Professional Service Agreement

2024 SESCO Zoom Webinar Series

May 14, 2024

2024 SESCO Webinar Series

SESCO is pleased to announce our training schedule for 2024. With the overwhelming success of participation and positive client feedback in 2023 the following provides our topics and dates. Schedule early as the events fill up quickly.

May 29: Building an Effective Employee Relations Program-Union Awareness 101

Is your organization prepared to meet the challenges of the reinvigorated union movement? Are your supervisors prepared to educate your employees about the reasons you prefer to remain union-free? Do they know the tell-tale signs to identify potential union organizing activity before organizing efforts go public?

New rules for organizing workplaces and a very union-friendly administration have emboldened unions to increase organizing efforts across the state and within the automotive industry. This presentation will provide attendees with:

  • Basic overview of the legal structure in which union organizing takes place
  • Review of recent NLRB rulings and how that impacts your organization
  • Strategies and techniques that unions use to organize employees
  • How employers can implement policies, practices, and programs to avoid union organizing campaigns before they begin in the form of positive employee relations

The goal of this session is for employers to leave with an understanding of labor law compliance and union awareness/organizing efforts and the tools to help them create a workplace where third-party representation is not necessary and where employees feel heard and respected.

June 12: Reasonable Suspicion Training

This program is designed to help supervisors and management recognize the signs and symptoms of alcohol or drug abuse to help uphold safe workplace standards. This training provides essential knowledge in order to pinpoint and identify suspicious behaviors.

Additionally, participants will learn the reasonable suspicion process, how to approach an employee, handling difficult confrontations, proper documentation of observed behaviors, testing outcome, and potential warning signs of alcohol and drug abuse.

Specific course topics include the following:

  • The reasonable suspicion process
  • Effects of alcohol misuse
  • Effects of drug use
  • Appropriate steps to take

June 26: Management’s Role in Recognizing & Preventing Harassment and Discrimination in the Workplace

Harassment is rampant and it happens daily in our workplace. Whether it’s Hollywood, politics, academia, or business, you cannot escape the reports of misconduct in the workplace. With heightened awareness, employers must do what they are required by law and in their power to prevent harassment in the workplace. This session will explore the true definition of harassment and discrimination under Equal Employment Opportunity regulations, such as Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, and the problems caused by inappropriate workplace behavior. Additionally, we will focus on preventing sexual harassment and discrimination, how to respond to harassment or discrimination, how to address unwelcome behaviors, the negative impacts of workplace misconduct, proper procedures for reporting and investigating complaints and consequences of false accusations. Last, we will cover how leadership should properly handle and respond to charges of discrimination received from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

July 10: How to Conduct Internal Investigations

Are you prepared to conduct a proper investigation? Will it comply with all Federal, State, and local laws and all your policies? Will that investigation be objective and respect all party’s rights? Will it be presented in a professional manner?

If done properly, an internal investigation can help get to the bottom of things. If done wrong, it all too often makes things worse. The challenge of complying with all applicable standards/regulations is to educate and update all who are responsible for conducting investigations within the organization. Otherwise, they may not have the tools or skill sets to be aware of all those obligations and responsibilities which in turn can lead to unintentional violations of law and challenges to the integrity and credibility of the investigation and its results/conclusions.

In short, this webinar is designed to provide you and your organization with a fundamental understanding of what’s required to conduct an effective and professional investigation while minimizing risk (financial, legal, damage to internal and external reputation, etc.).

July 24: Essential Skills of Leadership

Leaders (managers and supervisors) are normally chosen for their positions because of their knowledge about the products and services they provide to their customers. All too often, however, their training has covered only the technical aspects of their duties, neglecting the people-related skills which are extremely important in ensuring a successful organization. The Essential Skills of Leadership session will give you the four foundational skills for effective leadership: focusing on behaviors and facts (not attitudes or opinions), encouraging team member participation, maintaining team member self-esteem, and running effective meetings.

August 7: Essential Skill of Communicating

Helps managers learn the latest techniques in developing effective communication skills — improving their performance and increasing the productivity of the team and the organization. Throughout the workshop, managers will review video presentations and case studies, participate in group discussions, practice new skills, and receive immediate feedback.

Managers leave with implementation tools, troubleshooting guides and additional resources to help them apply the skills they have learned on the job.

This session includes the following learning objectives:

  • Create a Climate of Open Communication – The foundation of good communication is openness. The manager’s role is to support an environment that encourages the free exchange of open, honest communication.
  • Design Clear, Concise Messages – Develop messages that avoid complex and pompous language. Learn to logically organize messages and aim them at the listener’s interests.
  • Manage Nonverbal Behaviors Effectively – Understanding nonverbal factors, such as voice tone, intonation, and gestures, is an important part of effective communication.
  • Listen to Communicate – Effective communication is a two-way process. Managers learn the importance of active listening and the role of responding appropriately by reflecting, probing, supporting, and advising.

