Unit 1 - Developing Professional Practice Help

Hi Rasa,

A project is defined as being a series of tasks that need to be completed in order to reach a specific, defined outcome. So, think of a project as stepping stones from A to B - where B is the completed project.

A project doesn't have to be a big thing, like moving offices or introducing a new HRIS. It could be something smaller like redesigning the way something's done, or introducing a new method of working.

Unfortunately, without knowing more about your situation this is an almost impossible question to answer further. I hope this helps a little.

Hi Teresa,

Thank you for the support. I am currently a HR Admin and was thinking about using Absence Management as a project to write about, however can't really think of issues that would have come up during a project like this.

Hi Rasa,

OK, so the project could go something like this - obviously this is all hypothetical, you'll need to think how it's real for you.

1/ Do you have an AM problem: how do you know this, where's the data coming from, how valuable/reliable is that data.
2/ If you don't have an AM prob you might want to work out a procedure in case you need it, this is just as valuable as working on something you need now.
3/ Collect & interrogate the data: use recognised methods such as Bradford, show what your hot-spots are (eg: particular people with a lot of sickness, particular genres of sickness occurring regularly)
4/ Analyse the absences, take care not to jump to conclusions, eg: someone regularly having Monday's off sick may have Duvet-itis from being out on the town over the weekend, or they may be having regular dialysis or chemo treatment.
5/ Analyse the types of sickness -

Sorry Rasa, ignore my last post. I hadn't finished it and clicked 'post' accidentally, it then wouldn't let me edit it!

OK, what I was going to say was...

So the project could go something like this - obviously this is all hypothetical, you'll need to think how it's real for you.

1. Do you have an AM problem:
   1. how do you know this, where's the data coming from, how valuable/reliable is that data.
   2. If you don't have an AM prob you might want to work out a procedure in case you need it, this is just as valuable as working on something you need now.
2. Collect the data:
   1. use recognised methods such as Bradford
   2. look at national or industry standards data for absence, how do you compare
   3. consider all forms of absence, eg: training, sickness, maternity, etc
3. Analyse the data:
   1. show what your hot-spots are, eg: particular people/genres of sickness occurring regularly, excessive training etc
   2. take care not to jump to conclusions, eg: someone regularly having Monday's off sick may have Duvet-itis from being out on the town over the weekend, or they may be having dialysis or chemo treatment.
   3. Look at types of sickness, eg: backache, operation, vomiting, flu, etc - if you can't do this, then it's something that needs to be added to the project
4. Work out what absences you need to keep track of:
   1. Sickness is an obvious one, but this can be subdivided into areas that need a higher or lower level of intervention eg: if you're in a manual trade then you will want to keep an eye on all musculoskeletal problems, or high usage of computers suggests watching headache occurrences. Likewise, it may be that you do not need to keep such an eye on colds and flu.
   2. Some may be rare occurrences and of fixed duration such as maternity, which you may decide not to manage as absences, but include reference to it anyway
   3. For us, we found that our training schedule was out of control and whilst we want a well-trained workforce the number of man hours/days that were being lost was worrying
5. Work out how and why you are going to use this information:
   1. What benefit will you get from knowing this - eg: for us we decided to have trainers come to us for a day and do several people in one go instead of sending individual people out to courses
   2. Flowcharts are great for this as it clearly shows that if there's X absence you do Y, etc. - so something like maternity needs no action  in terms of AM, however duvet-itis suggests you follow the disciplinary procedure
6. Work out how you will implement it:
   1. This can be theoretical if its something that's either is not going to happen, or will be happening some time in the future
   2. Will you need employee consultations, discussions with board/directors, etc

This is just a rough outline, it's very difficult to do without having actual information to work from, but hopefully it will give you the stages to think about. Good luck!

Sorry Rasa, ignore my last post. I hadn't finished it and clicked 'post' accidentally, it then wouldn't let me edit it!

OK, what I was going to say was...

So the project could go something like this - obviously this is all hypothetical, you'll need to think how it's real for you.

1. Do you have an AM problem:
   1. how do you know this, where's the data coming from, how valuable/reliable is that data.
   2. If you don't have an AM prob you might want to work out a procedure in case you need it, this is just as valuable as working on something you need now.
2. Collect the data:
   1. use recognised methods such as Bradford
   2. look at national or industry standards data for absence, how do you compare
   3. consider all forms of absence, eg: training, sickness, maternity, etc
3. Analyse the data:
   1. show what your hot-spots are, eg: particular people/genres of sickness occurring regularly, excessive training etc
   2. take care not to jump to conclusions, eg: someone regularly having Monday's off sick may have Duvet-itis from being out on the town over the weekend, or they may be having dialysis or chemo treatment.
   3. Look at types of sickness, eg: backache, operation, vomiting, flu, etc - if you can't do this, then it's something that needs to be added to the project
4. Work out what absences you need to keep track of:
   1. Sickness is an obvious one, but this can be subdivided into areas that need a higher or lower level of intervention eg: if you're in a manual trade then you will want to keep an eye on all musculoskeletal problems, or high usage of computers suggests watching headache occurrences. Likewise, it may be that you do not need to keep such an eye on colds and flu.
   2. Some may be rare occurrences and of fixed duration such as maternity, which you may decide not to manage as absences, but include reference to it anyway
   3. For us, we found that our training schedule was out of control and whilst we want a well-trained workforce the number of man hours/days that were being lost was worrying
5. Work out how and why you are going to use this information:
   1. What benefit will you get from knowing this - eg: for us we decided to have trainers come to us for a day and do several people in one go instead of sending individual people out to courses
   2. Flowcharts are great for this as it clearly shows that if there's X absence you do Y, etc. - so something like maternity needs no action  in terms of AM, however duvet-itis suggests you follow the disciplinary procedure
6. Work out how you will implement it:
   1. This can be theoretical if its something that's either is not going to happen, or will be happening some time in the future
   2. Will you need employee consultations, discussions with board/directors, etc

This is just a rough outline, it's very difficult to do without having actual information to work from, but hopefully it will give you the stages to think about. Good luck!