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GROW Training January 2022 Newsletter

GROW Training January 2022 Newsletter

GROW Training January 2022 Newsletter

Welcome to Grow Trainings Monthly Newsletter

Another year on, a new variant, high numbers with covid, it feels we are in the same situation as this time last year with covid but are we really? In GROW Training we are in a much better situation, we all play a vital role, it still lies in our hands, continue with hand washing, wearing of masks and social distancing is helping to restrict the spread of infections. It’s our Time to step up, hold Firm and we can beat this, Training is the key in keeping your staff and customers safe while moving the business forward.

When it comes to training or learning there’s always something new to learn, with many reasons why people choose to learn a new skill. Whether you’re picking up a hobby or starting a new career, fresh knowledge and skills will be acquired. And eagerly embrace the challenge because lifelong learning has a lot of benefits. Investing in your learning and self-development will not only help you stay ahead of the curve but maintain your relevance and to ensure your future career success.

We continue to work with you to ensure a safe and compliant return or in most cases continued work for you and your staff. As always, we are committed to providing you with excellent service and if you need any help, support or refresher courses contact us on info@growtraining or  give us a call on 0834014242 for more details From the Team here at GROW Training.  We are looking forward to a good safe and health year and wishing you all a happy, healthy and prosperous 2022.

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FEATURED COURSE – Your Personal Development

New Monthly promotion – Course price €25.00 – Discount Code #Janfb

Course Description – A key part of your progression within the adult social care sector will be focused on your personal development. In a number of sectors it is even a legal requirement to continue to develop your skills and knowledge and it is essential to ensure you are working to the most up to date standards and guidance. This course will start by looking at the way standards are set, monitored and regulated for social care organisations and workers. It then goes on to cover the codes of practice and legislation, reflecting on your work to ensure continued improvement, communication, feedback and much more.

Advantages – As this course covers a wide range of social care sector the course provides a strong basis to further build on with more training. Online training is flexible, efficient and cost effective meaning the candidate can progress through the modules at their own pace and in their own time, so they can fit the training in around their work and personal life

Target Audience – This course is aimed at anyone looking to focus on your Personal Development and looking for career progression.

Further Progression –  Courses that would complement this one would be Duty of Care, Autism Awareness, Dementia Awareness, Diabetes Awareness can all be found in our health and social care section on our website www.growtraining.ie

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Monthly Support Courses:

Developing A Workplace Mental Health Policy

Equality, Diversity and Discrimination

Check out all our course on Health and Social Care HERE

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WHAT OUR GROW TRAINING CUSTOMERS HAVE TO SAY!

Very good explanations. In a very friendly atmosphere. Thank you! Katya

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Events and Campaigns 2021

(1st -31st ) Get Ireland Active       (17th-22nd) European Cervical Cancer Prevention

(2nd -17th) First Fortnight Mental Health Art & Culture Festival    (27th) Holocaust Memorial Day

(Jan/feb) KeepWell Campaign Healthy Ireland

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GROW Training Contact Information:

Phone: 0834014242 Email: info@growtraining.ie Website: growtraining.ie

 

GROW Training Newsletter July 2021

Welcome to the Grow Training Newsletter.  We are now in the Recovery phase and as July brings confirmation that 5,823,806 doses of vaccine have been administered to the adult population. 72% are now fully vaccinated, we can breathe a large sigh of relief.

The government continues a cautious approach with the next phase of reopening due to the Delta wave. Leaving many people frustrated and annoyed but we need to #HoldFirm through this phase. We are a very resilient nation, so GROW Training continue to emphasize wearing PPE, social distancing and training.  This is the key in keeping your staff and customers safe while moving the business forward.

Newsletter Featured Course

Our featured course this month is Cyber Security, after the recent cyber-attack on the HSE computer systems – by far the largest, most disruptive example in a long line of hacker strikes on Irish business in the recent past. Cyber-security is a challenge for businesses at every level and when they happen, they happen quickly. A cyber-attack can maliciously disable computers, steal data, or use a breached computer as a launch point for other attacks. For most victims of a cyber-attack, it can take somewhere between the two to four week or in unusual cases, it can take months to recover, loosing data even closing businesses.  To check out the course Click HERE

Password SecurityGROW Training Password Security

Are we adequately prepared for the Hacker? 11% of the world’s population still use 1234 as their password! Changing your passwords regularly on all devices is something you can schedule.

• You should avoid using common words and character combinations in your password. Be aware that phrases like “mypassword”, simple digit combinations like “1234”, predictable character sequences like “qwerty”, Birthdays, Pets names ect – are terrible password choices.
• Opt for longer passwords – make sure to use at least eight characters. If your password includes three random words, a few digits, and a few symbols – that’s a perfect combination.
• Don’t use the same password across different accounts and platforms. If you find it challenging to remember lots of different passwords, use a password manager. This is one of the most basic security measures you can put in place yourself to protect your personal and business data from cyber-attacks.

Email SecurityGROW Training Email Security

Knowing what to look for when you receive a malicious email (known as phishing) The Covid-19 outbreak has led to a significant rise in phishing email scams. In the first month of the coronavirus lockdown, the number of phishing emails sent globally increased by 667%.  So you should be careful about clicking on attachments or links in any email that looks suspicious…. unlike this Newsletter!

