The ‘midlife money squeeze’ is affecting your best people
Financial stress in UK workplaces is at crisis levels, risking retention and productivity. Gethin Nadin advocates for treating financial wellbeing with the same institutional seriousness as mental health.
Holiday compliance and travel disruption: What HR needs to do now
Employers face a dual challenge this spring: new legal requirements to keep detailed records of annual leave and holiday pay, alongside rising employee travel disruption amid global instability. Phil Pepper advises HR teams to act quickly and coordinate carefully to ensure both legal compliance and consistent, fair support for employees.
Check your blind spot: Financial stress, mental health and suicide risk at work
The link between financial stress, mental health and suicide risk is well evidenced. Yet most employees won’t tell you they are struggling. Jane Vivier, Independent reward professional and FinWELL advocate, and Alice Hendy MBE highlight what the data shows and what needs to urgently change.
The gender pay gap: Why C-suite accountability matters more than ever
Addressing the pay gap is not just about policy; it’s about leadership credibility and trust. Sandi Wassmer explores what genuine C-suite ownership looks like.
Before the breakdown: How to spot burnout before crisis
Burnout can sometimes look like high performance, commitment and resilience. For Stress Awareness Month, PQ Coach Lisa Hammett explains the five stages of burnout and how to ensure you pay attention early enough to act.
Leaders are burning out: Stop fixing people and start fixing the system
With 77 per cent of leaders showing signs of exhaustion, Carole Gaskell explains how to begin redesigning the conditions that are creating burnout.
Your wellbeing scores look great. That might be the problem
While 64 per cent of organisations are actively working to reduce workplace stress, only half think it’s making a difference. Parental coach Giulia Galli examines the gap and advises on meaningful ways to close it.
Gallup’s 2026 workplace report: How do we fix the manager engagement collapse?
Manager engagement is declining because the role itself is broken. HR transformation leader Cristina Mihai says it’s time to rebuild the role around what only humans can do.
Sickfluencers: Why this tabloid narrative is bad for business
Another term is doing the rounds and how we respond to the narrative it carries will have huge impacts on psychological safety and belonging. Deborah Hartung warns against letting the ‘sickfluencer’ rhetoric infiltrate your culture.
When AI adoption becomes performance theatre: Inside the new kind of employee disengagement
Mandating AI without a clear purpose or strategy is creating distrust. Stephanie Davis Neill delves into the new form of employee disengagement that’s emerging and what organisations are getting wrong about change management.
From the Editor: An industry under pressure deserves authentic, actionable content
HR professionals are being asked to do more, faster and with fewer resources. In her first Editor’s note, Lauren Haigh shares her early reflections on how quickly the HR landscape is shifting, and sets out her commitment to delivering practical advice and honest insights that helps practitioners navigate the fast-moving world of work.
Why you need to to rewild your organisation
Burnout comes from outdated systems that are consuming energy. Thom Dennis believes that rather than seeking to change the people without changing the structure, it’s time to remove the constraints that prevent natural processes from reasserting themselves, and then step back and watch the magic unfold.
Why HR can’t afford to ignore the UK’s emerging younger workforce crisis
The decline of young people in education, employment and training signals a long-term threat to talent pipelines, future skills and the sustainability of the UK workforce. Angela Matthews highlights why HR leaders need to pay attention, and where to start.
HR Technologies UK 2026: Exploring the future of HR, together
At the end of the month, the must-attend event for HR professionals returns: HR Technologies UK. As a proud media partner, HRZone is looking forward to seeing how the UK’s leading tech-focused event unfolds.
HR is watching you: Why pulse surveys are killing trust
Workforce diagnostics and engagement surveys are everywhere and yet engagement stagnates and turnover is increasing. Brian Bakeberg warns that when we measure without providing the agency to act, employees start to feel less heard and more surveilled.
Forget trust. Is AI reliable?
The prevailing narrative that people have to ‘trust’ AI in order to realise its benefits brings various risks. Quentin Millington looks at reasons we cannot, and should not, trust AI, and argues that a more relevant ambition is to seek AI systems that we can instead ‘rely’ on.
Day One SSP: Closing the gap between policy and practice
Day-one SSP is now in effect. But will it actually reach the workers it’s designed to help? HR Technical Consultant Sarah Kerr explains that the gap between policy update and real-world application isn’t in legislation, but in everyday decisions made by line managers.
The Drama Triangle: Why your conflict training isn’t reaching the people who need it most
The Drama Triangle is a dysfunctional dynamic that can be deeply damaging to business. Emma Georgiou says it’s time to start thinking like a Traitors contestant who’s just worked out the game. What’s your next move?
Faking productivity: Do you know the difference between a pulse and a purpose?
How do we actually measure the value of knowledge work? Deborah Hartung delves into the misconduct that’s holding up a mirror in the knowledge economy, warning that if we continue to manage by signs of life, we should not be surprised when people learn to fake a heartbeat.
April’s employment law shake-up: What HR needs to do right now
The first wave of the Employment Rights Act lands this month. Charles Hipps, Founder and CEO of Oleeo, breaks down what the changes mean for HR practitioners.