August 21: Avoiding Missteps While Conducting Layoffs

As the national economy endures ups and downs, many organizations are considering or have endured the dreaded L-word — Layoffs. Before implementing a Reduction in Force (RIF), you need a plan that will survive legal scrutiny. Discrimination charges increase dramatically following layoffs. This seminar will cover the hot-button issues that arise as a rightsizing appears on the horizon:

  • What laws come into play when a RIF looms
  • Documentation needed to justify the business reasons for the reduction
  • Crafting the selection criteria to avoid legal red flags
  • Reducing the likelihood of age and other discrimination claims
  • Buyout/severance issues to consider
  • Waiver and release agreements
  • Problems encountered by remaining employees

September 4 – How to Implement a Relevant Compensation Program for Your Business

Compensation administration deals with establishing a meaningful and acceptable relationship between work and rewards. Work performed by employees should help organizations achieve their objectives which are derived from the organization’s overall business strategy and support the company’s mission statement. When designed and administered appropriately, an organization’s compensation program is an effective management tool for recruitment, retention, and overall support of the business objectives.

This session covers the basic tenets of compensation exploring the value of both internal and external equity via market wage surveys and 15-Factor position evaluation. Next, we will discuss the right price, which is a combination of position value, external competitiveness, and the organization’s ability to pay. We will further delve into the importance of a plan that is efficient to administer and easily understood by employees who must be in control of their ability to meet performance ratings as defined by the organization. Last, we will demonstrate a compensation program must be more than a system of “paying” employees; a solid compensation program includes position descriptions, progression schedules, program administration guides and integration with your current or new performance evaluation system.

September 18: Resolving Conflicts

Helps managers develop skills to identify the source of team member conflicts. Using effective communication and management techniques, managers can help individuals understand another point of view and move beyond conflict. Throughout the workshop managers will review video presentations and case studies, participate in group discussions, practice new skills, and receive immediate feedback. Managers leave with implementations tools, troubleshooting guides and additional resources to help them apply the skills they have learned on the job. This session is designed to provide Managers with the following skill sets to include:

  • Sources of team member conflict
  • Effective ways to resolving conflict
  • Mismanaged agreement appearing to be conflict
  • Positive and negative aspects of conflict

October 2: Mastering Effective Performance Management of Employees

Did you know two thirds of supervisors receive little to no training on how to handle the soft skills of management? Supervisors must exhibit true leadership, boost morale, and reduce employee turnover, all while positively impacting your organization's bottom line — a tall order for even the most experienced professional. This program will address necessary skills with a focus on the employee – manager relationship during the performance management process. Specifically, we will cover:

  • Developing Performance Goals and Standards – Learners analyze the skills and strategies they use every day in their jobs to identify the techniques that they do very well and to develop ways for them to do their job better.
  • Coaching Job Skills – Helps managers learn how to effectively coach individuals through a process of observation, analysis, and communication. By carefully planning one-on-one discussions, managers can have the greatest impact and gain individual commitment to achieving results.
  • Providing Performance Feedback – Helps managers learn a systematic, fact-based approach to performance improvement through quality feedback.

October 16: Stop Difficult Discipline Situations from Spiraling Out of Control

Addressing disciplinary issues is a reality for most managers. This can be a very sensitive and stressful process that many deal with in only a cursory manner or avoid altogether. However, if disciplinary issues are avoided or handled poorly, they can lead to very serious legal problems for the organization and the individuals involved. According to the EEOC, retaliation claims now comprise the highest number of complaints the agency receives.

To help avoid these problems, this program will assist managers to fully understand how to handle both the discipline and termination process in order to minimize legal problems and promote more committed employee relations.

  • Discipline employees in a legal, motivational, and effective manner.
  • Avoid common mistakes when disciplining staff.
  • Establish expectations and consequences for employees.
  • Effectively document disciplinary actions.
  • Handle the termination process properly to reduce the chance of an employee lawsuit.

Tuition:

$60.00 per person, per webinar

Tuition includes a copy of the PowerPoint presentation and live recording emailed to registered individuals.

Schedule:

Every Other Wednesday, beginning March 2024- October 2024

11:00am-12:30 pm EST

Please click HEREto register for SESCO’s 2024 Webinars

Cancellation Policy:

Requests for cancellations or substitutions will be honored if they are received seven (7) days prior to the beginning of the seminar. The person(s) may be registered for another webinar session or other names may be substituted; otherwise, the company will be billed for the full amount of the webinar.