Tailored training
Practical HR and employment law skills built around your business and sector.
Confidence for the tricky conversations
Management training for the situations managers actually face
Equip your managers with the skills and confidence to handle people situations the right way. Great policies only work if the people responsible for implementing them actually know what to do. That's why PurpleTree offers exclusive, hands-on training designed specifically for managers, covering everything from the basics of HR and employment law through to handling day-to-day operational procedures with confidence.
Good policy is only half the job.
Management Training That Makes a Real Difference
Your policies, contracts and handbook only do their job when the managers applying them know what to do in the moment. A line manager who handles a return-to-work meeting badly, rushes a probation review, or mishandles a grievance can turn a routine situation into a WRC claim, and the cost lands on the business.
PurpleTree training gives your people leaders the knowledge and the confidence to act consistently, compliantly and fairly. It is built around your business and your sector, not a generic off-the-shelf programme. For the wider context, see our overview of the biggest HR challenges facing Irish SMEs.
Confident managers
Equip managers to handle absence, performance and people issues correctly.
Fewer costly mistakes
Cut the risk of well-meaning but untrained managers creating a WRC claim.
Consistent culture
Build one fair, consistent management approach across the whole organisation.
Handle the conversations most managers dread.
What We Cover
Our management training covers the practical skills your people leaders need every day, from understanding their legal obligations to handling the conversations most managers dread. We keep it grounded in Irish employment law and the WRC Code of Practice on grievance and disciplinary procedures, so what your managers learn is what an adjudicator would expect them to have done. Sessions draw on real situations from Irish workplaces, including how a fair disciplinary procedure should run and the representation rights an employee has at a hearing.
- Fundamentals of Irish employment law for managers
- Managing absence, return-to-work, and sick leave
- Performance management and difficult conversations
- Disciplinary and grievance procedures, what managers need to know
- Dignity at work and anti-bullying awareness
Good faith alone will not protect you.
Why Untrained Managers Are a Compliance Risk
Most WRC complaints do not start in the boardroom. They start with a manager who acted in good faith but got the process wrong. A return-to-work conversation handled clumsily, a performance issue left to drift, a grievance brushed aside, or a probation decision made without a fair review can each become a claim under Irish employment law, and the exposure sits with the business rather than the individual manager.
Poor day-to-day management is also one of the most common routes to a constructive dismissal claim, where an employee resigns and argues your conduct left them no real choice. Training your managers to recognise these moments and respond properly is one of the cheapest forms of risk control available to an Irish employer. Where a situation has already escalated, our disciplinary and grievance and workplace investigation services step in.
- Return-to-work and absence conversations handled without a clear, fair process
- Performance concerns left to drift until they are far harder to resolve
- Disciplinary action taken without following the WRC code of practice
- Probation reviews rushed or skipped, then challenged after the fact
- Grievances met informally when the situation called for a formal response
Everyday moments that each carry legal weight.
What We Train Your Managers to Handle
People management in Ireland is a series of everyday moments that each carry a legal dimension. We build your managers' confidence across the situations they meet most often, so they understand not just what to do but why the law expects it. Each area is grounded in Irish employment law and can be tailored to your sector and your existing policies.
Absence and return-to-work
Managing sick leave, statutory sick pay and return-to-work meetings fairly, with the records the WRC expects to see.
Performance management
Setting expectations, holding constructive conversations and addressing underperformance before it becomes a dispute.
Disciplinary and grievance
Applying the WRC Code of Practice so a fair process holds up if the decision is later challenged.
Probation reviews
Running structured probation reviews and making fair, defensible decisions before the period ends.
Dignity at work
Recognising bullying and harassment, responding properly, and protecting a respectful workplace culture.
Everyday employment law
The contracts, working time and statutory entitlements every manager should understand from day one.
Built around your sector and your challenges.
Tailored to Your Organisation
Every organisation is different, so we design sessions around your specific challenges, your industry context and the real situations your managers face. Whether you need a half-day workshop for a small team or a full programme rolled out across the business, we build something that fits.
