher employee retention. A training calendar is much more than just a checklist of the workshops and seminars that create these benefits. Training calendars enable you to deliver training in the most effective and efficient way possible and act as discernable markers of your dedication to employee development.  

Five ways a training calendar can be beneficial to you and your employees include:

1. Improved performance and engagement – training improves your employees’ skills and gives them the tools to do their jobs confidently and competently. When employees can see what training is coming up, they are better prepared to improve those skills and thus more likely to be highly engaged during said training.  
2. Encouraging innovation – creativity is stimulated when employees are given the chance to explore new ideas and approaches through training. A training calendar shows employees that you both value and encourage these chances for innovation. 
3. Increased competitiveness – businesses that invest in employee training have a competitive advantage on others as they are providing their employees with the skills to meet different demands. By showing prospective and existing employees what training opportunities are available, your business stands out as an organisation dedicated to employee development. 
4. Creating a culture of learning – a training calendar reiterates to all your employees that training is not a ‘one time thing’ but in fact a continuous process of improvement. This in turn helps to create a culture of learning in which learning and development is a normal part of your business’ day-to-day activities. 
5. Addressing skill gaps – upskilling employees can be a cost-effective way to build the skills that your business needs whilst boosting morale and improving employee engagement. A training calendar that has been strategically developed to target identified skill gaps provides your employees with the chance to fill those gaps and improve their skill set. 

Looking to Learn More?

We offer a wide range of Online Training Courses to support your employees’ professional development. From Health and Safety Training for Employees to Communication Skills, we have an array of courses to expand your employees’ skills and boost your business’ success.

How to Prepare a Training Calendar

There are lots of different training calendar formats available and you need to consider which format is best for you. Important factors to consider are the size of your team, the frequency of training sessions and the training objectives. Regardless of which format you choose, your training calendar needs careful planning and consideration in order to be as effective as possible. 

Remember; a well planned and carefully executed training calendar will align with the needs of your business and enable your employees to take ownership of their development. 

Here are some key steps you should follow when preparing a training calendar:

1. Assess your Needs.

Before you begin any kind of planning, you need to identify the training needs of your business and your employees. This is an opportune time to seek input from your employees and learn what kind of training they actually want and need. Take the time to consider skill gaps and ask your employees what skills they are interested in developing. The more tailored your training calendar the more engaged your employees and the more plentiful the rewards. 

2. Establish Objectives.

Once you have an idea of what needs your training will address, the next step is to define the objectives for your training sessions. What do you want your employees to gain? What skills and knowledge are you eager to develop? Establishing clear objectives and setting SMART goals gives your employees a direct understanding of what is expected from them and their training. You can then align their training with your business’ objectives, ensuring they have the necessary skills for your business’ success.

3. Select Resources and Format.

Training comes in all shapes and sizes but one size does not fit all. Not only do different employees have different training needs, some training is better delivered in one way than  the other. Consider offering a variety of training formats such as online courses, in-person workshops or seminars/webinars. This can help to mix things up for your employees and prevent training from appearing monolithic.

It is also important to consider the best facilitator for training. Don’t overlook the expertise that already exists within your business but also recognise when an external training provider would be the best course of action. 

4. Plan your Schedule.

Now that you’ve done the groundwork it’s time to put your training calendar together! It’s important to be strategic with your scheduling in order to make it as effective as possible. Whilst you want to offer ample opportunities for training, avoid overloading your employees with too many sessions at once. Ensure that training is spread out so that it remains manageable along with your employees’ regular workload. It is also a good idea to offer sessions at different times of the day to accommodate different schedules and workloads. 

Consider aligning your training calendar with your business’ initiatives. For example, if you have an important project coming up in the next quarter, you can spend the previous quarter delivering key training that will help the project’s success. Moreover, if you know that May is a particularly busy month for your business, you may decide to reduce the number of training sessions for that month to avoid overloading your staff.  

5. Share and Promote.

Think of your training calendar as a living breathing document, that is to say, once it’s finished don’t let it rot away in a folder never to see the light of day. Ensure that your training calendar is easily accessible for employees and encourage them to regularly check it for updates. You may decide to share the calendar via email, monthly newsletters (depending on the frequency that you have chosen) or other internal communications. However you decide to do it, make sure you convey the value of the training that you are offering and promote the specific benefits of each session. 

6. Evaluate and Evolve.

As with any living thing your training calendar can and should evolve over time. Take the time to evaluate your training calendar and the impact that it has had on your business. Have your employees gained the skills that they needed? Are you offering too much training in one area and not enough in another? Does the calendar still align with the needs of your business? These are important questions to ask to maintain the efficacy of your training calendar. Encourage employee feedback and use this to adapt and tweak your calendar as necessary. Utilise both qualitative and quantitative metrics to gauge the success of your training sessions and to guide the creation of future calendars. By committing to the continuous improvement of your training calendar you are ensuring that it remains useful and impactful for your business and your employees. 

Training Calendar Templates

A training calendar is an invaluable tool when it comes to delivering effective training. As mentioned, it needs to be comprehensive and informative, whilst remaining simple to follow and understand. It can be daunting to know where to start when creating a training calendar and there are countless templates for you to choose from. Regardless of which one you choose, it needs to be appropriate for your business and adjusted to suit your specific goals. 

Our free monthly and weekly training calendar templates provide you with a structured approach to professional learning and development. Each template can be downloaded and edited to suit the specific needs of your business; for example, you may choose to use the monthly calendar template for department or company wide training and encourage your employees to use the weekly template to create their own individualised training calendar.

You also have the option to colour coordinate your calendar with an editable colour key. You may choose to do this to group training sessions together by the skill that will be developed or to indicate which sessions are mandatory and which are optional. If you choose to keep your training calendar as a digital file you can highlight each entry with the corresponding colour yourself, or should you choose to print it, you can use a highlighter. 

Remember, it’s important to evaluate your training calendar to maintain its efficacy and to ensure that it remains relevant to your employees’ and business’ needs. It is therefore advisable to allocate time in your calendar for feedback sessions during which you can gain valuable information to guide the creation of future training calendars.

A training calendar is much more than just a stylish way to display training. It is an invaluable strategic tool that enables you to deliver efficient and effective training, supporting your employees’ growth and your business’ success.

Further Resources:

• 10 Employee Engagement Strategies
• How to Write SMART Goals for Employees
• Online Training Courses

The post Training Calendars: Why Your Company Needs One appeared first on The Hub | High Speed Training.

This article will define employee engagement, explore why it is important and provide you with 10 employee engagement strategies to utilise in 2025. 

What is Employee Engagement?

Employee engagement refers to an employees’ emotional investment in, and enthusiasm for, their work and workplace. It is a broad concept that encompasses many different aspects of an employee’s working life. The more engaged an employee, the higher their morale, productivity and investment in your business’ success.

Gallup’s State of the Global Workplace: 2024 Report found that businesses with highly engaged employees greatly outperformed those with disengaged teams. 

Those with highly engaged employees experienced:

• 78% decrease in absenteeism.
• 18% increase in sales productivity.
• 23% increase in profitability. 

