Emotional intelligence training online in the UK: where to train and what employers look for

What employers look for in an online emotional intelligence certificate

Emotional intelligence training is a choice your employer makes, often as part of leadership development or support for staff in high pressure roles, and no law requires it. It does connect to duties employers already have: the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 requires them to protect employees' health, including mental health, so far as is reasonably practicable, and HSE's Management Standards for work-related stress include relationships and support among the six areas to manage. When an employer checks a certificate, they usually look for:

• Practical content linked to recognised guidance. Self-awareness, managing reactions, empathy and relationships at work, linked to the HSE Management Standards and Acas guidance on communication at work.
• A clear, verifiable record. The course name, hours of learning and completion date, with a way to confirm the certificate.
• Skills people can use at work. Naming emotions and spotting triggers, pausing before reacting, reading tone and body language, giving and receiving feedback, handling disagreement and supporting a colleague who is struggling.
• A refresh date. Emotional intelligence is a set of habits that fade without attention, so a refresh date matters, especially if you move into a role that involves leading people or handling complaints.

Lift College's certificate does each of these. It records Emotional Intelligence Training, 2 hours of learning, your completion date and a recommended refresh date 3 years on, with a unique certificate number and a verification link. It is a CPD course, not counselling, therapy, mental health first aid or a psychometric test, and it does not give you an emotional intelligence score.

What the Lift College course covers

There are 5 short modules, each with a knowledge check, then a final test with an 80% pass mark and unlimited free retakes.

1. What emotional intelligence is. The main elements: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness and relationship management. How emotions affect decisions, behaviour and performance, and why emotional intelligence can be learned.
2. Self-awareness. Naming emotions accurately, noticing the physical signs of stress, anger or anxiety, and identifying your triggers. Values, strengths and blind spots, and asking for feedback on how you come across.
3. Managing your reactions. The gap between feeling and acting. Pausing, breathing and reframing. Staying calm with criticism, setbacks and rude behaviour. Habits that build resilience and what to do after you get it wrong.
4. Empathy and reading others. Tone, body language, mood and what is not being said. Perspective taking, listening without fixing, empathy versus sympathy, and avoiding assumptions about people from different backgrounds or with different communication styles.
5. Emotional intelligence at work. Giving and receiving feedback, handling disagreement, motivating a team and supporting a colleague who is struggling. The HSE Management Standards on relationships and support, your employer's wellbeing resources, and a personal plan to keep improving.

By the end you can explain what emotional intelligence is and why it matters for working with others, identify your own triggers and the signs that you are reacting, use simple techniques to pause and choose a response under pressure, recognise emotions in other people and check rather than assume, apply emotional intelligence to feedback and difficult conversations, recognise when a colleague is under stress and know where to point them, and plan how you will keep developing.

The law and guidance it is written around

• Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, section 2 (England, Wales and Scotland). Requires employers to protect the health, including the mental health, of employees so far as is reasonably practicable, and to provide the information, instruction, training and supervision needed to do that. Northern Ireland has the same duty in the Health and Safety at Work (Northern Ireland) Order 1978.
• HSE Management Standards for work-related stress (Great Britain, guidance). Guidance, not law, on how employers meet their duty to assess and control the risk of work-related stress. It covers six areas: demands, control, support, relationships, role and change. The relationships and support standards expect positive behaviour, no bullying and managers who notice and respond when someone is struggling, which is where emotional intelligence comes in.
• Acas guidance on communication at work (England, Scotland and Wales, guidance). Free advice for employers and employees on workplace relations, including managing conflict, giving feedback and supporting mental health at work. It is not law but is treated as the standard of good practice. In Northern Ireland the Labour Relations Agency does this job.

None of these requires emotional intelligence training. They set out the employer's duty to look after health at work, including work-related stress, and the good practice on relationships, support and conflict that the course draws on.

How Lift College compares with other UK providers

Details below are as each provider shows them on its own course page, checked 27 October 2026. "Check provider" means the page did not state it.

With Lift College the £19.99 is the full price for one learner, with nothing added at checkout, and the refresher is free when your recommended refresh date arrives. Retakes of the final test are free and unlimited.

Who it suits

Emotional Intelligence Training is for team leaders, front-line staff, new starters, apprentices, people returning to work and anyone preparing for a management course in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. It is for you if:

• you lead a team, or are about to, and want to handle people and pressure better
• you work with customers, patients, residents or the public and need to stay calm when they are not
• you are a new starter, an apprentice or returning to work and want to settle into a team well
• you are preparing for a management course and want the people skills in place first
• you have been told you react too quickly, or you want to understand why some conversations go wrong

If you deal with angry or upset people, see our conflict resolution training guide, and for supporting colleagues under pressure, our mental health awareness training guide. See every course on the workplace skills courses page or browse all Lift College CPD courses. Buying for a team? Open a free organisation account: every course is £16.99, and you can pay by card or invoice with your PO.

Enrol on Emotional Intelligence Training for £19.99 and start module 1 the minute you pay. Ask within 14 days of paying and we refund you in full.