Workbase Scotland News

Latest News on EU Information and Consultation Project

Administrator — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 16:52:43 +0000

Workbase Scotland with the support of the GMB and MSZOSZ (the largest trade union confederation in Hungary) organised and promoted their transnational project launch on the 12^th February 2007 in Budapest. The focus of the launch was good practice in the implementation of the European Information and Consultation Directive. This launch event was attended by 55 delegates and included company representatives, employee representatives, trade union representatives, national trade union officials and experts from both academia and public policy bodies.

At the launch, the President of MSZOSZ Péter Pataky and Harry Donaldson, Regional Secretary of GMB made formal presentations in relation to good practice in informing, consulting and engaging with employees. Case study presentations were also made by the project beneficiary companies, Scottish Water and Diageo on their current practice in relation to informing and consulting with employees.

A joint working seminar was held in Budapest on 14^th February 2007, the purpose of which was to identify the tailored support to be delivered to the key beneficiary organisations in Hungary Dreher Beer and Capital Waterworks under the Project.

Workbase are now progressing the project working with the Scottish and Hungarian beneficiary companies to assist them in effectively ensuring that the implementation of the Directive has direct business benefits to their companies.

Successful Launch of Transnational Partnership Project.

Administrator — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 11:03:29 +0000

On the 12th of February 2007 Workbase Scotland travelled to Budapest for the launch of their transnational partnership project which aims to promote the positive benefits, for employees’ trade unions and businesses, of implementing the new EU Information and Consultation Directive.

Working with the GMB, and federation of Trade Unions in Hungary, the launch focussed on good practice. Representatives for both Scottish Water and Diageo Scotland outlined their experiences of working in partnership with their employees, and acted as positive case studies on informing and consulting with employees. Over 60 Trade Unions, Academics, Government bodies and Private Sector companies attended the launch conference and took part in the learning exchange.

Harry Donaldson, Regional Secretary of the GMB, said “this project is an exciting opportunity for the trade unions to work in partnership with employers to improve communications which ultimately can lead to improvements in competitiveness across the sectors”.

The project will support employees, trade unions and employers to improve their systems of communicating and consulting across the business with the aim of developing improved working environments, the effective engagement of people and will lead to high performance workplaces.

Launch of Transnational Partnership Project

Administrator — Thu, 08 Feb 2007 11:09:11 +0000

On the 12^th of February 2007 Workbase Scotland will launch their transnational partnership project demonstrating Scotland’s commitment to the implementation of the new EU Information and Consultation Directive. Taking place in Budapest, the event, hosted by the GMB Union and The Hungarian Federation of Trade Unions, MSZOSZ, will be attended by Trade Unions, Private Sector companies and employees. All are interested in exploring how this new Directive can be used to ensure more effective communication between employers and employees in business. Representatives from Diageo and Scottish Water will highlight how they are working in partnership to ensure they are consulting and informing with their employees.

Information and Consultation Directive

Administrator — Fri, 08 Dec 2006 14:43:18 +0000

Workbase Scotland has won funding from the European Commission to develop an exciting new transnational project which will demonstrate Scotland’s commitment to the implementation of the new EU Information and Consultation Directive. This piece of legislation can be used as a positive business tool, there is a proven link between effective communication and consulting systems and improving efficiency and performance. We wish to encourage corporate social responsibility which we believe relies on effective consultation and information sharing between employees, trade unions and employers and this project affords us an opportunity to support this work.

The project will allow Scotland to be represented as an exemplar of good practice in building social capital within companies, increasing efficiencies and heightening our profile across Europe. This partnership project will be delivered in conjunction with the GMB Union and MSZOSZ the largest trade union confederation in Hungary. The project is actively supported by the Scotch Whisky Association, Scottish Water, the European Federation of Public Service Unions and the European Federation of Food, Agriculture and Tourism Trade Unions.

New Research highlights the importance of building ’social capital’.

Administrator — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 10:41:47 +0000

Workbase Scotland has completed a piece of research evaluating the impact of the services we delivered to ten companies across the Whisky Industry. We wanted to identify the contribution our input had on growing social capital within the companies involved.

In Scotland the term “social capital” is increasingly used by policymakers and politicians but what does the term mean? Social Capital may be defined as - the networks, norms and relationships that help communities and organisations work more effectively to pursue shared objectives.

Why Social Capital is Important
There is evidence that growing social capital is important as it has potentially beneficial economic and social effects and is important for economic and business performance. The relationships, norms and networks that make up social capital could be expected to contribute to the efficient functioning of markets in a number of ways. Within firms, networks and co-operative norms may facilitate team-working; reduce or eliminate problems between employer and employee; and improve the flow of information including, crucially, tacit knowledge. This will enhance efficiency, promote innovation and improve productivity.