Employee engagement has an undeniable impact on the success of a business. As such, it is important to understand and recognise the different levels of employee engagement in order to identify areas for improvement. 

Gallup identifies three levels of employee engagement:

Actively Engaged: These star employees are the backbone of your business. They are passionate about their work and are dedicated to you and your goals. They feel valued and appreciated and therefore motivated to work hard to help your business grow. 

Actively engaged employees will:

• Take the initiative and actively seek out new challenges.
• Demonstrate positive behaviours to the rest of the team thereby inspiring others.
• Feel comfortable expressing concerns and proposing solutions.

Not Engaged: These employees see your business in a relatively neutral way. Whilst they care about their work, they are unlikely to go above and beyond expectations and lack the motivation to seek out further opportunities or challenges. 

Not engaged employees will:

• Rarely do more than is required. 
• Show little interest in personal or professional development. 
• Keep concerns to themselves in order to ‘save face.’ 

Actively Disengaged: These employees are unhappy, unmotivated and unsatisfied. As such they are emotionally disconnected from their work and by extension your business. They are resentful and their negative attitude can be infectious, spreading discontent across the team. 

Actively disengaged employees will:

• Do the bare minimum. 
• Ensure that their discontent is known across the business.
• Highlight concerns without proposing solutions. 

Businesses can often overlook the corrosive potential of actively disengaged or not engaged employees. However, these employees can slowly erode your company culture, leading to issues such as high turnover, presenteeism and low morale. 

Types of Employee Engagement 

In 1990, psychologist William Kahn identified three principal aspects of employee engagement; cognitive, emotional and physical. Kahn argued that by engaging employees in these ways they feel supported in their role, like their work is worthwhile and that they are valued. These three aspects remain an important part of employee engagement theory today.

The Importance of Employee Engagement

Engaged employees are integral to your business’ growth and productivity. They are happier in the workplace and consistently go above and beyond to actualise your business’ goals. They are productive and take pride in their work and your business naturally benefits from this mindset. Simply put, employee engagement can make or break your business and so its importance cannot be overstated.

Benefits of high employee engagement include:  

• Greater job satisfaction. 
• Increased creativity.
• Improved resilience.
• Improved performance.
• Increased productivity.
• Higher retention rates.
• Collaborative teamwork.
• Decreased absenteeism.
• Better customer service.
• Higher profitability. 

Looking to Learn More?

Our wide range of Business Essentials Courses covers the fundamentals that every business needs to be successful. Our courses such as Communication Skills and Leadership and Management will teach you the skills to foster a supportive work environment thereby improving employee engagement. 

10 Employee Engagement Strategies

Your workplace cannot function without your employees and so it is vital that you get employee engagement right. An employee engagement strategy enables you to be deliberate about engaging your employees. A successful strategy will utilise a wide range of practices and should have a multi-pronged approach that encompasses practices across your entire business. 

Here are 10 employee engagement strategies that you can implement in 2025:

1. Measure current engagement levels. 

Before you can improve employee engagement, you need to know how engaged your employees actually are. Whilst there are recognisable traits of the different levels of employee engagement, it is important to get this information directly from your employees. You might think that your hard worker who always comes in on time is actively engaged, but a simple survey or informal 1-2-1 might reveal that they are not engaged at all and are biding their time till something better comes along. 

2. Encourage employee feedback. 

After gathering the necessary information from your employees, keep that channel open. Feedback isn’t a one way street and by asking your employees for their feedback you are showing that their opinion matters. This feedback could by gathered by using a 360 degree feedback template, an anonymous feedback box, or a monthly ‘town hall’; regardless of how you do it, listen to your employees, engage with their feedback sincerely  and utilise what you learn to make a positive difference.

3. Foster clear communication.

Employees can often feel like their concerns won’t be heard or acted upon and so keep issues to themselves. This silence can quickly become resentment that spreads across your business. Encourage clear communication that lets your employees openly voice their concerns. Clear communication also ensures that your employees understand their role, what is expected of them and how that aligns with your business’ goals. 

4. Provide opportunities for growth. 

A clear path for professional development shows your employees that there is room for growth within your business and that their hard work will lead somewhere. By investing in their growth, your employees will feel like valued members of your business. Take the time to consider what training would be best for their individual professional and personal development with a training needs analysis. There can be serious consequences of a lack of training, so take the time to invest in training and by extension your employees’ future. 

5. Recognise and appreciate accomplishments.

Recognition boosts self-esteem and feelings of personal competency. When your employees feel that their hard work is being noticed and appreciated, they are more willing to continue that hard work. Recognise your employees accomplishments with day-to-day ‘shoutouts’ or company-wide recognition schemes. However, not all of your employees will want to be recognised in the same way so diversify your recognition systems to ensure that appreciation remains genuine and meaningful to each employee.

6. Encourage a good work-life balance. 

Juggling home life and work life is a universal struggle, however actively encouraging a good work-life balance shows your employees that you care about their personal well being both inside and outside of the office.

Encourage a good work-life balance by:

• Setting realistic goals that reflect your employees’ workload and resources.
• Offering flexible and remote working options so that your employees’ feel empowered to manage their own time.
• Reminding your employees to take regular breaks throughout the day and to utilise their annual leave throughout the year to rest and recharge.

7. Provide incentives.

Motivate your employees to go above and beyond by rewarding their extra effort. Employee incentives encourage your employees to push themselves harder to reach a specific goal. This boosts morale when they achieve the goal and creates a sense of satisfaction at a job well done. Incentives can range from a one-off bonus to additional annual leave, however it is important to take the time to personalise the incentives where possible. If your sales team aren’t interested in rugby, tickets to Six Nations probably aren’t the best incentive for them to reach those quarterly targets.  

8. Show respect.

Everyone wants to feel respected in the workplace and as a key driving force behind your business’ success, so too do your employees. A respectful workplace is a positive workplace and one in which your employees feel comfortable and confident presenting creative and innovative ideas. Show respect at all times, lead by example and create a culture of mutual respect amongst your employees.

9. Foster a sense of purpose.

When employees have a sense of purpose they feel that their work is important. Ensuring your employees have a ‘why’ enables them to find their work meaningful and clearly see how it supports your business’ goals. Creating a sense of shared purpose across your team further increases employee engagement as colleagues come together to work towards a common goal. 

10. Set SMART goals.

SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound. If goals are too vague and unrealistic, then your employees can quickly become demotivated and therefore disengaged. Setting SMART goals fosters a growth mindset and helps your employees feel better prepared and capable to face future challenges. To learn more, read our article on how to write SMART goals for your employees. 

Employee engagement is not a new concept and as working life continues to shift and adapt to modern needs, it only continues to grow in importance. By investing in employee engagement you are investing in your business’ future success. Your employees are one of your greatest assets and by proactively focusing on employee engagement you will improve morale, productivity and profitability. 

Further Resources:

• Hire for Attitude, Train for Skill: Recruitment Strategies
• Training Needs Analysis: Free Template
• Business Essentials Courses

The post 10 Employee Engagement Strategies for 2025 appeared first on The Hub | High Speed Training.

