Cooper Grace Ward’s workplace relations and safety team offer practical guidance to employers in managing complex workplace issues. Participants in our workplace relations training and workplace health and safety training programs will gain useful knowledge about the relevant legal risks, rights and responsibilities of employers. Importantly, they will also benefit from insights into how best to manage legal and employment issues from a practical perspective.

Cooper Grace Ward’s programs will benefit in-house lawyers, managers and HR professionals. We also develop tailored programs on demand, to suit your specific business needs.

Our workplace relations and safety team runs half day, full day and multi day programs on the topics below, starting at $495 per person including GST.

In addition, we run Mental Health First Aid training programs, tailored to suit the differing needs of employers. This includes sessions customised for boards, senior management teams, HR teams, in-house legal teams and others in your organisation.

To see a complete line-up of our workplace relations and safety seminars and events, please visit our events page. To register your interest in a tailored program, please contact us at events@cgw.com.au.

Performance management – tips and traps

  • Making the right recruitment decisions
  • Taking positive steps to manage employees’ performance
  • How to correct poor performance
  • Legal risks and how to minimise them.


Managing ill and injured employees

  • The options for managing ill and injured employees during employment
  • Obtaining and using information about an employee’s medical condition
  • When to make a decision about terminating employment
  • Legal risks and how to minimise them.


Mental Health First Aid Training

  • How to recognise signs and symptoms of mental health problems and crises in employees and co-workers
  • The risk factors and appropriate evidence-based treatments and supports
  • How to respond and offer appropriate support to employees, co-workers, family and friends using the Mental Health First Aid Action Plan.


The importance of workplace investigations and how to get them right

  • Understanding when an investigation should be undertaken and the options for employers
  • Learning best practice when conducting a workplace investigation
  • The legal issues associated with workplace investigations and how to avoid or minimise them
  • How to prepare an investigation report to withstand legal scrutiny.


Compliance and management of workplace health and safety in Queensland businesses

  • Understanding employers’ workplace health and safety obligations
  • Duties of officers, workers and other persons
  • Consultation and representation rights and requirements
  • Consequences of unsafe work
  • Understanding investigations and prosecutions.


Employment law essentials – compliance for employers

  • Complying with the national employment standards
  • Understanding modern awards
  • Essential terms in contracts of employment
  • Understanding the need for policies and procedures
  • Understanding employers’ obligations with respect to employee records and payslips.


The ‘how to’ of HR policies: drafting, implementation and enforcing compliance

  • the fundamentals of HR compliance
  • the pitfalls in policy content and how to remedy them
  • acceptable boundaries for managing employee conduct and behaviour through policies
  • the implementation of new and amended policies
  • reliance on policies for disciplinary and termination decisions.