Make Better Employee Relations Decisions Before the Organization Acts
Employee relations problems rarely arrive in a clean category. A manager describes a performance issue that may involve misconduct. Workplace conflict becomes a complaint. Documentation begins after conclusions have already been reached. HR is then expected to make the decision fair, consistent, and defensible.
This live online employee relations training gives HR professionals and managers a structured method for determining what happened, which organizational standard applies, what response is proportionate, and who has authority to decide.
Program Objectives
After completing the seminar, participants will be able to:
Separate performance, conduct, conflict, and complaint issues.
Establish the policy, expectation, or organizational standard governing the situation.
Evaluate facts, documentation, assumptions, and conflicting accounts.
Determine whether the appropriate response is coaching, a performance improvement plan, corrective action, investigation, or escalation.
Clarify the respective responsibilities of managers, HR, senior leadership, and specialist advisors.
Test a proposed response for consistency with comparable situations.
Document the reasoning supporting the decision.
Prepare managers to communicate and implement the decision effectively.
Two-Part Live Online Curriculum
Day One: Diagnose Before Acting
Participants learn how to classify the employee relations issue before selecting a response. The session examines performance deficiencies, employee conduct, interpersonal conflict, workplace complaints, governing standards, evidence quality, and the risks created when organizations act before the problem has been properly defined.
Day Two: Decide and Execute
Participants apply the decision process to PIPs, progressive discipline, documentation, conflict intervention, investigations, and escalation. The session addresses proportionality, organizational consistency, decision ownership, manager communication, and the follow-through required after action is taken.
Each session is 90 minutes. Participants must attend both sessions to complete the seminar.
Applied Case Learning
The seminar uses realistic employee relations cases in which the appropriate response is not immediately obvious. Participants will examine situations involving:
A manager requesting a PIP before expectations have been established.
A high-performing employee accused of serious misconduct.
Workplace conflict presented as a formal complaint.
Discipline proposed without adequate documentation.
Comparable employees receiving different organizational responses.
HR being held accountable for a decision controlled elsewhere.
Participants may submit an anonymized employee relations situation before the program. Selected cases may be examined during the live sessions without identifying the participant or organization.
What Registration Includes
Every registration includes:
Two live, instructor-led online sessions.
Three total instructional hours.
Employee Relations Decision-Screening Guide.
Evidence and Documentation Review.
Response and Escalation Matrix.
Manager Conversation Planning Tool.
Organizational Consistency Check.
Downloadable participant workbook.
Fourteen-day access to the program recording.
Admission to a 30-day live implementation clinic.
Numbered Seattle Consulting Group HR certificate of completion.
Certificate of Completion
Participants who attend both live sessions and complete the applied case exercise will receive the:
Seattle Consulting Group HR Certificate of Completion in Applied Employee Relations Decision-Making
The certificate displays the participant’s name, program title, completion date, three instructional hours, facilitator signature, and an individual certificate number.
Intended Audience
This seminar is designed for professionals responsible for reviewing, advising on, approving, or implementing employee relations decisions, including:
HR managers and directors.
HR business partners.
Employee relations professionals.
HR generalists.
People managers and department leaders.
Professionals responsible for performance management, workplace complaints, discipline, or conflict resolution.
Leaders who approve PIPs, corrective action, or other consequential people decisions.
The program is relevant to participants in Canada and the United States. It provides a management decision framework and does not replace jurisdiction-specific legal advice.
Registration
Individual Registration: CA$395
Organization Pass: CA$995 for three participants
Organization Pass participants may attend from different locations but must register for the same cohort.
Registering several participants or requiring internal purchasing approval? Request an invoice and Seattle Consulting Group HR will send it directly.
Practical Value Guarantee
Attend both live sessions and complete the applied case exercise. If you conclude that the seminar did not provide a practical method you can use to improve employee relations decisions, notify Seattle Consulting Group HR within seven calendar days following the second session and your registration fee will be refunded.
The guarantee applies to completed registrations and cannot cover missed sessions, scheduling conflicts, or unused seats.
Your Facilitator
Jim Woods, CEO and President, Seattle Consulting Group
Jim Woods is an HR advisor and executive educator with 25 years of experience across 51 countries. He holds a master’s degree in Organizational Development and Human Resources and is the author of HR Unchained. His work examines organizational authority, accountability, decision ownership, and the conditions required for HR standards to govern how people decisions are made.
This seminar translates that experience into a practical process HR professionals and managers can apply before consequential workplace decisions are made.