Worker Protection Act 2023 Training

The Worker Protection Act 2023 came into force in October 2024. The Act places a new legal obligation on employers to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace. Our Sexual Harassment Training for Employees and Sexual Harassment Training for Managers training courses have been updated to cover the new protections and help you fulfil your legal duties.

What is Third Party Harassment at Work?

Harassment at work is any sort of behaviour directed at an employee that is intended to intimidate, humiliate, undermine or create an offensive environment for them. It can have serious consequences for victims, including mental health problems like depression and anxiety.

Third party harassment at work refers to any sort of harassment towards an employee instigated by someone outside of the workplace. For example, harassment towards a worker by a customer, client, supplier, contractor, delivery driver, patient or parent. These third parties are not employed by the same organisation as the victim but regularly come into contact with them through their course of work.

Anyone in the workplace can find themselves victim to third party harassment, but those who interact with members of the public regularly are more at risk. For example, customer service staff, retail workers, healthcare employees and school staff.

It’s vital that employers take third party harassment seriously and quickly respond to any reports they receive from their employees in order to investigate the allegation thoroughly and take appropriate measures to address it. If not acknowledged by the business, harassment can result in workers struggling to perform their roles effectively, leaving their job roles or resenting the organisation they work for.

Third Party Harassment – Equality Act 2010

The Equality Act 2010 defines harassment as any sort of behaviour that has the purpose or effect of violating a person’s dignity or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for that person. 

In terms of the law, harassment is unwanted behaviour based on someone’s protected characteristics: their age, disability, gender, marital/civil partnership status, pregnancy, race, religion, sex or sexual orientation.

Even if a person’s behaviour isn’t intended to be intimidating, humiliating or hostile to the recipient, it can still violate their dignity and create an offensive environment for them. What’s important to consider is the victim’s perspective of the harassment. For example, a contractor may state that their jokes were harmless but the employee may feel degraded as a result, making it unwanted behaviour and therefore harassment.

It’s important to note that there are no provisions within the Equality Act that refer to third party harassment specifically. Employers have a responsibility under the Health and Safety at Work Act to protect their employees’ health, safety and wellbeing whilst at work, so taking action to prevent harassment would more likely fall under this responsibility.

If the third party harassment is sexual in nature, however, then the Worker Protection Act 2023 might apply. This recent amendment to the Equality Act puts a requirement on employers to take ‘reasonable steps’ to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace – including by third parties.

Third Party Harassment Examples

Third party harassment can be carried out by anyone outside of the organisation, including by customers, clients and suppliers to name just a few. More examples of people who can commit third party harassment include:

• A customer in a shop or restaurant.
• A passenger on a bus, train or plane.
• A guest in a hotel or B&B.
• A client in a meeting or at a conference
• A client or customer via email or social media.
• A visitor to the business.
• A supplier or delivery driver.
• A contractor working on the premises.
• A patient in hospital or on a home visit.
• A pupil or parent at a school.

A few examples of signs of third party harassment to look out for include:

• Verbal insults, inappropriate jokes, teasing or unwanted ‘banter’.
• Threats or intimidating language, either verbally or in writing.
• Aggressive behaviour, including swearing, shouting and physical violence.
• Sexual harassment, such as receiving unsolicited images or videos, unwelcome sexual advances, repeatedly asking someone on a date or unwanted physical touch.
• Discriminatory behaviour based on an employee’s protected characteristics.

How to Prevent Third Party Harassment at Work

Employers have overall responsibility for preventing third party harassment in the workplace but employees also have a role to play in identifying and reporting it.

Third Party Harassment Policy

Employers should have a clear harassment policy in place that defines what harassment and third party harassment is, how to report it and guidance on what happens next. Having a clear third party harassment policy shows to everyone that it’s not tolerated and that the business will take all reports of harassment seriously.

The third party harassment policy should be communicated to all members of staff but also shared with any third party the business deals with, such as clients, suppliers and contractors. Sharing the policy helps to strengthen the message within it: that the organisation has a zero-tolerance approach to harassment and will take action where necessary.

The third party harassment policy can also include guidance for employees on high-risk situations, such as how to stay safe when lone working, night working, travelling for work or when meeting new clients.

Third Party Harassment Training

Carrying out regular training on what harassment is, how to prevent it and how to report it is essential for all members of staff. Not only does regular training help to raise awareness of the issue, but it also keeps it in the forefront of peoples’ minds, making them more likely to report it.

Immediate Action and Zero-Tolerance

It’s essential that employers have a zero-tolerance approach to third party harassment and take steps to address it immediately after a report is made. Taking immediate action shows that the organisation takes the situation seriously, helps to prevent the situation from escalating and protects the health and safety of the employee affected.

Examples of actions to take in cases of harassment might include removing the employee from the situation, enhancing security measures or ending business relationships.

Third Party Harassment: Employee Responsibilities

Whilst employers have overall responsibility for preventing and dealing with third party harassment, all workers can play their part in protecting themselves and others.

For example, employees should be encouraged to:

• Be assertive about their boundaries with third parties and communicate clearly, yet professionally, if these boundaries are crossed.
• Call out any harassing behaviours from a third party, whether they’re directed at themselves or at a colleague.
• Not participate in or encourage any behaviours from a third party when the recipient is clearly showing the behaviour is unwanted.
• Immediately report any instances of third party harassment of their manager or supervisor so that it can be handled appropriately.

Third party harassment is any sort of unwanted behaviour directed towards an employee by someone outside of the business, such as a customer or client. All organisations have a responsibility to protect the health and wellbeing of their staff members, and part of this duty involves preventing third party harassment in the workplace. If the business adopts a zero-tolerance approach towards harassment, then it’s much less likely to occur.

Further Resources:

• Sexual Harassment Training Course For Managers and Supervisors
• Sexual Harassment Training For Employees
• Workplace Bullying & Harassment Training
• What the Worker Protection Act Means for You
• What is the Equality Act 2010 and Why is it Important?

The post What is Third Party Harassment? appeared first on The Hub | High Speed Training.

What is the Worker Protection Act?

The UK’s Worker Protection Act is an amendment to the existing Equality Act 2010 and is in force from October 26th 2024.

The new Worker Protection Act states that all employers must take ‘reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment of employees in the course of their employment’. This puts the onus on the employer – rather than the employee – to take action against inappropriate conduct in the workplace. It also gives workers more protection, rights and support should they experience sexual harassment when at work.

The term ‘harassment’ refers to any sort of behaviour that has the purpose or effect of violating a person’s dignity or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for that person. The term ‘sexual harassment’ refers to any sort of unwanted conduct of a sexual nature that has this effect.

If you want to learn more, our article on Preventing Sexual Harassment in the Workplace explains more about what sexual harassment is, gives some examples of workplace sexual harassment and gives more details on employer responsibilities.

Employer Responsibilities: How Can Employers Take Reasonable Steps to Prevent Sexual Harassment?

The Worker Protection Act puts a responsibility on employers to take ‘reasonable steps’ to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace. There is no single definition of what ‘reasonable steps’ means, however, so it’s up to each employer to determine what action needs to be taken in order to demonstrate they’ve taken appropriate steps to prevent sexual harassment from occurring.

