Advanced Employee Relations Training for Experienced Managers and HR Teams
The confidence to handle your most complex employee relations cases, grounded in employment law and a deep neurodiversity specialism
Great session got me thinking on a different level when managing absence. Great, well timed and well presented.
By the time a case is labelled ‘complex’, the easy answers have run out. Long-term absence with no clear cause. A performance problem that might be a disability. A grievance that arrived written by ChatGPT. These are the situations that keep experienced managers and HR professionals awake and they are exactly what this advanced employee relations training is built around.
Most training treats neurodiversity, mental health and menopause as ‘special cases’ to handle carefully. We take a different view. These are the cases that teach you to manage everyone well. When you learn to genuinely support a neurodivergent employee you build the communication, structure and judgement that make you better with your whole team. Clear expectations help an employee with ADHD and every other person who has ever been left guessing by vague feedback.
This is not training that tells managers to walk on eggshells. Reasonable adjustments are about removing the barriers that stop a neurodivergent employee doing their best work. They are not about lowering the bar. This course gives you the confidence to set fair expectations, recognise when someone is genuinely struggling and have the conversations that matter, including the hard ones.
Why train in employee relations through a neurodiversity lens?
What most organisations miss is that neurodiversity is not a niche issue you occasionally bump into. It is the foundation of excellent people management.
- 1 in 7 people are neurodivergent. This is not a ‘special case’, it is your workforce
- The adjustments that support neurodivergent employees benefit everyone: clear communication, structured feedback, flexible working
- Understanding the Equality Act through disability gives you a robust framework for every protected characteristic
- Managers who can confidently support neurodivergent employees report feeling more confident in all complex employee situations
This is advanced training. It is designed for HR professionals and experienced people managers or those who have already completed Managing Performance and Managing Absence training with us or elsewhere. We go deep into nuanced cases like neurodiversity, mental health and menopause, so you can handle sensitive situations with both empathy and expertise. With the Employment Rights Act 2025 raising the bar on how performance, absence and grievances are handled, getting these cases right matters more than ever.
Course Overview
This is advanced employee relations training for managers and HR professionals who already know the basics and now face the cases that are not straightforward. We work through managing performance, absence and discipline through a neurodiversity lens, focusing on real situations involving ADHD, autism, dyslexia, dyspraxia, mental health conditions, menopause and the employees who never put their hand up to ask for help.
The aim is simple. Less stress for you when a complex case lands and better outcomes for the employee. We have delivered this training to teams including Simply Business.
Here’s what sets this course apart:
- Neurodiversity as the foundation, not a footnote: the skills that help you manage a neurodivergent employee well are the skills that make you better with everyone
- Real case studies, not theory: you practise handling the kind of scenarios that genuinely keep managers up at night
- Law and people together: the legal framework and the human judgement in the same room, not taught as two separate things
- Delivered personally by Jenefer: every session is led by our founder, a Chartered CIPD practitioner with 20 years in HR and a PGCert in Neurodiversity, who is neurodivergent herself. Training is never outsourced. We cap on-site sessions at around 30 a year, so it is worth booking early
What you’ll be able to do after this training
This is not a course you sit through. You will leave able to handle the cases that used to land on someone else’s desk. Here is what that looks like in practice.
Apply the law with confidence
- Decide whether a situation is a performance issue or a support need and respond to the right one
- Recognise when an employee meets the definition of disability under the Equality Act 2010 and know what that means for your next move
- Put reasonable adjustments in place that are genuinely reasonable, using both the social and medical models to judge what helps
Handle neurodiversity and complex cases well
- Support employees with ADHD, autism, dyslexia or dyspraxia without guesswork, knowing what actually helps
- Manage mental health situations, including anxiety and depression, with empathy and a clear process
- Respond well to menopause at work, an area many managers feel unequipped for
- Tell the difference between an adjustment that removes a barrier and a request that lowers the bar and hold that line fairly
Manage the situations that escalate
- Handle discipline and performance conversations where a neurodivergent condition may be a factor, without freezing or overcorrecting
- Read absence patterns for what they are telling you and respond proportionately
- Spot and handle grievances that have been written or altered with AI, which are increasingly common
- Know when a case is beyond in-house support and a Workplace Needs Assessment is the right next step
Look after yourself while you support others
- Support your team through difficult situations without carrying all of it home with you
Course Introduction
In this video Jenefer introduces the course and explains a little bit about how she approaches training delivery. Towards the end of the video we include a number of course reviews from those who have attended training sessions with Jenefer.
Combine training with a Workplace Needs Assessment
Many of our clients get the best results by pairing this training with our Workplace Needs Assessment service. The training builds the capability across your managers. The assessment handles the individual cases that need a professional, tailored look.
Here’s how it works:
- Training first: your managers learn the skills and the legal framework
- WNA for specific cases: when a complex case arises, we conduct a professional assessment
- Practical application: managers apply their training to implement the recommended adjustments
Why invest in advanced employee relations training?
This course gives your team the tools to handle difficult employee relations situations professionally and with compassion, so every employee is properly supported.
