A postal company has slashed the cost of its unfair dismissal awards by 80
per cent through increased manager training.
Michael Doolin, director of HR and training at Parceline, said the company
decided its employment tribunal costs were unacceptable and decided to take
action.
The HR team developed a training and support programme for managers,
designed to provide the skills needed to handle disciplinary and grievance
issues professionally and consistently. It was rolled out in 2000.
In 1999 the company paid out £104,000 in tribunal costs, in 2000 it managed
to cut this to just £3,000.
From 1997 to 1999 the average annual payout for claims was £67,000. From
2000 to 2002 it has averaged £13,000 a year.
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The company’s one-and-a-half day training programme is available to all
managers and is run by HR at regional centres.
Doolin said the programme spells out the procedures and rules in simple
language and stresses the need to get things right first time.