Despite there being no official guidance of what ‘reasonable steps’ are, there are five key actions that employers can do today to help show that they’ve taken reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace:

1. Conduct a sexual harassment risk assessment

It’s a good idea to take stock of where you currently are and carry out a risk assessment in your business. This means identifying any potential risk areas, reviewing past incidents of sexual harassment and evaluating how employees currently act and feel about sexual harassment in the workplace.

Consider carrying out a new staff attitude survey to collect feedback and find out what workers really think about existing measures, such as gender equality, workplace bullying and harassment reporting procedures. The information gathered in the risk assessment process will then enable you to address problem areas. Remember to keep written records of all your actions too, as you may need it as evidence that you’ve taken ‘reasonable steps’.

2. Review existing harassment policies

It’s essential that you take a look at your existing policies and procedures to check they’re up-to-date, relevant and suitable. Your business will likely already have a formal bullying and harassment policy, so check what it says and ensure it includes a section containing the definition of sexual harassment, examples of sexual harassment in the workplace and guidance for employees on what to do if they experience sexual harassment at work.

You may want to create a standalone sexual harassment policy – that’s separate to the main bullying and harassment policy – to show that you take the topic seriously and see it as worthy of having it’s own procedures and guidance. This policy can then go into more detail about the business’ expectations of employees, examples of unacceptable behaviours and details of the incident reporting procedure.

3. Educate the workforce about sexual harassment

In order to prevent sexual harassment from occurring, it’s vital that everyone understands what sexual harassment actually is. Employers should provide all members of staff with regular training so they can recognise inappropriate behaviours, prevent them from happening and understand what to do to address and report sexual harassment should it occur. Staff training is also a great opportunity to promote positive behaviours and encourage a culture of equality.

Online training courses you may find useful include Sexual Harassment Training Course For Managers and Supervisors, Sexual Harassment Training For Employees, Workplace Bullying & Harassment and Equality, Diversity and Inclusion training.

4. Establish a ‘speak up’ culture and remove barriers to reporting harassment

Ensuring employees have an easy and efficient way to report sexual harassment is essential for improving staff wellbeing and psychological safety. Having a clear and simple reporting procedure in place is also a key ‘reasonable step’ towards preventing sexual harassment – remember to document your procedure should you need to prove this.

Establish a workplace culture where employees are encouraged to ‘speak up’ about sexual harassment, as this will give you more opportunities to detect unwanted behaviours or problem areas. For example, regular staff surveys, one-to-ones with line managers, a clear reporting procedure and group training sessions will empower workers to speak up about potential issues.

However, for staff to feel confident to speak up about sexual harassment, they need to see that the reporting procedure is free from barriers, otherwise they simply won’t bother reporting at all. This means ensuring employees can trust you’ll take their report seriously, you’ll take swift appropriate action once a report is made and staff are reassured that they won’t face repercussions for speaking up.

5. Set the tone from the top down

For employees to feel confident that you are taking all reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace, you need to walk the walk and talk the talk. This means setting the right example at all levels of the business, from senior management down to line managers and supervisors, by living the values you’ve established and behaving in the way you expect your employees to.

Everyone at all levels of the business should be trained in sexual harassment so they feel confident to challenge it and speak up about it. Managers and senior leaders should promote a culture of dignity and respect, set the tone for expected behaviour and challenge ingrained attitudes that are known to be problematic. If workers can see that senior management take sexual harassment seriously, then they’re much more likely to follow suit.

The Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Act 2023 puts a requirement on employers to take ‘reasonable steps’ to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace. Sexual harassment involves any sort of sexual conduct or behaviour that makes an employee feel uncomfortable whilst at work and it must be prevented, challenged and dealt with appropriately. To do this, employers need to put measures in place to empower workers to speak up about sexual harassment and recognise that their employer takes their concerns and report of harassment seriously.

Further Resources:

• Sexual Harassment Training For Employees
• Sexual Harassment Training Course For Managers and Supervisors
• Workplace Bullying & Harassment Training
• What is the Equality Act 2010 and Why is it Important?
• Preventing Sexual Harassment in the Workplace: Employer Responsibilities

The post What the Worker Protection Act Means for You appeared first on The Hub | High Speed Training.

The theory behind this approach is straightforward: Whilst hard skills can easily be taught, soft skills are usually more innate. 

In this article, we will explain in more depth what it means to ‘hire for attitude, train for skill’, delve into the importance of soft skills in the workplace, and offer our tips on recruitment strategies for how to hire for attitude. 

Hire for Attitude, Train for Skill Meaning

The phrase ‘hire for attitude, train for skill’ essentially suggests that finding candidates with the right soft skills, such as a good mindset and approach to work, and that fit into your company culture, is more important than finding talent with specific technical skills. It’s a form of values-based recruitment strategy where personal attributes are prioritised over a performance-based skill set. 

Whilst this doesn’t mean you should ignore hard skills altogether, the concept is that if you hire candidates with the correct attitude, they will be able to learn the necessary skills for the role. 

Some of the most common reasons for new hires to leave a company are a lack of coachability, low levels of emotional intelligence, motivation, and bad temperament. Notably, these are all attitude-based issues. Thus, hiring for attitude can help to prevent these common problems from the very beginning. Ultimately, it’s far easier to teach a skill than it is to change a person.

By hiring people who comfortably align with your company brand, it’s possible to reinforce your individual company culture with each new hire who is a great fit, resulting in a workforce that is happier, more engaged and ultimately more profitable.

Importance of Soft Skills in the Workplace

Soft skills are character traits and interpersonal skills that characterise relationships with other people and complement hard skills in the workplace. As such, when we speak about hiring for attitude, we essentially mean prioritising candidates who have desirable soft skills. 

Soft skills are critical for success in most careers, as they’re the driving force of an employee’s, and therefore a business’, growth and adaptability. Although not quantifiable, soft skills are an essential resource that can vastly increase efficiency, team-building, and innovation in the workplace.

92% of talent professionals believe that soft skills are just as important, if not more important, than hard skills, however only 37% of employers feel that their entry-level employees have the necessary soft skills. Prioritising soft skills in the hiring process can help to repair this disconnect. 

Examples of some of the most essential soft skills for the workplace include:

• Communication.
• Adaptability and Problem Solving.
• Responsibility and Leadership.
• Teamwork.
• Critical Thinking.
• Positive Attitude.
• Creativity.

To read in more depth about what soft skills are and to find further examples, read our full article on Soft Skills in the Workplace.

In contrast, hard skills are concrete quantifiable abilities acquired through education or training, for example coding, finance, software development, or data analysis. Whilst the ‘hire for attitude’ mantra focuses on prioritising soft skills, you can read more about hard skills in our Hard Skills in the Workplace article. 

So why are soft skills arguably more important? Well, some experts have likened hard skills to being like a race car, whereas soft skills are the driver. Whilst it’s important to have knowledge and abilities relevant to a role, it’s personal qualities, soft skills, such as resilience and drive that will determine how far somebody goes and how fast they get there. 

