HR runs on conversations that have to be survivable when they are repeated back to you months later. A grievance outcome, a probation decision, an investigation interview — the words are the work, and getting the tone wrong costs more than getting the grammar wrong.
By the end you can —
- Deliver a grievance outcome the employee will not accept, and hold that finding through three rounds of challenge
- Run a probation review that stands up when it is read back in a tribunal
- Say no to a pay request without closing the conversation down
- Chair an investigation meeting where two accounts contradict each other
What the course covers
- Recruitment & SelectionCore
- Employee RelationsCore
- Performance ManagementCore
- Compensation & BenefitsExtended
- Learning & DevelopmentExtended
- Compliance & LegalSpecialist
- Personnel AdministrationSpecialist
Core areas are in every format. Extended and specialist areas unlock at 16 and 26 lessons.
Sample vocabulary
From Recruitment & Selection — 420 terms in the full course
Person specification
to draw up / meet a person specification
The person specification lists CIPD Level 5 as essential.
Essential criteria
essential / desirable criteria; to meet the essential criteria
Only two applicants met all the essential criteria.
Desirable criteria
desirable criteria; listed as desirable
Workday experience is desirable, not essential.
Job description
to write / update a job description
The job description hadn't been updated since 2019.
Key responsibilities
key responsibilities; to set out the key responsibilities
Lead complex ER cases is the first of the key responsibilities.
Job title
an accurate / inflated job title
The job title says Coordinator but the role is a Specialist.
Translations shown once a native speaker has signed them off.
From Lesson 7 — Grievance Procedures
Employee Relations
The lesson objective, as written — learner can deliver a grievance outcome the employee will not accept, and hold that finding through repeated challenge — restating the same position in different words without conceding it and without hardening into bluntness.
- 01
The finding, three times
- Following investigation, your grievance has not been upheld.
- I understand you don't accept that, and the outcome stands.
- I'm not able to reopen the finding — but I can explain how the appeal works.
Same position. Different words. No escalation.
- 02
What blunt costs you
- "I've already told you. The decision is final."
True, and now the argument is about you rather than about the finding.
- 03
Task: the outcome meeting
20 minutes. No preparation. Roles are assigned now. The finding does not change. The employee still has to be manageable on Monday.
- 04
Field Task 7
Part A · Desk — 20 min. In the booklet. Part B · Live — 10 min at work. Use it for real this week. Reviewed at the start of Lesson 8. Part A is not collected.
Four consecutive slides from one lesson, exactly as they are projected in the room. There are twenty-six lessons like this.
Available as12 · 16 · 26 lessons
Start here
Book the placement. Decide afterwards.
Twenty minutes on the phone or across a table. You will leave it knowing exactly where your English gives way — and that is worth having whether or not you enrol with us.