This week’s tip is precipitated by thoughts of things that need to be done in the new year.  I’m sure you’re having those same thoughts.

Although I didn’t start out with this tip to engage in shameless self-promotion, I guess I’m going to end up doing a little of that.  So, sorry about that, but I’ve never been above it.

When it comes to human resources and employment law, I’m a big believer in training.  In my opinion (which probably isn’t shared by everyone), you can’t do too much of it.  That’s not to say that all training is beneficial.  That’s not to say that a lot of money and time aren’t wasted each year on training.  I guess I should have said that you can’t do too much good training.

Like it or not, the only way we learn–the only way HR learns, supervisors and managers learn, senior executives learn–is through training on an important topic over and over again.

You’ll be doing training in ‘08.  You have some of it already planned, although you’ll make some changes and tweaks along the way.  If you don’t have it planned yet, you will.  Sometimes, unexpected training is forced on you because of a bad situation that occurs in your workplace.

Now for the shameless self-promotion.  If you need some help in getting your training off the ground, there are a couple of video training programs listed on this blog:  Danger Zones for Supervisors and Executive Summary: Employment Law for the C-Suite.  Click on these items and check them out.  They may be just what you’re looking for, or they may give you ideas about what to look for.  I also do a lot of in-house training during the course of the year–training for HR, managers and supervisors, and the C-Suite.  I would be more than happy to talk with you about it.

Employment law training is a key component of your role as an HR professional.  So do it.  Do it well.  If you do, you’ll make a substantial contribution to your company’s effort to stay out of trouble and make a profit.  And if you’re a non-profit organization, you certainly don’t want to be using your funds to pay lawyers to defend lawsuits.

If you need a little humor to help break the training ice, check out a previous post below, or go to YouTube, type in “Animal Employment Protection Act” and click search.

http://hrheroblogs.com/theword/2007/11/12/animal-employment-protection-act/#more-68

Here’s to training in ‘08.  Happy New Year!