Additionally, soft skills are becoming increasingly important in the modern world as workplaces change over time. As processes become more automated, with machines able to replicate certain hard skills and optimise manual processes, the role of soft skills becomes ever more vital. After all, with many organisations using the same new technology, it’s a team’s judgement, creativity, and innovation that will help to maintain an edge over competition and adapt to new ways of working. Furthermore, with increasingly flexible working arrangements (e.g. working remotely, hybrid, or at different times) and more diverse staffing, strong collaborative and communication skills are more crucial than ever to ensure a team’s success. 

In summary, hard skills are no longer enough to thrive in the modern world of work.

How to Hire for Attitude: Recruitment Strategies

Whilst the method of recruiting for attitude seems simple in theory, it’s understandable that your current hiring process may not currently be set up to facilitate this. After all, traditional methods of evaluating candidates, such as CV’s/resumes, are often focused more on hard skills and experience than personality traits. 

Fortunately, there are a few easy steps you can take to cater your recruitment process to finding out more about a candidate’s characteristics and soft skills in addition to their hard skill set. 

Identify the Attributes of Your Top Performers and Prioritise These Traits in Candidates

Think about who your top performing employees are in the company, and ask yourself why they have been so successful. What soft skills do they have that has led them to being a high achiever? Whilst this will differ from role to role, you should be able to identify what traits lead to success in the job you are hiring for. 

Once you know the kind of attitude and attributes you’re looking for, you can create interview questions that aim to reveal whether a candidate displays these soft skills, and follow up with those that do. 

Encourage Candidates to Tell Stories About Themselve

An open question will always lead to you learning more about someone than a closed one. This is also true in interviews. The more you can get a candidate to speak candidly about themself, the better you will understand their attitude and whether this fits in with your company culture and job spec. 

To encourage storytelling within an interview, try to incorporate plenty of situational or behavioural questions, such as asking about a past event, success, failure, or problem they’ve overcome. When candidates tell a story referring to real life situations, this will tell you far more about them than asking them to list their character traits directly. This is because it’s much harder to lie or to be superficial when referring to real-life examples. 

You can learn more about storytelling in interviews in our article on How to Use the STAR Method. 

Advertise Your Culture to Attract the Right People

Often people apply to roles that they believe will suit them or that look desirable in terms of workplace culture or benefits. Thus, the more you advertise who you are as a business, e.g. your morals, mission, and management, and what it’s like to be an employee at your company, the more you will attract people who identify with what you’re offering. This reduces the likelihood of hiring someone who isn’t a right fit, as these people are less likely to apply in the first place.

Be Proactive

Hiring people with the correct attitude to fit well into your company culture isn’t always about waiting for the right candidate to show up. If you meet someone who has great qualities that you believe would benefit your team, why not approach them? Understandably, they might not always be in a position to start a new job, but equally they may just say yes!

Observe Your Candidate Outside of the Interview

An interview is essentially a performance where a candidate is understandably trying to come across in the best way possible, but sometimes this can make it difficult to glean their true personality. It can be helpful to consider the interview as starting the moment a potential hire walks through the door, not just in your formal conversation with them. For example, how do they treat other members of staff on the way to your office, and do they strike up conversation with other applicants? These moments when a candidate isn’t aware they’re being observed may differ to how they present themselves in an interview, and can be the most telling as to whether they’ll fit your company culture. 

How to Train for Skill

Once you’ve hired someone with a great attitude and soft skills that fit well with your company culture, how do you then go about ensuring their hard skills are equally up to scratch? As mentioned, it’s far easier to teach someone a skill than it is to change who they are innately. 

As a manager or employer, it’s recommended that you create a Training Needs Analysis to identify any gaps in your employee’s skills or knowledge, and establish how these gaps can be filled.

If you’ve hired someone with soft skills including a strong work ethic and tenacity, they should easily and willingly be able to pick up more technical proficiencies. But what are the most effective methods of ensuring a new hire gains the correct hard skills needed to do their role? 

Here are a couple of suggestions to build into your onboarding process:

Encourage the Use of a Personal Development Plan

To avoid a lack of progress, it’s important that a new hire knows exactly what skills they need to develop, how they will go about doing this, and when they should have acquired these skills by. Having a Personal Development Plan (PDP) is crucial to accomplishing this. A PDP is a method of focusing goals into achievable steps, which helps to keep track of personal development. 

Learn more about the benefits of PDP’s, and download our free editable template, in our article, A Personal Development Plan (PDP) Guide & Template.

Using Online Training

Online training is a highly flexible and accessible form of learning a new skill or developing existing ones. One major advantage to this form of learning is that it can be done at any time or place, meaning a new hire can learn the hard skills needed to excel in their role outside of working hours or in small sections rather than one long training day, and can learn from the comfort of their own home if they choose. 

Looking for Online Training?

We have over 180 comprehensive courses that can help to upskill your team. Discover our range of Business Essential courses to teach fundamental skills for any company, or browse one of our industry focused course categories such as Health and Safety, Education, or Food Hygiene.

Shadowing Other Team Members

Chances are, you already have established employees within your company who have the hard skills that a newer hire is looking to acquire. If this is the case, use your internal talent to help pass on their skills and knowledge. This is an affordable form of training and will benefit the trainer, who will develop their communication and leadership skills, as well as the individual doing the shadowing. 

Although these examples give a taste of the best ways to ensure all your employees are gaining and developing the hard skills needed to succeed in their role, you can find more expert ideas in our full article on 6 Ways to Upskill Your Employees.

Hiring for attitude and training for skill is a recruitment mantra that aims to remove some of the most common issues with new hire retention rates and ensure you establish and maintain a strong workplace culture with employees that are a great fit for your business. Hiring for attitude works on the basis that soft skills are essential for success in business, but are hard to develop, whereas hard skills can easily be taught to someone with the correct attitude. 

Further Resources:

• Soft Skills in the Workplace
• The Consequences of a Lack of Training in the Workplace
• 6 Ways to Upskill Your Employees
• A Personal Development Plan (PDP) Guide & Template
• Hard Skills in the Workplace

The post Hire for Attitude, Train for Skill: Recruitment Strategies appeared first on The Hub | High Speed Training.

What is Intersectionality?

Intersectionality is the word used to describe a person’s unique combination of identities and how these impact their experience of discrimination. We all have more than one identity based on social categorisations – for example, you may identify as female but also as a Muslim and a person of colour. These overlapping identities give you a unique experience of the world.

The term ‘intersectionality’ was coined by American law professor, Kimberlé Crenshaw, in the context of social justice. Crenshaw stated that anti-racist movements in the US focused solely on Black men and feminist movements focused only on white women – neither took into account the challenges faced by a Black woman, for example, who would fall into both social categories.

Often, we look at discrimination in relation to the Equality Act 2010, which names nine protected characteristics: age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion, sex and sexual orientation. These characteristics are commonly seen as independent of one another, and workplace policies and practices only look to avoid discrimination and harassment based on one at a time.

