List of CEA Conducted Trainings

Labor enforcement agencies are gearing up for a busy 2010.  More than 40 significant labor and employment bills have been introduced in Congress. With a new Secretary of Labor in office, employers need to comply  with wage and hour labor laws now more than ever.  The Secretary of Labor has added 250 new wage-hour field investigators and $2 billion dollars in funding to ensure this compliance.

Topics to be covered:

• Swine Flu and the Employer’s Responsibilities
• GINA
• Social Security No Match Letters
• DFEH Complaints
• EEOC Statistics
• Civil Air Patrol Leave
• And More

Sometimes, employees are absent from work. This can create a variety of hardships for the business. From staffing to lawsuits, CEA, its representatives, and its partners understand your unique needs and will help you be successful in preventing and managing employee absenteeism, so that you can get on with the business of business.

Learning Objectives

• Assess absenteeism’s impact
• Define absenteeism
• Determine the cost of absenteeism
• Explore state and federal laws related to absenteeism
• Review an FMLA (Family Medical Leave Act) case study
• Recognize keywords and phrases employees use when an absence is imminent
• Conduct absentee root-cause analysis
• Assess and prevent absenteeism
• Discover how to discipline absenteeism
• Examine and discuss resolution for absentee scenarios

How do you deal with difficult attitudes in the workplace?  Bad attitudes in the workplace can deteriorate morale, lower productivity, and increase costs. It doesn't take much for a co-worker, manager, or customer to feel the negative effects from someone with a bad attitude. The good news is there is now a process for dealing with these difficult people!

Topics to be covered:

• Recognize and describe the characteristics of a bad attitude.
• Assess a challenging situation and determine an appropriate strategy.
• Utilize a 5-step process for dealing with difficult people.
• Regain your positive attitude about the other person or situation.

CEA is here to assist you in managing conflict with confidence, resulting in a positive outcome.

Harvard University wrote a book titled Hiring and Keeping the Best People, which talks about the cost of poor hiring practices. The Business Essentials book stated that bad hiring brings down performance and can be painfully costly in the long run. Painfully costly is defined as 24 times the base compensation of the poorly hired person. Can you afford it? CEA’s hiring system will help businesses and HR professionals avoid costly hiring mistakes.

Learning Objectives

• Know what you need to hire
• Reduce time spent writing job ads and descriptions
• Discover where applicants are and what to pay them
• See the critical hiring steps between accepting an application to the 1st day of work
• Unlock the recruiter’s toolkit for quality hires and fit
• Develop legally defensible behavioral interview questions targeting proven performer’s skills
• Uncover hidden tips, tools, and tricks for effectively managing on-the-job (OJT)

How many different leaves of absence might a California Employer have to grant? Depending on the number of employees a company has, they may have to grant up to 19 different leave laws! It’s important to know about pregnancy disability leave and family medical leave laws, but there are so many others that employers need to be understand. We’ll cover them all and provide you with a CA Leave Law Cheat Sheet to refer to in the future.

Learning Objectives

• All of the leave and time off laws governing California employers (PDL, FMLA, CFRA, Military Leave, Jury Duty, Domestic Violence, Volunteer, School Suspension, Time off to Vote, WC, Kin Care, Drug and Alcohol and more...)
• Who is eligible
• Employee’s rights under the law
• Notice requirements
• Duration
• Affects on PTO, vacation, sick, and wages

Just when you think you’ve got a handle on OSHA’s complex rules and regulations, the agency issues a new standard, changes the record-keeping requirements or mandates additional training. Keeping your workplace compliant with OSHA’s ever-changing rules – and safety for your employees – is a never-ending headache where th>e stakes couldn’t be higher. California law (SB198) requires companies to have an Injury and Illness Prevention Progam in place. It doesn't matter if you have one employee or hundreds ... as their employer, you are responsible for their safety.

