EEF World of Work Theatre

Seminars and Workshops

Click here for info on visiting or exhibiting next year

EEF World of Work Theatre

EEF's World of Work Theatre helps you to deliver business results to smile about!

In today's ever changing world of work, keeping abreast of latest practice whilst being bang-up to date with new legislation means you need your wits about you.

At EEF, we help organisations to work better, innovate more and tackle climate change enabling them to improve business performance.

Give your brain and business a boost by joining us in EEF's World of Work Theatre.

Hear from our top flight Employment Lawyers & Barristers, HSE & HR consultants and Business Improvement Practitioners on a whole range of topics - from managing sickness absence to flexible working, corporate manslaughter to communicating with confidence. They'll be flagging up key employment issues, helping you to avoid potential pitfalls. You'll also take away some handy hints and top tips to help you deliver business results you'll smile about. You'll find more details of the seminar programme below.

There's also the opportunity to win a three months free trial to our advice line service plus a set of our comprehensive guides, publications and toolkits including our award winning Managing Sickness Absence Toolkit.

Or if you've got a particularly thorny employment issue you need help in resolving, why not make an appointment with us at our advice surgery on stand 124 Contact Julie Roberts on 0161 777 2515 to book a slot.

Visit www.eef.org.uk

Day 1 - Wednesday 19th November 2008

Time	Title & Presenter
10:15 - 11:00	Flexible Working – An inconvenient truth? Flexible working can be tricky to handle so we’ll give you the inside track. Attend this seminar and get the low down on How your business can get the most out of a flexible workforce How to work with the trickiest flexible working request How to say ‘no’ if you need to and stay on the right side of the law Delegates attending also receive a FREE copy of our Handy Reading on How to Handle Flexible Working requests Jeff Neild Head of Employee Relations, EEF Jeff has over 20 years’ of Employment Relations and HR management experience. He leads EEF’s team of employee relations advisors providing advice and guidance on employment law and employee relations issues to hundreds of North West businesses. Jeff’s particular specialism lies in the employee and industrial relations fields where he handles negotiations with trade union full-time officials and helps to resolve cases of industrial action.
11:15 - 12:00	Leading the Lean Lifestyle How to boost profits with no nonsense business improvement If you’re fed-up with navigating through a maze of business improvement jargon and hard to remember acronyms then attend this session. Designed to help you boost business performance in a no-nonsense way, this session provides a big dose of structured common sense with a dollop of easy to understand approaches to implementing business improvement techniques, in whatever size of business. Ed Clements Associate Consultant, EEF Director of Team Integra Ed comes with a reputation for supporting improvement in a no-nonsense, results-driven manner. Most recently Ed was a Lead Practitioner at The North West Manufacturing Advisory Service (MAS). In 2004 his team generated benefits worth more than £10 million. Prior to that Ed worked for the global consultancy company Kaizen® Institute. Here he worked in many industry sectors including service. Ed learnt about Lean Principles at Automotive supplier Metallifacture Ltd as Kaizen Manager. During that time the company won General Motors Supplier of the year award for 6 years running. Ed has MPhil and BEng (Hons) degrees in Manufacturing Engineering and Manufacturing Management.
12:15 - 13:00	Health & Safety – Making it pay for your business Health & Safety bans the festive season Not really. It's the kind of headline you might be all too used to seeing though and it's the kind of myth that we come up against all too often. We’ll show you how getting health & safety right need not be such a headache for your business and will show you how Health & Safety improves the bottom-line performance of your business. Mike Clarke Head of Health, Safety & Environment EEF Mike leads EEF’s Health, Safety & Environment consultancy team in the North West delivering HSE advice, consultancy and training support to hundreds of north west businesses. A qualified engineer by background, Mike has specialist experience in areas of machinery and equipment and has an extensive knowledge of manufacturing processes and systems. A Chartered MIOSH practitioner, Mike has substantial HSE consultancy and practitioner experience.
13:15 - 14:00	Discipline & Grievance – the new regime From April 2009, the government will repeal the statutory disciplinary, dismissal, and grievance procedures, under the new Employment Act. At the same time, a new statutory Acas Code of Practice will come into force and tribunals will have the power to increase compensation in successful claims by up to 25% for businesses which don’t follow the Code’s recommendations. Find out What the new law means to your business How to resolve workplace disagreements so that they don’t escalate into litigation How to control your employment costs by adapting to a better way of handling workplace problems Sheila Shaw Employment Law Solicitor EEF Sheila is a qualified Employment Law Solicitor. She deals with all aspects of employment law and advises hundreds of north west companies on employment related issues. Sheila also specialises in advocacy and represents at The Employment Tribunal.
14:15 - 15:00	Communicating with Confidence Tools and Techniques for building your business Building your business through confident communication is the key focus of this session. Whatever an individual’s role or level within an organisation, the quality of their internal or external communications can make the difference between success or failure. Take away some top techniques to maximise both personal and business potential. Una McBride Associate Consultant EEF and Director of AMP Una is an experienced, personal development trainer and coach and works with organisations large and small across a range of sectors helping them to maximise their potential through personal empowerment strategies. She is part of the leadership and training team for the pilot INFUTURE Leadership and Diversity Programme championed by Lord Ousley, hosted at the House of Lords.
15:15 - 16:00	Fit for work Top tips for tackling absence at work Do you have staff with Friday or Monday-itis? Do you lack confidence when managing staff off sick with stress, anxiety or depression? How do you challenge a Doctor’s sick note? Turn attendance around with our top tips. Delegates attending this session are eligible to enter our prize draw where we are giving away 10 copies of our Award Winning Managing Sickness Absence Toolkit Michelle Sentance Employee Relations Advisor EEF Michelle has 15 years experience gained as an HR professional within unionised manufacturing environments. She is experienced in handling major change programmes including site closures and relocations and is experienced in pay negotiations and the design and implementation of policies & procedures designed to bring business benefit. As a member EEF’s employee relations team, she provides advice, support and guidance on Employee Relations and Employment Law issues through the advice line and delivers HR consultancy support to a range of clients. Michelle is member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.
16:15 - 17:00	The Carbon Reduction Commitment – are you prepared? The Climate Reduction Commitment has the potential to affect all medium sized businesses and organisations in the UK. Initial financial implications of the new scheme will be upwards of £50,000 for even a small operation, rising considerably for more complex organisational structures. Although it does not come into force until 1st January 2010, it will affect businesses well before that date and so budgetary commitments will need to be in place. Find out more about climate change policy and regulation in the UK, what it will mean for your business and what you’ll need to do to prepare. Alex Newton Environment Adviser EEF Alex is an experienced environment consultant. As a member of EEF’s environment team, she provides advice, support and guidance on environment issues to hundreds of North West businesses through EEF’s advice line. Alex holds Principal Environmental Auditor status with IEMA – The Institute of Environmental Management Assessment.