In reality, it’s unlikely that anyone falls into just one category. We all have overlapping identities to some degree, which is why intersectionality in the workplace is an important part of your equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) practices. Intersectionality must be considered in order for your efforts to be effective and supportive for everyone.

Did you know…

The Worker Protection Act 2023 changes came into effect for all businesses in October 2024. The Act places a new legal obligation on employers to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace. Our Sexual Harassment Training for Employees course helps businesses comply with their new responsibilities.

Why is Intersectionality Important?

Intersectionality is an important consideration in the workplace to ensure your EDI policies and practices are successful. Without considering intersectionality, policies are likely to be one-dimensional and won’t be truly reflective or supportive of your workforce.

 Here are eight other reasons why intersectionality is important for your business:

1. It improves overall health and wellbeing, as all colleagues are supported, included and valued in the workplace.
2. It raises awareness of discrimination, helps you meet the needs of everyone and teaches employees that everyone is an individual with different requirements.
3. It helps you to comply with the Equality Act, as intersectionality requires you to consider the protected characteristics, how these affect people and how discrimination can and should be prevented.
4. It promotes equality and diversity in the workplace, people’s differences are celebrated and creativity and productivity are increased as a result.
5. It helps to recruit the best talent. Valuing intersectionality and diversity at the earliest stages of recruitment give you a much wider pool of talent to choose from.
6. It’s a forward-thinking approach to HR and enables you to analyse your current EDI policies to see how they can be updated with intersectionality in mind.
7. It creates a positive brand image and shows to customers, clients, stakeholders and potential employees that you take diversity and inclusion seriously.
8. It ensures that all members of staff feel safe and supported at work and will create a sense of psychological safety and wellbeing if staff know that their individual needs are being considered.

Want to Learn More?

Having an understanding of people’s differences and the types of discrimination they may face is important knowledge for managers, leaders and HR professionals. Our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion and LGBTQ+ Awareness training courses will help you keep your knowledge up-to-date.

Examples of Intersectionality in the Workplace

Below are three examples of intersectionality in the workplace that demonstrate how one person, with multiple overlapping identities, may experience discrimination differently:

1. There’s an opportunity for a promotion and the candidates are an Asian woman and a white man. The hiring manager is also a white man and he chooses the male candidate for the position. In this situation, the woman is likely to face challenges related to not only her sex but also her race, even if it’s unconscious on behalf of the hiring manager.
2. A straight white woman and a gay Black woman are on the same work team. Despite both having the same gender identity and the same job role, the Black woman experiences microaggressions and ‘banter’ that the white woman does not because of her racial and sexual orientation identities.
3. A physically disabled gay man and his non-disabled peer both work in the same office. Even though they share the same sexual orientation, the non-disabled man has privileges that the other man does not, as he’s able to access the senior meeting room upstairs to join conversations that will help advance his career. Because of his disability, the other man faces indirect discrimination as he cannot easily join the same meetings.

How to Put Intersectionality into Practice in the Workplace

To put intersectionality into practice in the workplace, you’ll need to consider every employee, their individual characteristics, their particular needs and the specific challenges they may face. Avoid treating everyone exactly the same with a ‘blanket policy’, as this is unlikely to take intersectionality into consideration and may cause more harm than good.

A few ways to put intersectional practices in place include:

• Create clear policies on discrimination and harassment – ensure everyone knows what discrimination looks like and understands that it can look different to different people. Policies should be zero-tolerance, discrimination called out when it happens and punitive measures followed as described.
• Ensure employees are supported and represented at all levels – make diversity a priority in senior management and leadership to show you take it seriously and value people from all walks of life.
• Start from the top – inclusion practices must start at senior level so employees can see you value intersectionality and are leading by example.
• Create support networks for minority groups – such as an LGBTQ+ group, a female book club or a BAME coffee club, to give people the support they need. Encourage staff members to see the groups as overlapping networks that interact with each other, rather than standalone categories.
• Train all employees in equality, diversity and inclusion – training in inclusion and intersectionality helps everyone recognise what discrimination looks like, how to avoid it and how to call it out. Online training can be a quick and easy way to educate people.
• Carry out anonymous surveys to gather opinions – to gain an accurate picture of representation in your company, how staff feel about inclusion and changes they want to see, send out a regular employee survey. This will help you recognise where you can improve.
• Consider intersectionality in all policies, procedures and activities – intersectional thinking isn’t just related to your inclusion policy, but should also apply to recruitment, promotions, staff training, social events and professional development opportunities.

For your workplace to be truly supportive of all its staff members, you must consider intersectionality in all of your activities, policies and procedures. Everyone is different and will experience life differently, but adopting an intersectional approach in the workplace will help people to feel valued, included and psychologically safe whilst at work.

Further Resources:

• LGBT Awareness Quiz
• LGBT Awareness Training
• Am I Being Bullied at Work?
• How to Support Others to Promote Diversity, Equality and Inclusion
• What To Do If You Suspect Mental Health Discrimination at Work
• How to Promote Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in the Workplace

The post Intersectionality in the Workplace appeared first on The Hub | High Speed Training.

What is Carbon Footprint in Business?

Your carbon footprint is the amount of greenhouse gases that are generated by your actions. Greenhouse gases include carbon dioxide and methane, and they are emitted either directly or indirectly by daily activities.

Your carbon footprint in business refers to the total amount of greenhouse gases your workplace generates through daily operations, transportation, manufacturing and maintenance, to name a few. It also includes the emissions created by workplace equipment and utilities.

The Greenhouse Gas Protocol – who set international standards for carbon emissions – categorise carbon footprint activities into three key areas. Each of your workplace activities will fall into one of the three categories and you can use this information to help your company reduce its carbon footprint. The three areas are:

1. Scope 1: Direct Emissions – these are the greenhouse gas emissions created by the fuel and energy sources your business uses in its daily operations. For example, gas boilers, furnaces or the petrol in company-owned vehicles.
2. Scope 2: Indirect Emissions – these are the greenhouse gas emissions resulting from the energy your business purchases. For example, the energy needed for electricity, heating and air conditioning. Indirect emissions are linked to your company’s utility bills and are affected by your energy choices and how energy efficient your business is.
3. Scope 3: Other Indirect Emissions – this category is for everything else, i.e. all other indirect greenhouse gas emissions linked to your company’s daily operations but not produced by the business itself. For example, employee commuting, waste disposal, purchased goods, office electronics and outsourced services.

Why Should Companies Reduce Their Carbon Footprint?

Reducing your carbon footprint is vital to help mitigate climate change. Businesses and buildings contribute enormously to global greenhouse gas emissions, so it’s essential that they play their part in reducing them. It’s believed that buildings and offices are responsible for almost 40% of the world’s energy-related carbon dioxide emissions.