Learning Objectives

• The basics of OSHA Compliance
• Cal/OSHA Inspection targets and how to handle for a positive outcome
• How does the IIPP apply to your business
• Tips for integration, not separation
• Learn what to do before and after an injury occurs
• How to implement an IIPP
• Resource materials to implement your own programs

Three key words drive coaching on the job: Collaboration, Clarity, and Checkpoints. Collaboration is critical for employee self-worth, growth, and motivation. It is how employees buy into the idea that their contributions matter. Clarity is essential for understanding what went wrong or right on the job. Lastly, checkpoints provide leaders with planned opportunities for discussions about work flow and outcomes, before failure or underperformance occurs.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES:

• Define coaching
• Name the key stages in conducting on-the-job training
• State the key steps in every coaching conversation
• Review, re-set, and document employee goals
• Define when coaching stops and counseling begins

Business professionals must have rules and tools for communicating effectively. Leaders need a firm foundation in listening mechanics, conflict resolution, and political acumen (Managing up, Leading Down). Every leader must develop these communication skills, or face considerable hardship navigating organizational life, its stressors, and the unique demands inherent in leading others.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES:

• Define, distinguish, and formulate crucial active listening skills
• Describe and analyze skills needed for “Managing Up, Leading Down” for political acumen, agenda/decision-making, and employee engagement
• Identify methods for dealing with difficult people and resolving conflict on the job

Organizations that see disagreements as opportunities and resolve them effectively, stand out because of their strong capacity for innovation and success!
This essential training will effectively and legally deal with conflict in the workplace.

Topics to be discussed:

• Common sources and types of workplace conflict.
• Steps managers should always take.
• What is progressive discipline?
• When it is time to fire and employee.

All documentation is designed to communicate how an employee must behave on the job. The documentation must communicate your organization’s process for dealing with business-defeating behaviors warranting action up to and including discharge from employment. This quick guide will help you confidently document, discipline, and discharge employees. It also provides your organization with the documentation necessary for defending against wrongful termination lawsuits and paying unemployment, which both drain money from your business.

Learning Objectives

• Explore barriers to taking disciplinary action
• See the purpose of disciplinary action
• Identify reasons to take and document disciplinary action
• Examine why one would coach and discipline an employee simultaneously
• Define effective documentation
• Review methods for investigating issues before creating documentation
• See and explore safe practices for performing a CA employee discharge

Why worry about drugs and alcohol in the workplace?

More than 70 percent of substance abusers hold jobs; one worker in four, ages 18 to 34, used drugs in the past year; and one worker in three knows of drug sales in the workplace.

Americans consume 60 percent of the world’s production of illegal drugs: 23 million use marijuana at least four times a week; 18 million abuse alcohol; 6 million regularly use cocaine; and 2 million use heroin.

In the workplace, the problems of these substance abusers become your problems. They increase risk of accident, lower productivity, raise insurance costs, and reduce profits.

Learning Objectives:

• 6 Reasons to Conduct Drug Testing
• Laws Governing Drug Testing
• Allowable Drug Testing
• Employee Rights Concerning Drug Testing
• The Drug Free Workplace Program
• Reasonable Suspicion Testing
• Contracting with a Testing Facility

These days, everyone worries about doing the legally correct thing. What we're going to say about appraisals is that if you do an effective one, the legal part will take care of itself.

This program will help your supervisors with:

• The possible effects, legal and otherwise, of a poorly done appraisal.
• How to hold an appraisal that benefits all parties involved.
• What type of follow-up helps reinforce points made during appraisals.
• How to make sure the whole process is fair and legal.

This program helps Human Resources professionals understand the potential and major shift in the National Labor Relations Act, which will undoubtedly require a strategic organizational response. If passed, the EFCA would significantly amend the National Labor Relations Act. The fundamental change replaces the secret ballot election with card check recognition. If passed, there will be no time for the employer’s campaign, and the privacy of the voting booth will be gone. Peer pressure, union pressure and other pressure will focus intensely on employees signing union cards. Today, an employee can still change their mind after signing a card. If EFCA passes, employees will not have an opportunity to change their minds, because their signed card will become their vote! Human Resource professionals must be armed with a strategic response if EFCA is enacted.