We deliver on-site at your premises, virtually for teams spread across the country, or as a blend of the two, and we offer follow-up support and refresher sessions to keep the learning current as your people and the law change.
How your managers lead has a direct effect on retention and engagement, as our guide to how management style impacts employee engagement sets out.
- Customised content based on your business and industry
- Flexible delivery, on-site, virtual, or blended
- Suitable for new managers and experienced leaders alike
- Follow-up support and refresher sessions available
Reinforced by the systems your managers use daily.
Training as Part of Your Wider HR
Management training works best as part of a joined-up approach to HR, not a one-off event. For employers on an outsourced HR retainer, training sits alongside your contracts, policies and day-to-day advice, and your named consultant already knows your business when they deliver it.
The skills we teach are reinforced by the systems your managers use every day, including the HR:Duo platform for absence, records and digital contracts, and underpinned by the wider employment law support behind them. This is people-management training, distinct from our health and safety training, which covers a separate set of statutory obligations.
We are a Longford-based team serving Irish employers directly, grounded in Irish employment law rather than an adapted UK approach. We scope each programme to your team and format and agree the cost with you in advance, so you know what training costs before it begins. See how we price HR support.
- Part of your retainerFor outsourced HR clients, training sits within your existing support, delivered by the consultant who already knows your team.
- Reinforced by your systemsWhat managers learn is backed by the HR:Duo platform they use to run absence, records and contracts day to day.
- Irish law, not a UK templateEvery session reflects Irish employment law and WRC practice, delivered by a Longford-based team.
- Costed in advanceWe scope the programme to your team and format and agree the fee before we begin, with no open-ended billing.
Train your managers with confidence
Give your people leaders the skills to handle the conversations most managers dread, the right way. Tell us your team size and the situations you most want to cover, and we will scope a programme that fits. See how we price HR support, then talk it through with our team.
Free 5-minute HR Health Check
See where your business stands before the WRC does
Answer 40 straightforward questions on contracts, working time, pay, leave and policies, and get a clear read on where your compliance gaps sit and what to fix first.
Common questions from employers
We are a Longford-based HR consultancy and we deliver management training to employers across Ireland. Sessions can run on-site at your premises, virtually for teams spread across the country, or as a blend of the two, so location is rarely a barrier. The content is grounded in Irish employment law and WRC practice rather than an adapted UK approach.
Every programme is tailored. We build the content around your sector, your existing contracts and policies, and the real situations your managers face, rather than running a generic off-the-shelf course. A retail team, a manufacturing site and a professional services firm each get a session that reflects how people management actually works in their environment.
The core topics are the fundamentals of Irish employment law for managers, managing absence and return-to-work, performance management and difficult conversations, disciplinary and grievance procedures, and dignity at work and anti-bullying awareness. We weight the programme towards the situations your managers meet most often and can add modules specific to your sector.
It depends on the size of your team and how much ground you want to cover. We run anything from a half-day workshop for a small group through to a full programme rolled out across the business in stages. We scope the format with you first so the time commitment matches what your managers actually need, rather than padding it out.
Yes. New and recently promoted managers get the grounding they need to lead people fairly and legally from the start, while experienced leaders use it to refresh their knowledge and stay current as employment law changes. We pitch the content to the room so neither group is left behind or held back.
Policies, contracts and a handbook only do their job when the managers applying them know what to do in the moment. Most WRC complaints do not start with a flawed policy. They start with a line manager who acted in good faith but got the process wrong, on a return-to-work meeting, a probation review or a grievance. Training closes the gap between the policy on the shelf and what happens on the floor.
Yes. These are among the most requested and highest-risk areas, so we cover how to run a fair process in line with the WRC Code of Practice on grievance and disciplinary procedures, how to hold a difficult conversation without it escalating, and what an employee is entitled to at a hearing. Where a situation has already become contentious, our disciplinary and grievance and workplace investigation services can step in.
We scope each programme to your team size and format and agree the fee with you in advance, so you know the cost before training begins and there is no open-ended billing. Follow-up support and refresher sessions are available to keep the learning current. For employers on an outsourced HR retainer, training can form part of the agreed support. See how we price HR support.