As well as the positive environmental impact, reducing your business’s carbon footprint has many other benefits:

• Help the UK achieve net zero – As part of the Paris Agreement, the UK aims to reach net zero by 2050, meaning the total greenhouse gas emissions will be equal to the emissions removed from the atmosphere. Reducing your organisation’s carbon footprint now will help the country to achieve this goal and ensure you’re complying with any current or future regulatory requirements.
• Attract like-minded employees – A 2021 survey learnt that 65% of people would prefer to work for an environmentally-minded company. Working to reduce your carbon footprint shows potential job candidates that your business is responsible, caring and accountable for its future.
• Enhance your public profile – Alongside attracting like-minded staff, your business will also attract like-minded customers, clients and stakeholders by reducing its carbon emissions. Research has shown that 34% of consumers choose brands with strong, sustainable credentials, so upping your environmental game will likely lead to an increase in sales.
• Save your business money – Taking a look at your company’s carbon footprint and making changes to improve it will more than likely save your business money. Energy consumption is a significant cost for most businesses, so improving your energy efficiency will soon lead to lower energy bills.

How to Reduce Your Carbon Footprint in the Workplace

There are so many ways for your business to reduce its carbon footprint, many of which are low-cost and low-effort. Even if your company makes just one of the changes listed here, it will still make a positive difference to the amount of greenhouse gas emissions it creates.

1. Choose energy-efficient lighting – Switch to LED lightbulbs as these are much more efficient than older, halogen bulbs and tend to last a lot longer before they need replacing. The Energy Saving Trust says that replacing lightbulbs with LED alternatives can reduce your carbon emissions by 5KG. You should also aim to reduce energy wastage by only switching on lights when you need them, installing sensor-activated lighting, using dimmable lights and keeping blinds open to maximise natural light.

2. Manage the temperature – Pay attention to the way your business both heats and cools its premises, as heating and cooling systems can quickly use a lot of energy. Opt for programmable thermostats and energy-efficient HVAC systems, seal windows and doors, install insulation and use double glazing. Keep systems clean and well maintained so that they’re working at maximum efficiency and pay attention to the temperature settings on your thermostat – turning the temperature down by just one degree will make a big difference to your carbon footprint.

3. Switch energy suppliers – Take a look at who currently provides your utilities and see whether you’re able to switch to a renewable source. Renewable energy sources, like hydroelectric power and solar power, are much more sustainable options than fossil fuels and create far less harmful carbon emissions.You could even consider installing solar panels on the roof of your company’s premises.

4. Opt for greener transport – If you have employees that commute to the workplace, encourage them to use more sustainable transport options, such as public transports, walking, biking or car-sharing. Your business could consider offering incentives to reduce the cost of public transport for workers and, if company cars are provided, selecting electric vehicles rather than petrol/diesel-fuelled ones.

5. Choose local suppliers and reduce journey distances – Buy products and services from businesses local to you, as this is much more sustainable and reduces carbon emissions as products have a much smaller distance to travel. Plan deliveries, orders and collections more efficiently to prevent unnecessary journeys, look for local companies that offer packaging-free delivery options and send just one person out to collect office lunches, rather than each employee driving individually.

6. Go paperless – Reduce the amount of paper used in your business by using digital documents instead of paper ones, emails rather than posted mail, limit printing to essential documents only, avoid hard-copies of training materials and print double-sided. Adopt a ‘paperless policy’ across the company and recycle as much as possible to avoid any paper waste – it’s thought that around 26% of waste in landfills around the world is a result of paper.

7. Banish single-use items – Single-use items, like paper towels, disposable cutlery and coffee cups, contribute towards carbon emissions as they require manufacturing, sale and delivery to replace. Around 2.5 billion takeaway coffee cups are thrown away in the UK each year. Replace any single-use items your company uses with reusable ones – you could provide staff with water bottles, mugs, spoons and cloth cleaning towels, for example. These are easy swaps to make and can have a big impact on reducing your business’s carbon footprint.

8. Use rechargeable batteries – Your company office probably has a variety of small appliances and items that use batteries, such as smoke detectors, radios, calculators, remote controls and wireless keyboards. Replace the single-use batteries in them with rechargeable ones which can be used hundreds of times rather than just once, reducing waste and reducing carbon emissions.

9. Reduce, reuse and recycle – Alongside reducing the amount of waste produced by your company, you should also aim to recycle as much as you can to reduce the environmental impact you have. Put labelled recycling bins in all staff areas and offices to encourage the recycling of paper, cardboard, tins, bottles, glass, printer ink cartridges, batteries, lightbulbs, etc. Make recycling as easy as possible for employees so that nothing goes in the wrong bin and educate staff so they understand the importance of recycling.

10. Reduce food waste – The UN says that a third of all food produced in the world is wasted. Not only does this result in lost food, but also a waste of carbon emissions from when the food was produced, packaged, transported and disposed of. Furthermore, when waste food breaks down in landfill, it produces methane – a greenhouse gas. Whether your business has a canteen, food hall, shop or staffroom, ensure that food waste is reduced wherever possible through composting or food donation.

11. Opt for organic food and drink – If your business provides employees or visitors with food and drink, choose organic or Fairtrade options where you can, as these have been produced in a more sustainable way and therefore have a lower carbon footprint. You could also look for food and drink companies that are BCorp certified, as this shows the company has a strong social conscience.

12. Remove plastic water bottles – Many businesses offer free bottles of water to staff and visitors, but this can result in significant plastic waste, costs and carbon emissions. Instead, swap bottled water for a water filter which can be installed directly onto your taps.

13. Rent items rather than buying them – All equipment creates carbon emissions during manufacture, packing and delivery, including office furniture, electronics and machinery. If you’re able to, lease your equipment rather than purchasing it outright, as this helps to save resources and energy. Another option is to buy second hand, as this is a much more sustainable option than buying new.

14.  Look for green appliances – If you need to replace company appliances and electronics with new ones, and you aren’t able to rent them, then always look for the most energy-efficient options. All appliances have ratings for how efficient they are and, the better the rating, the less energy it uses, the lower emissions it produces and the more money it’ll save you to run.

15. Retrofit existing company buildings – Older company premises are unlikely to be as energy-efficient as newly built ones, so consider retrofitting your building to improve its environmental credentials. Could you install more insulation, replace old windows with double-glazing, install solar panels or add lighting sensors? All of these options will reduce carbon emissions and reduce energy costs.

16. Aim for a green certification – Your business can apply for a certification scheme to prove how sustainable it is. Not only does this show potential clients and stakeholders that you’re accountable for your environmental actions, but it also helps your business recognise what it needs to do to reduce emissions in order to achieve green accreditation. Examples of green certifications in the UK are Green Mark, Green Accord and B Corp. 

17. Implement a company-wide sustainability policy – Including a sustainability policy in your company procedures shows to employees, customers, stakeholders and the world that you are serious about reducing carbon emissions and improving your carbon footprint. Ensure employees are trained regularly in environmental awareness, keep sustainability part of every business conversation and actively do what you can to keep green behaviour at the forefront of everyone’s minds.

If your business takes action to reduce its carbon footprint, then not only will the environment benefit from the changes made, but your company will also save money and enhance its public profile. Reducing greenhouse gas emissions is vital for mitigating climate change and achieving net zero and it’s often the smallest of changes to your daily operations that make all the difference.

Further Resources

• The Importance of Corporate Social Responsibility for Your Business
• How to Implement Corporate Social Responsibility in Your Small Business
• How to Promote Environmental Awareness in the Workplace

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What is Workplace Violence?