Learning Objectives

• The R.E.S.P.E.C.T. Act
• Why was EFCA proposed and what are it’s chances of being enacted?
• What might the union card look like?
• What can employers do?
• How to identify a unionization attempt
• What to do when the union walks through your door

An employee handbook is one of the most important communication tools between your company and your employees.  Not only does it set forth your expectations for your employees, it also describes what they can expect from you and ensures your business complies with state and federal employment laws.

Learning Objectives:

• Benefits and Risks of an Employee Handbook
• Essential Provisions
• Policies Required by State and Federal Law
• Recommended Policies
• What NOT to Put in an  Employee Handbook

One little survey can give companies a lot of bang for their buck! Employee Opinion surveys do so much more than gauge employee satisfaction, they also help businesses uncover reasons for absenteeism and turnover, diagnose an organizations strengths and weaknesses and measure management effectiveness.

Learning Objectives

• To survey or not to survey
• The greatest values in surveys
• The greatest failings in surveys
• The planning process behind surveys
• Seven Survey Sins
• Types of Surveys
• Questionnaire Construction

If you would like CEA to design a custom Employee Opinion Survey for your company, give us a call 800-399-5331.

Offered as AB1825 compliant for Supervisors or Managers, or employees. The goal of this training program is to provide a better understanding as to what constitutes harassment and to do everything possible, through proactive training and education to ensure a harassment-free environment. It is also designed to make sure the work force knows that any kind of complaint will be handled through internal grievance procedures.

The Federal Trade Commission requires certain business to have a written identity theft, which detects, prevents, and mitigates identity theft when opening an account or maintaining any existing account. The amendment refers to these accounts as covered accounts (covered by FACTA). These accounts use personal and sensitive financial/credit information that pose a foreseeable risk, to consumer, if stolen. Fraudulent activity against a covered account is called a Red Flag. By the FTC deadline, covered business must have a formal written program that identifies its covered accounts, how they will protect them, and how they will respond to identity theft activities. FACTA violators face penalties up to $3,500.00 per incident of non-compliance. This program also covers many State’s Data Security Breach Notification requirements mandated under many state’s laws. Join us and get an idea of your options meeting or managing your identity theft.

Learning Objectives

• Introduce the Fair and Accurate Credit Transaction Act 2003
• Introduce State Laws - Data Breach Notification
• Introduce Self-Regulation
• FACTA & HIPPA: Protecting Patients Beyond PHI (For Patient Care Practices)
• Explore Identity Theft Policy and Procedure
• Explain senior management oversight and role
• Explore employee compliance and response training

Leadership communication goes hand-in-hand with success. No matter how compelling the vision or how brilliant the strategy, without leadership communication there is no execution. Leader Speak helps leaders embrace interpersonal communication that results in strategic alignment with employees, departments, and executives.

This fast-paced, results-oriented seminar is uniquely designed to strengthen your leadership communication skills.

Learning Objectives

• Collaboratively ascertain, construct, and communicate critical information with precision.
• Identify communication barriers, leverage assertiveness skills, and be clear on negotiating interest versus position.
• Resolve conflicts quickly, politically, and effectively.

Human Resources professionals will be making significant and deeply emotional job cut decisions in the coming months. With families, customers, and the businesses’ future hanging in the balance, HR professionals must know and solidify their options, to prevent lawsuits, reduce job cuts, and remain competitive in today’s tough economy.