Day 2 - Thursday 20th November 2008

Time	Title & Presenter
10:15 - 11:00	How to weather an economic down-turn Ten Top Tips to recession proof your business Recession-proofing your business is not a merely a case of cutting back and watching the bottom-line. A challenging economic climate brings new opportunities for businesses to re-think, re-energise and re-focus. Attend this seminar to hear about 10 Top Tips on how to weather an economic down turn and position yourself for growth. Paul Wright Associate Consultant EEF and Managing Director of PAWA Consulting Paul works with both the Private and Public Sectors in the UK and with the Oil and Gas Industries in the Middle East. Prior to consulting, Paul held a number of technical and commercial roles new business development and marketing for polymers and manager responsible for the global engineering equipment supply sector at ICI. He has also worked in the Sports business sector, including on the supply chain to the Manchester 2002 Commonwealth Games and is an accredited consultant to the London Development Agency for London 2012 Olympic projects.
11:15 - 12:00	Managing Change Handy Hints for preparing for and making change happen Don’t be a dodo. The only constant is change. So embrace it and be prepared. Whether you’re preparing for survival or preparing for growth any change must be managed correctly. Change and change management programmes can be difficult and complex. This session explores the problems, pitfalls and solutions in preparing for and making change happen. Joyce Ashcroft Head of HR Consultancy Services EEF Joyce leads EEF’s HR Consultancy Services providing outsourced HR solutions. She has over 20 years experience of advising and delivering on major change programmes for multinational organisations including working within heavily-unionised environments. A pragmatist with a strong employee relations background, Joyce is also a specialist in the design of flexible working systems including annual hours programmes. She is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.
12:15 - 13:00	Making sense of risk How to be sensible about risk assessment Health & Safety bans the festive season. Not really. It’s the kind of headline you might all be too used to seeing though. We’ll show how risk assessment can be a useful business tool if it is carried out properly and will explore the key issues in carry out a work-place risk assessment using real-life practical examples. Mike Clarke Head of Health, Safety & Environment EEF Mike leads EEF’s Health, Safety & Environment consultancy team in the North West delivering HSE advice, consultancy and training support to hundreds of north west businesses. A qualified engineer by background, Mike has specialist experience in areas of machinery and equipment and has an extensive knowledge of manufacturing processes and systems. A Chartered MIOSH practitioner, Mike has substantial HSE consultancy and practitioner experience.
13:15 - 14:00	Christmas Parties Ways to prevent an HR hang-over As the festive season approaches, Christmas parties are seen as a great way to reward staff and boost morale at the end of a hard year’s work. Yet, over the years, more and more employers have cancelled their Christmas bash due to fears of litigation and employment problems resulting from them. So, apart from approaching the festive season like Ebenezer Scrooge, how can employers prevent a legal nightmare before Christmas without killing the Christmas spirit? Simon Mather Employee Relations Advisor EEF Simon is an experienced HR and Employee Relations Manager. As a member of EEF’s employee relations team, he provides advice, support and guidance on Employee Relations and Employment Law issues to hundreds of North West businesses through EEF’s advice line. Simon also delivers HR consultancy support to a range of clients. He is a member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.
14:15 - 15:00	Migrant Workers – getting to grips with the key changes in immigration Essential information you need to know about the points based system Preventing illegal working - new penalties and how to avoid them. Claire Rosney Barrister EEF Claire is a qualified Barrister. She deals with all aspects of employment law and advises hundreds of north west companies on employment related issues. Her main specialisms include advocacy at the Employment Tribunals and advising on migrant and agency workers.
15:15 - 16:00	Teaming with talent Tips, tools and techniques to improve talent and team performance Finding talent, unlocking its potential and retaining it within a business, is becoming increasingly difficult. And, when business conditions are tough, you need great people to be the best they can be if they are to achieve results and build sustainable success. This session explores How to identify the talent you need and how can you spot it? How you can bring out the best in your people when it matters most How you can blend the available talent to get maximum performance How you can create a flow of talented people? What will attract talented people and how can you keep them? Elizabeth Jovanovic HR Consultant EEF Elizabeth is an experienced HR manager and consultant. As a member of EEF’s HR Consultancy Services team she delivers outsourced HR solutions to hundreds of North West Businesses including recruitment, outplacement and career transition services. She is a member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.