The Case Study
The research focused on the Whisky Industry Partnership Project which Workbase Scotland were commissioned to deliver in 2004. The project had the objective of raising the sector’s competitive performance in the global economy. The companies aimed to achieve this through increasing employee involvement and participation in their businesses. It was felt that employee involvement could be best secured through training the workforce in the areas of leadership, communications and business awareness skills.

Research Findings

Link to Executive Summary

Link to Full Report

Workbase Showcase Event - 23rd October

Administrator — Fri, 03 Nov 2006 15:30:13 +0000

Workbase Scotland held a showcase event on Monday 23rd October. The event was hosted by the Edrington Group and was attended by representatives from the Scottish Executive, trade unions, sector skills councils, businesses and public sector bodies. The press release is available here.

The main focus of the event was to demonstrate a model of partnership working to deliver workplace development, which Workbase Scotland piloted with ten Scotch Whisky companies, GMB Scotland and DTI. Although this project is by no means the only type of work that Workbase carry out, it was a good example of our unique method of partnership working. The event lasted for 90 minutes and featured presentations from Harry Donaldson, Regional Secretary, GMB; Tommy Hanna, Blends Assistant, Morrison Bowmore; and Roseann Connell, Manager, Edrington Group; among others. Tommy Hanna is one of more than 40 people who successfully completed the Employability Programme and went on to gain level 2 accreditation from the Institute of Leadership and Management. His presentation was very well received. Roseann Connell is a Senior Manager who put a number of her line management through the Leadership Programme and her presentation highlighted the benefits being experienced by the employer and the company.

After a brief question and answer session everyone was able to network while enjoying a buffet. Workbase Scotland offers their thanks to everyone who took part in the event and to all the attendees.

Go to the press release or scroll down to see pictures of the event.

2005-2006 Annual Report now available

Administrator — Wed, 01 Nov 2006 14:45:57 +0000

This year’s Annual Report covers the broad spectrum of work we carried out over 2005/06. It includes 4 new case studies from GMB, Strathclyde Police, The DTI Scotch Whisky Sector Partnership and Cosmo Ceramics Ltd. The report also gives a breakdown of the types of work carried out with over 40 organisations and nearly 1,000 of their employees.

The report is available in .pdf format only. To read this file you will require Adobe Acrobat Reader which is freely downloadable. With regard to Adobe Acrobat Reader, we cannot accept liability for any damage your system sustains due to software viruses or any other issues. You should carry out your own virus checks before installing any software. Please contact the software vendor (Adobe Systems Incorporated) for technical support in the event of any problems. Workbase Scotland claim no responsibility for the content of external sites, links are merely provided to enable you to access our website in full.

New Product Literature Now Available

Administrator — Mon, 22 Aug 2005 15:50:17 +0000

Now you can download more information on each of our Products from specific their pages by going to the Services Section and choosing the Product your interested in.

These handy new PDF files can be viewed online, emailed, or printed-off in either black and white or colour with no loss in quality. Alternatively, to save the files on to your computer right click Product Sheet link and go to Save Target As…

The new literature highlights the benefits of each Product not only to organisations, but also to their staff, giving you a flavour of just what it is we do and how important our interventions are in helping to shape and grow organisations from all sectors by developing vital ’soft-skills’.

The files are a linked at the bottom of each Product page and to view them you will require Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Disclaimer:

With regard to Adobe Acrobat Reader, we cannot accept liability for any damage your system sustains due to software viruses or any other issues. You should carry out your own virus checks before installing any software. Please contact the software vendor (Adobe Systems Incorporated) for technical support in the event of any problems.

2004/05 Annual Report now available

Administrator — Tue, 12 Jul 2005 15:34:04 +0000

This year’s Annual Report outlines our major achievements, gives a graphical breakdown of the work we do by programme and participant numbers, and introduces 2 new case studies; a follow up case study about Scottish Water’s Business Unit Councils and new one on our change programme with GMB Scotland. As always we welcome any feedback about the Annual Report via web@go2workbasescotland.com.

WorkBase Innovate on the Net

Administrator — Wed, 01 Jun 2005 17:17:06 +0000

Workbase Scotland is proud to announce the launch of its new and highly accessible website. The website (built by Alex Capes) was designed with accessibility in mind as a key objective.

The new website aims to bring Workbase Scotland to life online with some of the most cutting edge technologies available.

News about us will be available not only via the news section but also using a very exciting RSS feed which gathers the news direct from our site to your computer alerting you with visual and audio alerts (more information on RSS).

The website gives us a portal with which we can showcase our new products and services range, providing testament through our case studies and our past and present client lists, it speaks for itself…

From the website users can download our annual report, see our staff and our board of directors, contact our staff directly, join our electronic mailing list and for our staff it allows a portal by which they can all access their email anywhere, any time.

The website will be updated regularly with news, case studies, and product additions. We have exciting plans for the coming year to make this website an even more invaluable tool for industry, so watch this space.