Learning Objectives

• Reducing staff work hours
• Getting unemployment dollars and keeping your employees
• Performing an individual or mass layoff
• Identifying who can and can’t be laid off
• Notifying your employee of reduced work hours
• Notifying an employee of a job cut
• Exploring compensation and benefits cuts

In the last decade, the Gallup organization conducted a study of great managers across all disciplines and discovered key performance traits. The research outcomes were overwhelmingly conclusive! A participatory leader not only engages their employees better, but also got better engagement between employee’s customers and other organizational members. Strategic HR professionals must change their role from managing things, to being business savvy, networked, and influential participatory leaders who embody the greatness of leadership.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES:

• Clarifying the role of participatory leader in the motivation process.
• Define how to motivate strategic behavior in employees
• Revisit key theories supporting internal and external employee motivation
• Review groundbreaking evidence of motivation’s impact on the employee and the organization
• Link employees’ goals to strategic organizational goals
• Define key steps to setting strategic goals and outcomes for staff and employees

Strategic HR professionals must change their role from strictly managing all-things HR, to being business savvy, networked, and influential participatory leaders who embody the greatness of leadership. HR professionals will learn to embrace participatory leadership, build strategic know-how, and position themselves as business contributors, who understand how the business earns, saves, and spends its resources, for improved decision-making.

Learning Objectives

• Managing versus Leading
• Assessing your leadership style
• Identifying key participatory leadership traits
• Creating your leadership skills development plan
• Managing Up: How to be there for your boss and employees
• Learning how the business earns, saves, and spends its resources, for improved decision-making.

Do you have five or more employees? If so, your female employees are eligible for California Pregnancy Disability Leave (PDL) on their first day of employment and may be eligible for Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) leave as well as California Family Rights Act leave (CFRA) following PDL.  In this 1-1/2 hour session you'll learn how to completely comply with the PDL law. 

Learning Objectives

• Eligibility for PDL
• Notice requirements
• Duration and timing of PDL
• Leave period calculation
• Timing of PDL
• Effect ofPDL on pay and benefits
• Reinstatement after PDLA
• Accommodation or transfer
• Integration of PDL with FMLA and CFRA
• Penalties for discrimination

Prevailing wage is a mandatory component of many public works projects. Unfortunately, the law often raises more questions than it answers. What is the prevailing wage? What paperwork do I need? How can I avoid liability and complaints? What if I need help? We will help you with the practical guidance you need to avoid penalties and costly litigation. You'll learn the nuts and bolts of complying with prevailing wage law - minus the confusion and worries.

Learning Objectives

• Overview of Federal and State Prevailing Wage Laws
• How Are Prevailing Wages Determined?
• What Construction Work Is Covered?
• What Are the Prevailing Wage Standards?
• Reading Federal and State Wage Determinations
• How Are Prevailing Wages Paid?
• Who Is Paid the Prevailing Wage?
• Completing Certified Payroll Reports
• Complying with Apprenticeship Requirements
• Compliance and Enforcement

More and more people see violence as a way to settle disputes or get revenge for some perceived mistreatment. It's part of society, and so naturally it's part of the workplace.

Topics covered are:

• How to settle problems before they erupt into violence
• How far you can go, legally, to address a threat of violence
• The essentials of an effective and legal anti-violence policy
• What to do if someone commits a violent act
• What types of violence-prevention measures the courts have approved.

Harvard Business Publishing’s article Supervisor Work/Life Training Gets Results keenly addressed the role of the supervisor or any organizational leader. Supervisors must take a planned approach toward achieving their employee’s performance and well-being. Supervisory effectiveness can be distilled into four leadership dimensions. These four leadership dimensions will produce healthier, happier, and more productive employees.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES:

• Knowing how they serve the organization’s highest goals
• Becoming participatory leaders focused on developing people
• Becoming strategic leaders focused on achieving outcomes through their people
• Modeling healthy work/life balance for their people

When we say someone is a business professional, we are talking about their ability to deliver on our expectation of service quality, detail, and efficiency that sets them apart from anyone else. We call these people “Pros”. Whether its sports or business, “Pros” are in a league of their own, when it comes to delivering value.

In the workplace, professionals bundle their expected behavior and value with respect, which extends well beyond tolerance and embraces inclusion. It is the professional’s respectful inclusion of diverse people and their work ways that continually pushes the envelope on product sales, service, and support quality: The essence of what keeps customers coming back, sharing positive service experiences, and driving customer loyalty through the roof.

