Employability Skills- planning your future
Planning for your Future
Lesson duration is: 60 minItems in this lesson
Planning for your Future
Your Future Self
Imagine you are five years from now and ask yourself:
Where are you?
What are you doing?
What experiences helped you get there?
Share this with the person next to you.
Exploring Next Steps
What career are you considering?
Do you need to apply for another course?
Are you planning to go into higher education?
What employment route interests you (full-time work, apprenticeship, self-employment)?
Have you got an intended destination?
Let’s Research
Find your chosen career path
What are the entry requirements? (e.g., qualifications, skills, experience).
What is the potential salary and job growth in that field?
Skills gap analysis – What skills do you already have? What do you need to develop?
Reflection...
How do you feel about your next steps?
Are they manageable?
Remember to revisit your action plan regularly (it may change)
Employability Skills
Workshop
Sickness
Workplace Sickness Policies
A sickness policy sets out the rules and procedures for managing, reporting and recording an employee’s absence from work due to illness or injury.
It sets out what is expected from both the employer and employee within this context.
It gives a balanced approach to meeting the operational needs of the business, along with supporting employees in a structured and consistent manner.
A main purpose of the policy is to improve attendance and reduce sickness.
Consistent absenteeism from work disrupts operations and service delivery of an organisation.
Consistent absenteeism incurs additional costs for the organisation.
What to expect….
Policy Introduction - purpose and outline of the policy
Eligibility and Sick Leave entitlement - who is eligible for sick leave benefits. Paid versus unpaid, number of sick leave days allowed per year.
Request Procedure - Outlines how employees should notify their Line Manager
Documentation - Specify any required documentation (e.g. doctor's note for absences longer than 7 days). You can 'self-certify' for 7 calendar days, including weekends. This means you can tell your employer you’re not well enough to work. You do not need to provide medical evidence. If you’re off sick for more than 7 days, an employee will need to get a fit note from a registered healthcare professional.
What to expect cont….
Return-to-Work Policy - Provides guidelines for returning to work, including any necessary medical clearance, phased return and details of the return-to-work meetings and if and when necessary, an Absence Review.
Details of Trigger Points - There are no legal rules about how or when absence should be reviewed. It depends on what works for an organisation. Review point systems are usually based on either:
the number of absences an employee has within a certain time period
the length of an employee's absence
A review point system can be an effective way to help manage absence in an organisation.
What to expect cont….
Frequent Short-term Absences - return to work meetings will help to establish any underlying issues to support the member of staff whilst also identifying any patterns. All absences will be assumed to be genuine, however if found to be to the contrary then the organisation's Disciplinary Policy will come into force.
Long-term Absences - classed as absence for 4 weeks or more. An initial informal meeting would take place with the line manager and a member of the HR team. An Occupational Health appointment may be requested by the employer. This may be followed by (when necessary) formal meetings and potentially a Formal Capability Hearing.
Additional Support - Provides information on any additional support available, such as Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs).
Acas | Making working life better for everyone in Britain
Useful Links
Taking sick leave - GOV.UK
Completed forms on pro portal.