Here is how you can detect phishing email:
• Don’t trust emails sent from a public email domain like @gmail.com and @yahoo.com. Remember that every legitimate organization has its own email domain and company accounts. For example, legitimate emails from LinkedIn include “@linkedin.com”.
• Check whether the domain name is spelled correctly.
• Spot grammatical and spelling errors in the text. As a rule, phishing emails are poorly written.
• Don’t open attached files you didn’t expect to receive. If you have received an email with an attached PDF file that claims to be an invoice from a person you are not familiar with, don’t click on it.
• Don’t trust messages that create a sense of urgency. Scammers tend to use this psychological trick to make people click malicious links.
• Use secure email providers for data and communication protection.

These are just two things we can do to help protect our business and personal information. Read more about password security from Cybernews HERE 

 

Remote Working Safety

Here’s a few basic tips for remote workers that can go a long way in enhancing the overall security posture of your organisation.
• Choose Strong Passwords. Passwords provide the first line of defence against unauthorized access to your devices and personal information.
• Install Updates. … to ignore those little pop-up windows that tell you that software updates are available for your device. Once you get such a notification, be sure to install the latest software as soon as possible. Timely software updates (including antivirus updates) help patch security flaws and safeguard the computer system.
• Keep your devices separate – So if your employees use a device provided by the business, make sure that they use it only for work. Encourage them not to use it to watch their favourite TV shows or buy tickets for vacations.   These things must be done on personal devices. Vice versa is true too. Don’t use your personal tablet or PC for work because it lacks proper security.

By following this simple rule, you will minimize cybersecurity risks and prevent sensitive business data as well as your personal data from being stolen.  Hope you found this Newsletter helpful.

Call Deborah for more details from this Newsletter and on how we can help to protect your Business.

We continue to work with you to ensure you and your Team are safe and compliant. As always, we are committed to providing you with excellent service and if you need any help, support or refresher courses contact info@growtraining or 0834014242.  Check out our Business courses HERE

GROW Training Survey results

Workplace Survey Results

GROW Training Survey resultsRecently we surveyed our customers to see how happy they were working from home and how their workplace was set up for them to carry out their work each day. We also asked what challenges they were facing. The results were not surprising and more or less the same problems we face ourselves!
Several people reported that their actual workspace was not suitable, with the main problem being incorrect desk, chair and computer screen. We have a service where we can carry out an assessment of the facilities and report back to you with our recommendations. This has proved very popular as we all know – Working from home is here to stay!

First lets look at why we conducted the survey –

At GROW Training, we help our clients establish a risk-free working environment. We asked a range of clients and people working from how a few simple questions to find out what their workspace is like and to see does it meet requirements as set out in
• Visual Display Unit (VDU) or Display Screen Assessments (DSE) Assessments are required under the 2007 General Application Regulations. Read more HERE
• VDU / DSE Assessments must be undertaken on all computer workstations where an employee will spend longer than 1 continuous hour per day on average or are basically habitual users of VDU / DSE equipment.

GROW Training provides a VDU / DSE Assessment service to assess the ergonomic suitability of the workstation, work equipment and surrounding environment and its compliance with the 2007 General Application Regulations. The VDU / DSE User should be put first as every person is different and different adjustments may be required at each workstation due to the comfort and preferences of each user.

Here are the results of our workplace questionnaire –

Question 1 – Have you had a Workplace review of your workstation at home?

GrowTraining survey results Q1

 

A Workstation review is recommended by HSA but it was upsetting to learn that 85.7% of respondents have not had any review. This concerned us and the results of this were shown in the fact that so many people are having problems with the Chair and Desk they are working from every day.

 

Question 2 – How happy are you with your Home Workplace?

GrowTraining survey results Q2
The majority of people are happy working from home with 57% Very happy with the current arrangement and less that 20% unhappy with the arrangement.

 

 

Question 3 – How do you rate the workspace when using the following –

Room                    Majority are happy with the room they work from 95%
Screen                   Majority are very happy with screen and just 5% unhappy
Keyboard              75% of people are very happy with their keyboard
Chair                     The replies were spread quite equally, 40% said Ok but needs improving
Desk                      Replies are spread with the majority Very happy but 50% needs improving
Lighting                Majority happy with Lighting.

Question 4 – What improvements are needed in your workspace?

GrowTraining survey results Q4The most common comment was about the Desk with 25% of respondents commenting on this item, many are working from desks that are too small. The Chair was the next item with 20% of people having issues with the chair they are sitting on. People are using kitchen chairs or stools which are not ergonomically correct. Lighting, screen size and the size of the actual room they are working in was an issue for 10% of people. 35% of people were happy with their environment.

Question 5 – Would you rather be back in your company’s office?

GrowTraining survey results Q5

It is very clear that the majority of people would like to continue to work from home with 62% stating that they would like to continue with the current arrangement.
•14.3% – Yes, Totally
•23.8% – I’m not sure,
•61.9% – No, I really like working from home

 

Question 6 – What is the Best or Worst thing about working from home?

GrowTraining survey results Q6

– The Best things included
•Flexibility.
•No Commute some saving 3-4 hours a day.
•Peace and quite and lack of distraction in the workplace.
•Convince
•The ability to do day to day tasks during 9-5

 

GrowTraining survey results Q6B– The Worst things included
• Isolation (45%)
• Lack of human interaction (45%)
• Work day bleeding into personal time
• No switching off
• Kids difficult and a distraction

 

Huge Thank You to everyone who responded to our survey. Your answers have helped us so much. We hope you found the results interesting. If you would like us to provide an Assessment of your Teams workspace please contact Deborah at info@growtraining.ie

Check out al our courses on growtraining.ie