Offered as AB1825 compliant for Supervisors or Managers, or employees. The goal of this training program is to provide a better understanding as to what constitutes harassment and to do everything possible, through proactive training and education to ensure a harassment-free environment. It is also designed to make sure the work force knows that any kind of complaint will be handled through internal grievance procedures.

Strategic planning is an organization’s process of defining its strategy or direction and making decisions on allocating its resources to pursue this direction.  It’s a process for determining where your business is going over the next year --- or more typically 3 to 5 years.  Does this sound complicated?  It doesn’t have to be.

Regardless of your company’s size in as little as one to two days, CEA can lead you and your team through a strategic planning session (okay, there is some homework to do before the session) that will result in a basic plan focusing on three to five “vital” goals.  You might be thinking:  “This is not the right time for us to be worrying about a strategic plan.”  The truth is, there may never be a better time!  As Yogi Berra said, "If you don't plan where you are going, you'll probably end up somewhere else."

We’ll demystify the process and show you how to:

• Increase everyone’s understanding of your company’s goals and objectives.
• Build shared values and beliefs among all levels of people.
• Better communicate your company’s intentions to customers and employees.
• Gain employees’ participation, insights, and commitment to quality and service.
• Provide a clear and objective standard for individual decision-making with customers and employees.
• Align individual employee goals with those of your company.

If you think it’s about time your company takes a new direction, give us a call and we’ll work with you to schedule a strategic planning session.

For employers who are interested in increasing employee productivity and retention, and reducing absenteeism, workers compensation claims, and employee conflict, CEA offers True Colors For The Work Place. This seminar is based on the Myers Briggs personality types for understanding human characteristics and how these personality types function harmoniously in the work place.

Our certified trainers will conduct for your employees:

• Personality/Career Assessment
• Analysis of Personality Types
• Personality Profile
• Career Options for Different Personalities and Preferred Skills

Effective time management is everything. However, leaders and followers waste time at an alarming rate. Salary.com reported that businesses spent $759 Billion dollars for work employees never did! That’s right. Businesses are bleeding productivity and money daily, because of wasted time. Author John Skot said, “Time and tide waits for no man.”

Wasted time can be defined as “Our best and most productive work time NOT being focused on making money, serving customers, or improving the business”. It could also be defined as NOT planning personal, relaxation, and social events into our lives. Instead, poorly managed time silently drains away money and energy we need to run our businesses and our live better.

Avoid the time drain and enroll in T.I.M.E. (Task Importance Made Easy) training today. We’ll illustrate how you can quickly focus your energy, activity, and greatest effort on priority work and play that makes everyday and dollar well spent. Here’s what you’ll learn:

• Determining what is important today
• Planning for tomorrow or the future’s
• Establishing the order of “To Doing” things

California’s Unemployment Insurance Agency is called the Employment Development Department (A.k.a. EDD) is a complex organization responsible for.

Learning Objectives

• Paying Unemployment Insurance, Disability, and Paid Family Leave
• Overseeing job training, retraining, and lay offs
• Collecting payroll taxes and overseeing employer’s reserve accounts
• Providing Labor Market Information
• Providing agency forms and publications

Both the Federal Government and the State of California have discovered a way to battle their budget woes… employer non-compliance!  Hilda Solis, the Secretary of Labor, has added 250 new field investigators in order to audit employers.  To ensure your company moves safely through the compliance jungle, join us.

Learning Objectives:

• Latest opinion letters from the Labor Commissioner
• Latest rulings from the CA Supreme Court
• Exempt v. Non-exempt, Independent Contractor v. Employee, Meal & Rest Periods
• Common and continuing mistakes employers make

What do you do when you notice that Susan has shown up for work but isn’t wearing a bra ?  What do you say when Steve asks if he can add his partner, Ken, to your benefits plan?  And what do you do when you find out that one of your employees is not authorized to work in the United States?  

CEA has the answers to all of these questions and so many more.  Join us for our enlightening and entertaining HR TRIVIA training.