The business case
- More confident managers: your team handles complex cases without fear of getting it wrong or creating legal risk
- Better support for employees: people feel understood and supported, especially those facing challenges that are easy to get wrong
- Lower legal risk: a clear grasp of the Equality Act 2010 and how to apply reasonable adjustments keeps your process fair and defensible, which matters more under the Employment Rights Act 2025
- Stronger retention: employees who feel supported stay and perform
- Better conversations: when managers understand neurodiversity, performance discussions become more productive for everyone
What your managers will gain
- The confidence to have difficult conversations with empathy and clarity
- The judgement to spot when a performance issue may have an underlying cause
- The skill to put adjustments in place that benefit the whole team
- Practical frameworks for supporting employees through complex situations
- A clear understanding of their legal responsibilities under the Equality Act 2010
On-site Training
£2,250
- One Day - in-house, at your workplace
- Maximum of 14 delegates
- Interactive workshop
- Comprehensive workbook for each participant
- CPD certification for all attendees
- Plenty of opportunity to discuss your real life experiences and cases with our expert trainer
All prices are exclusive of VAT.
Prices are correct for courses delivered on your site in Essex, Kent, London and Suffolk. Courses can be delivered outside these areas, please call 01245 910500 for a quote.
Who is this course for?
This is advanced training. It assumes you already have a solid grounding in fair process and people management, whether from experience or from earlier training.
It is the right course for:
- Experienced managers who have completed Managing Performance and Managing Absence training, with us or elsewhere and are ready to handle more complex cases
- HR professionals who want to sharpen their practical case-handling with real-world examples and the nuance the basics do not cover
If your managers are new to people management or fair process, HR for non-HR Managers is the better place to start.
All our courses, whether live or recorded, are delivered by Jenefer Livings who has 20 years experience in HR, having designed and delivered training on the whole range of HR topics for organisations across industry sectors. As Jenefer also provides hands-on consultancy work with her clients she maintains an up to date knowledge and experience that shines through with engaging stories in her training.
With our in-person course we'll work through case studies and discuss real life examples to ensure your managers get learning relating to the types of cases they'll be dealing with.
Why Silk Helix?
Every Silk Helix session is delivered by me, Jenefer, in person. Not an associate, not a stand-in, not a recording. I keep on-site training to around 30 days a year so every group gets my full attention and the most current examples from the consultancy work I am doing that same week. Training is the one thing I will never outsource. When you book Silk Helix training, you get me.
My promise to you! There will be no role plays, no embarrassing icebreakers where you have to reveal information about yourself and no one is picked on to speak. In my experience these are the things people dread about training and I see the collective sigh of relief when I start the session with this promise.
I recognise that to get discussion going you need an inviting environment. For in-person training this means a room set up, which includes a supply of fidgets and sweets, usually this in itself creates instant discussion as people enter the room. This sets people at ease and creates an ice breaker of its own.
You get a little hint of my style on our YouTube channel. In-person training is like that just with lots of interaction interspersed.
Trusted by Leading Organisations
Frequently Asked Questions
If anyone attending our training sessions has a specific need we should be accommodating we ask that you tell us in advance so that we can plan the training accordingly. We will do our best to accommodate any need for whatever reason that need exists.
There are also some common ways we develop our training to take into account the wide variety of learning styles and needs. We know learning styles are not limited to visual, auditory, reading and writing, and kinesthetic. Learning is impacted by a whole variety of things, including underlying medical conditions (diagnosed and not), comfort/ safety in your environment and your past experiences of learning. Our training by design takes this into account, including:
- a welcoming environment for learners to enter
- stress balls or other fidget resources
- workbooks with place for personal notes if the learner wishes
- minimal need to read long pieces of text
- noone is called out or picked on (even to go first)
- no icebreakers that require you to reveal personal information (we do use activities but always related to the learning and with a specific goal)
- no role plays (we find for too many people the issues around acting get in the way of learning)
- regular breaks
- no lengthy period of lectures by the trainer - it’s about discussion of your real life cases or activities that make you think or develop skills
- Yes, we’ve worked with many clients where we’ve delivered multiple courses to allow everyone to attend. We don’t recommend more people in the session for many of the reasons listed above, our courses are designed to be interactive and a safe place to discuss real life situations. Once the groups get much bigger than 14 it starts to become difficult for everyone to participate in these discussions.
- Yes, we’re happy to adapt and design sessions to suit your needs. Book a FREE, no obligation, consultation to discuss your needs and get a quote for bespoke training.
Yes, our in-person training is provided at your venue. Some clients use meeting rooms in their buildings, others book venues. There are a couple of things to consider - we need space in the room to move around. We won’t get you running about but being able to move into smaller groups for discussion, sometimes brainstorming around a large piece of paper are examples of the activities that need space.
In addition, our trainer will need parking as training comes with a lot of kit, plus somewhere to plug a laptop in and either a screen or projector. We don’t use loads of slides (Jenefer isn’t a fan or either producing them or remembering to switch slides) but there are a few occasions where a diagramme or video for example help make the point.
- Our full day sessions are 6 hours, including 30 minutes for lunch and 2 coffee breaks. Our half day sessions are 3 hours with a coffee break. Exact times may vary slightly, training courses are interactive with plenty of opportunities for discussion built into the day, this can impact the end timing slightly.
Yes.
We are a registered provider with The CPD Certification Service- Every session is delivered in person by Jenefer Livings, our founder. Chartered CIPD, a Postgraduate Certificate in Neurodiversity, a qualified Workplace Needs Assessor, 20 years in HR and neurodivergent herself. Training is never outsourced to an associate.
- If you’re ready to go ahead then either book a consultation or email training@silkhelix.co.uk with your requirements and we’ll get dates booked in.