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Edition no. 17
In this issue: Holiday & Sickness Recording Employing disabled people - assistance available New Year's Resolutions ~ Tim Hodgson
If you would like more information about any of the issues raised in this newsletter or any other people management query please contact The HR Tap on 0870 432 43 93 or by email on
The Inspiration Centre 08456 101 460 http://www.theinspirationcentre.com/
This newsletter is written for general interest only. The HR Tap can accept no liability for any reliance placed on its content without further advice. Please contact us for specific advice before acting |
The HOT Tap News
Employing Disabled People - assistance available If you currently employ or are about to employ a disabled person and you find that you, or they, need assistance of some sort to enable them to work effectively then you should contact the Job Centre Plus and ask to speak to an advisor about Access to Work (AtW) scheme. Costs that will be covered by AtW would include support workers and fares to work, communicator support at interview and additional travel costs due to disability. If your disabled employee has been with you for 6 weeks or more and special equipment or adaptations are required then you, as the employer, would be required to pay for the first £300 of the costs but thereafter, up to a maximum of £10000 AtW will pay 80% of the costs and over £10000 would pay 100%.
The Job Introduction Scheme (JIS) is a discretionary subsidy payable by the local jobcentre of £75 per week for a period of 6 weeks (potentially extended to 13 weeks if the job is applicable) to subsidise a trial period of employment to assess suitability of the disabled applicant for the role.
Disabled people are known to make significant contributions to the workplace, more than their productivity; they often have lower sickness than other employees and are loyal and valuable members of the team. Support is available if you know where to look so be confident in broadening your recruitment horizons in 2007.
New Year's Resolutions Last month we looked at creating goals that are SMART:
S A R
Make the goal Specific It must be Simple and easy to understand Can you Measure it? Is it Meaningful to you? State your goals As if you have it now All areas of your life need goals Is the goal Achievable? Is your goal Realistic? Is it Responsible/ecological – is it good for others too? Put a Timescale on your goal Make sure you move Towards it
Before we start to look at each of these in detail, I thought that since it’s a New Year, it’s worth while taking some time out to review our goals. I’ve talked about this before – but this is a great time to actually sit down and do it!
At the beginning of the year, most of us make some sort of New Year resolution – we want to get fit, lose weight, give up smoking…. These are all goals for us. The start of the year is a great time though to take a step back and say ‘what do I really want this year?’ Often we just decide what we want on the spur of the moment and not really take the time to design our year.
There seems to be some real evidence that people who set goals actually fulfil them. You see, the human mind is a completion machine – we love to complete things. So if there are things that are undone, then that saps our energy until we actually take action to complete them. If we have a series of goals – and we look at those goals regularly – then we will start taking action that moves us towards those goals.
Here’s what I do. Every year I sit down and look at the previous year. I look at what I have achieved – and what I wanted to achieve and have yet to finish. And I celebrate! Last year I completed over 80% of the goals I set myself – which is fantastic.
Then I take a day out of my diary - I sit down and decide exactly what I want to achieve over the next year. (Those of you who know me will know that I tend to end up in a coffee shop!) I look at the goals that I have for my business:
What is it that I really want to achieve? What will make me feel really good when, at the end of 2007, I look back and see what I have achieved? I write all this down – I use a MindMap (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mind_map for a description of this really creative technology) but you can simply write a list of what you want.
I then look at all the other aspects of my life and decide what I want from all of my life:
There’s a worksheet available at http://www.theinspirationcentre.com/Portals/0/documents/AnnualPlanning.pdf to help you with this. The worksheet also has an outline mindmap if you’d like to give that a try.
As I am doing this, I ask myself “What will make it challenging – what will make it exciting – what will make it fun? What will make this the most incredible year you have ever had?” When I am happy with this, I type this up and put it somewhere I will refer to regularly – preferably every day and at least every week. Then I start taking action. I start doing the things that will move me towards those goals – and I don’t do things that don’t move me towards those goals.
So here’s my challenge – take some time out, whether it’s a day or a couple of hours, and think about what you really want out of 2007. When you’ve got it… then enjoy the process of creating the perfect year. © The HR Tap Ltd 2006. All rights reserved The author hereby asserts the moral rights afforded by S77-89 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
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