What does Synergy mean to us and therefore you?

“The interaction of two or more parts to produce a combined result which is greater than the sum of the individual parts”

“A successful partnership of employment law and training”

The synergy of legal advice and practical help
Our clients need practical, as well as accurate, legal guidance.

We recognise that our clients do not just want to be told the law. They are looking for a more rounded commercial approach. A regular complaint we hear from our clients about other employment lawyers is that they quote the law and then sit on the fence, leaving it up to the client to take the decision without sufficient guidance. However, we pride ourselves on being part of the decision-making process. Through taking time to get to know your organisation and its culture we hope to be able to work with you to find workable commercial solutions.

The synergy of employer and employee
We understand that education and awareness are best approached through a partnership of employer and employee working and learning together.

Our clients recognise that their workforce is their most valuable asset and spend significant sums of money in recruiting and training them in their areas of expertise. However, we often find that comparatively little is invested in equipping managers with the necessary tools to manage their teams as well as their own careers and aspirations. Ensuring that the best employees are retained is perhaps even more important than the recruitment process especially in light of the time, effort and expense invested in such individuals.

Education is not about empowering the employee to become aware of what his or her rights are. It is about actively creating an environment of trust and co-operation where employees feel respected and valued, and where there is a transparency of process enabling employees to know what objectives they need to meet in order to progress within the organisation. We can help you to develop strategies and processes not only to protect your organisation from claims but equally importantly, to incentivise your workforce.

The synergy of legal advice and interactive training
We combine advice with training, enabling employers to implement the law, minimise risk and anticipate problems themselves.

We know from experience that combining the provision of legal advice with dynamic employment law workshops and seminars, yields positive results.

More often than not, an employment lawyer will only be consulted once a problem has arisen. Whilst even at this late stage the risk of a successful claim against a company can be minimised with proper advice and guidance, this nevertheless results in the company and its management having to incur significant time and expense. By placing a greater emphasis on training and development for those with managerial responsibilities, the risk of claims arising at all will be significantly reduced. This will save management time and money.

We have also developed a highly successful partnership with a drama-based learning company that provides unique interactive training seminars and workshops. The company was established in 1992 and has considerable corporate experience. Using a full-time and freelance team of actors, directors, writers and facilitators, a highly engaging and effective method of training has been developed. Based on careful research, work-related scenarios coupled with legal analysis and discussions, delegates, whilst not having to get involved personally in the role-playing, nevertheless provide comment and debate best practice on the aspects encompassed by the scenarios. The balance between the legal perspective and the engagement of the drama makes for a very dynamic and focused approach. This invaluable method of training individuals to manage themselves and those who report to them not only minimises claims but also leads to a more incentivised and content workforce. This approach has proved to be extremely successful in a number of international financial institutions.

Making workforce diversity work for you
We combine advice with training, enabling employers to implement the law, minimise risk and anticipate problems themselves.

It is inevitable that with the expansion of the European Union and the ease with which individuals and organisations are moving around the globe, workforces are becoming more diverse. Clearly this is to be welcomed as it means that companies can select the very best people from a much wider pool of talent. By utilising the skills and unique abilities of individuals from different backgrounds, a company can set itself apart from its competitors, nurture new ideas and gain access to wider markets.

However, with this comes challenges that we can help you with. First, you need to work with and train your workforce to embrace diversity and teach them to recognise the need to respect all cultures and differences. This can be done by increasing their knowledge base around these issues and through training.  In addition you need to be able to understand and stay on the right side of anti-discrimination legislation. We provide training and guidance on legislation aimed at preventing discrimination in the areas of sex, race, disability, sexual orientation and religion, as well as the laws surrounding part-time, fixed-term and full-time employment, as well as the new laws on age discrimination which come into force in 2006.

With Synergy Employment Law, you can better understand your legal obligations and retain a diverse, motivated and productive workforce.