Control in times of uncertainty: how can you combat change fatigue?

Organisations are under increasing pressure to be more agile, competitive and customer focused, and a key role of HR is to support them through the process of change. Although change is essential, there is evidence that around 70% of all organisational change initiatives fail. In many cases, failure is exacerbated by employees’ mistrust of changes […]
What makes the Japanese railways so efficient?

It was a Sunday night at a quiet and emptying train station, close to the end of shifts. I was met by a man in an immaculate uniform and as sharp-looking as he would have been at 9am on a Monday morning. He was taking the trouble of speaking with the occasional passengers as they […]
Can you disconnect from the workplace in 2017?

It’s the first part of the new year, a time of fresh promises to improve wellbeing – leave the office on time, spend more quality time with the family and not get so stressed. However, does your boss continue to email you 24/7? Do you find it tricky to ignore work emails out of hours? Do […]
Is it game over for psychometric questionnaires?

It’s widely accepted that the value of the video games market overtook that of Hollywood more than a decade ago and more people now play games than don’t. Games immerse the player in a virtual world where they must make decisions and trade-offs and deal with other people to get the job done – and […]
Are your employees seen but not heard?

The nature and scope of employee voice is becoming increasingly complex, with drivers such as technology, new employment models and workforce diversity fundamentally changing the way we work. But are organisations flexing to accommodate these shifts in the way we express our voice in the workplace? This article was co-authored by Louisa Baczor (Research Associate) and […]
The impact of the ‘authentic self’ on wellbeing within workplace

Dr Gail Gross, an internationally acclaimed expert in human development and behaviour, recently wrote for Huffington Post that “once you begin to work towards your authentic self, you can begin to live as only you can live, and the person you are meant to be”. Yet the process of uncovering your authentic self is rarely […]
From busy to better: 9 tips to restore the sense of self

Addicted to technology? Sleeping with your smartphone? Making endless lists and feeling more and more burned out and behind every day? Deleting the “me” time from your calendar and hitting the vending machines when you stay late at work? The way we talk about stress is stressful. We scold ourselves to “focus.” We constantly remind […]
Building a workplace that’s fit for the future

Today’s professionals have a new world of work at their fingertips. Unemployment rates are at an 11-year low, and as an ever-increasing number of opportunities open up, employees are able to consider what they want from their workplace – and find an employer that meets their needs. We recently spoke to workers across the UK, […]
Rewriting wellbeing: A creative addition to your wellbeing strategy

The latest estimates from the HSE show that cases of work related stress have significantly increased by 224,000 since last year. The cause cited? workload tight deadlines poor management The statistics make grim reading. More than ever, creating the optimum conditions for wellbeing, an environment for employees to flourish rather than flounder, is a critical […]
E-resilience: 5 tips to help you master the technology in your life

We've written before about the importance of e-resilience – or being able to cope emotionally with the amount of technology in our lives. There's no chance of us having less technology to solve the problem, so it's on us to add tools to our toolkit in order to more proactively deal with technology-related stress in the […]
Walking meetings at work: how, what, why, when

The idea that staying physically fit is good for our bodies, minds, mood and performance is as old as the hills. In the distant past, our very survival depended on our fitness and it was as early as the 1830s when the first gyms resembling our modern day equivalents began to take shape in an […]
Redundancy recovery: how to get back on track

Redundancy is something many of us will have to deal with during our careers, and it's never a nice experience when it does happen – no surprises there. But what may raise a few eyebrows is just how many people would choose to keep news of their redundancy to themselves. Almost half of those who […]
How far up your list of priorities are you putting yourself?

I have recently been conducting research for my next book about stress. It’s certainly a fascinating topic and I have been involved in lots of interviews, with an eclectic mix of people, attempting to establish what tips people into a state of distress. Of course we are all unique, and like snowflakes everyone is different. […]
Tackling health and wellbeing: why we created the National Forum for Health and Wellbeing at Work

Professor Sir Cary Cooper CBE is the 50th Anniversary Professor of Organizational Psychology and Health at Alliance Manchester Business School, President of the CIPD and Co-Chair of the National Forum for Health and Wellbeing at Work. We asked him to tell us more about why the forum was set up, and what it hopes to achieve. A […]
How to break down persistent silos and connect your organisation – does training help or hinder?

A recent study of over 500 HR managers showed that silo working continues to hold organisations back and that our approach to talent development is perpetuating, rather than solving, the issue. Silos are nothing new, and an understanding of their impact on organisational performance is widely recognised. So why do we continue to experience them, […]
Is the power pose a fake? Re-analysing Amy Cuddy’s work

Mental health in the workplace – it's time to end the stigma and discuss this massive topic. This post is part of our mental health focus! Take a look at everything we're offering, totally free, here. Back is September 2014 HRZone did an extensive article on Amy Cuddy’s TED Talk "Your body language shapes who […]
My eight-year-old’s workload warning led me to a healthier balance

A few years ago, my daughter, who was eight at the time, took it upon herself to have a chat with me about my workload. I was running a business and renovating the family home whilst single-handedly bringing up my two children. My daughter pointed out that I was trying to do three jobs, and […]
Round-up: 7 things we’ll cover in mental wellbeing month

March is mental wellbeing month on HRZone. We'll be highlighting lots of content around all aspects of mental wellbeing in the workplace, taking a holistic look at how we can create the right conditions for psychological warmth and health at work and at home. Here are 7 things we'll be covering during March: 1. Presenteeism […]
“Use their language, not language from an HR text book.”

Taking on a new role is as challenging as it is exciting. In this series we will be talking to HR professionals who are getting to grips with a new job and finding out what attracted them to the role, as well as what their key priorities are for the months ahead. Want to tell […]
“There are four big obstacles leaders encounter when trying to learn mindfulness.”

This is an interview with Martin Boroson, a mindfulness thinker, writer, speaker and coach. He has developed a technique called One-Moment Meditation® to help executives use mindfulness throughout their daily work lives. Martin will be speaking at Mind & Matter 2017, the Mindfulness at Work conference, which is taking place in Central London on April 27th […]