Workplace violence can happen in any workplace of any size and any type of business, whether you have a hundred employees, just a handful of colleagues or if you work alone. It’s a significant concern for both employees and employers, as workplace violence can have a serious impact on wellbeing and safety – of both your staff members and the business as a whole.

Did you know…

The Worker Protection Act 2023 changes came into effect for all businesses in October 2024. The Act places a new legal obligation on employers to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace. Our Sexual Harassment Training for Employees course helps businesses comply with their new responsibilities.

Whilst anyone can be subject to workplace violence, certain occupations are more vulnerable than others. At particularly high risk are job roles that involve working with the public, that open after dark or that serve alcohol. This puts workers in the service industry most at risk – including occupations such as healthcare workers, social workers, hospitality staff and taxi drivers.

Workplace violence occurs when an event triggers someone to react and the workplace environment is conducive towards violence happening. As an employer, leader or manager, therefore, your role is to remove this link and prevent the workplace from being a place where violence is allowed – or enabled – to occur.

Workplace Violence Examples

Generally speaking, there are four main ‘types’ of workplace violence that you may come across:

1. Violence with criminal intent – including theft, criminal damage, cyber attacks or aggravated assault. The violence may be against the business, the premises or the people that work there and is usually carried out by someone outside of the workplace, not an employee.
2. Customer or client violence – including physical assault and verbal attacks, such as threats and intimidation. The violence is instigated by a customer, client or other visitor to the workplace, usually because they are upset or angry with the business, product or service received.
3. Worker-on-worker violence – including physical assaults, verbal abuse or emotional abuse, such as harassment, intimidation and bullying. This is when employees turn on each other and act aggressively or hostile towards each other, whether physically or through their words and behaviours.
4. Interpersonal violence – including domestic violence. This type of violence occurs between two people with a close relationship, whether that’s a romantic relationship, a friendship or a manager-employee relationship.

To learn more about the warning signs of violence in the workplace and how to recognise potential conflict, take a look at our dedicated article: Signs of Conflict in the Workplace.

7 Tips to Prevent Workplace Violence

Employers, leaders and managers have a duty of care towards their employees and must ensure that workplace violence is prevented and discouraged. Here are seven top tips to prevent workplace violence in your organisation:

1. Always follow safer recruitment practices – safer recruitment is about safeguarding your business and staff from unsuitable employees, right from the start. Preventing workplace violence begins with a thorough hiring process where background checks are carried out on potential employees to see whether they have any history of violence, including any recent convictions. If something comes to the surface, then seek an explanation from the person and, if insufficient, be sure to retract the job offer.
2. Establish zero-tolerance policies – all businesses must have strict violence, harassment and bullying policies in place to ensure employees know what is expected of them, how to report incidents and what the disciplinary measures are. These policies should be regularly reviewed, updated and communicated to all members of staff and customers where relevant.
3. Enable open communication with employees – all employees should have access to a reporting procedure for any concerns and incidents related to workplace violence. As a leader or manager, ensure you have an ‘open door’ attitude and ensure workers have an easy and effective line of communication with senior managers. This will help workers to feel confident that their grievances will be heard and responded to fairly, thus increasing safety, trust and wellbeing.
4. Highlight the importance of respect – respect in the workplace goes a long way towards reducing the chances of workplace violence, as employees will be much more understanding and tolerant of each other’s differences. Businesses should encourage a positive culture where equality and diversity are welcomed, celebrated and respected.
5. Provide regular awareness training – conducting regular training sessions in topics such as conflict management, EDI, resilience and unconscious bias will help workers understand which behaviours are and aren’t acceptable and how to respond to violent incidents appropriately. Training sessions can also empower workers to recognise warning signs, promote a positive workplace culture and effectively manage their mental health.
6. Enhance workplace security – implementing security measures in the workplace, or maintaining those you already have in place, can significantly reduce the chances of violence occurring. This might include CCTV, security guards, keycard entry systems, panic buttons, security lights or visitor check-in procedures. Security features such as these provide additional safety for staff and help to deter violence from happening.
7. Carry out a workplace violence risk assessment – a thorough and regular risk assessment will enable you to identify areas of vulnerability in your workplace and then put measures in place to address these issues. For example, inadequate security measures, problems with the reporting procedure or lack of awareness. Remember to talk to employees and ask for their feedback and observations before implementing control measures, as they are often best-placed to identify areas for improvement.

Want to Learn More?

As an employer, having strong leadership skills is essential for managing your workforce, promoting a positive workplace culture and effectively preventing workplace violence. Our Leadership and Management Training and Effective Leadership Training courses will help you to develop this knowledge further.

How to Handle Violence in the Workplace

Handling violence in the workplace isn’t always easy, especially if you have a close relationship with the person or people who instigated it. As an employer, leader or line manager, however, you have a responsibility to follow any disciplinary procedures your organisation has in place.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) states that procedures must be in place for responding to incidents of violence in your workplace, and the response must be proportionate to the level of risk. Staff should also be trained in how to cope with foreseeable violence, where necessary, and know how to report incidents.

If a member of staff has acted violently or abusively towards another member of staff or someone else on the premises, such as a customer or contractor, then you will need to carry out disciplinary action. It’s vital that you apply the same disciplinary procedures to everyone, no matter their status, position or relationship to you. Depending on the severity of the violence, you may need to suspend the employee whilst an investigation into the incident is carried out.

If a member of staff has committed an illegal act, then you may need to contact the police before following your organisation’s disciplinary procedure. You can still carry out your own investigations whilst a criminal case is ongoing.

If a member of staff has received an injury due to violence and requires medical treatment or extended time off work as a result, you should allow this. As with any other absence, check your company policy about whether the worker will still be paid in full whilst off work and how much time they’re entitled to. For employees who have been subject to violence or witnessed violence, bear in mind that this can be a traumatic experience for them, so consider what support you’re able to offer in terms of leave or counselling, for example.

In some instances, a worker may want to raise a grievance because of a violence in the workplace. In these cases, ensure the employee is provided with your organisation’s grievance policy and help them to follow the process of reporting a grievance, attending a grievance hearing and dealing with the outcome.

It’s also a good idea to carry out a debriefing after a violent incident in the workplace. This means reviewing your risk assessment and looking carefully at what happened, how and why it happened and what can be done to reduce the likelihood of something similar happening again. Talk to the members of staff who were involved or who witnessed the violence to establish exactly what occurred and learn of any changes they’d recommend or support they need.

Violence in the workplace is not something that should be taken lightly and employers must have robust procedures in place to handle violent incidents. Violence can be instigated by anyone in any type of workplace, so ensure you’ve carried out a relevant risk assessment to highlight any potential concerns and do what you can to prevent violence in the workplace from occurring. Keeping workers safe from harm is the duty of all employers, leaders and managers.

Further Resources

• Conflict Management Training Course
• Understanding the Different Types of Group Conflict: A Guide for Managers
• Managing Conflict in the Workplace: A Guide for Line Managers

The post Preventing Workplace Violence: Employer Responsibilities appeared first on The Hub | High Speed Training.