Mental health at work: why employers need to embrace psychological diversity
Awareness of mental health is improving, but to really make a difference companies need to move beyond reactive wellbeing initiatives to a more proactive approach. Mental health affects everyone, all day, every day. The state of our mental health determines how we feel, mediates the impact of life stressors and influences our ability to navigate […]
Mental health crisis: time for real change
News headlines about the mental health crisis among employees at Hinkley Point nuclear power station have brought the issue into sharp focus and further highlighted that big changes are needed in how companies approach this issue. It’s sad to read yet another headline pointing to the fact that we’re struggling as a nation to support our […]
Gender equality: why we need to talk about unpaid care
Globally, women on average do more than three times the amount of unpaid care work done by men, rising to more than five times in poor rural areas. There is not a single country where men and women do equal amounts of unpaid care work and in some regions women do as much as 80–90%. […]
Mental health at work: the rise of work separation anxiety
For many of us, work is an important part of our lives. One of the first questions we ask someone we meet is ‘what do you do?’ and we even expect children to know their career aspirations when they are just a few years old. This isn’t a bad thing – after all, our work […]
Heatwave: how can HR take care of their employees in hot weather?
The sizzling summer has arrived, leaving many workers clammy, stifled and tired – none of which are conducive to productivity. Here’s how HR can better handle the heat for their people… You’ll be well aware that the UK is in the midst of a heatwave this week, with temperatures getting up to a stifling 37 […]
From ‘fika’ to offline time: three lessons from European countries about stress management
Stress is rife in the UK – and it’s affecting our health, engagement and performance at work. Are there lessons to be learned from other countries on better managing this epidemic? Every year in the UK, 70 million work days are lost due to mental ill health such as anxiety and depression, making it the […]
Presenteeism and leaveism: can you recognise these attendance problems in your workplace?
Attendance statistics only tell part of the story when it comes to your employees’ motivations and behaviour. Here, we look at some of the red flags for presenteeism and leaveism and how to encourage a healthier working culture. Absenteeism continues to be a thorn in the side of many HR professionals. Recent studies have shown […]
‘Double stigma’ – LGBT+ and mental health issues in the workplace
It is not uncommon for LGBT+ people to face the double challenge of mental health issues and discrimination in the workplace. What can your business do to stamp out the stigma and offer better support? The workplace can be a challenging environment for someone with a mental health issue for many reasons. Equally, people in the […]
Disability discrimination: why HR needs to better understand epilepsy
Despite greater awareness of disability discrimination, people with epilepsy continue to be disadvantaged at work due to a lack of understanding around the condition. It’s time for HR to lead the way in stamping this out. No HR professional with integrity would set out to discriminate on the basis of disability and one might assume […]
Employee wellbeing: how to handle parental bereavement
What does the new right for parental bereavement leave and pay means for businesses and their employees? It is hard to imagine the pain of losing a child and the impact is has on a person. Grief can affect everyone differently, so if and when it happens to one of your employees, it can often […]
Mental wellbeing: why the creative industry is harming its employees
Free yoga classes won’t fix mental wellbeing in the creative industries. It requires a bigger shift in culture and leaders with more emotional intelligence. You don’t have to look back far at some of the greatest figures in literature, the arts and music to find tragic stories about mental health. From Sylvia Plath to Robin […]
Four ways to ensure the wellbeing of women at work
Female employees have a unique set of wellbeing requirements – so why are employers still using a one-size-fits-all approach? As part of World Wellbeing Week, we look at four ways employers can support the women who work for them. Apparently, women are better at multi-tasking than men. I’m not sure if there’s any empirical evidence underpinning […]
Different people, different needs: mental health and older workers
Mental health may be less of a taboo subject in the workplace today, but for older workers the culture of suffering silently may be hard to move away from. How can you ensure that employees across all generations feel safe to speak up about their issues when needed? It’s hugely positive to have mental health supported […]
How employee recognition can support wellbeing
Online tools provide employees more opportunities than ever before to recognise the efforts of their peers, which in turn can have a positive effect on morale. Everywhere we go, processes are becoming automated and we are therefore more reliant on technology than we have ever been. The world of HR and employee engagement is no […]
Workplace mental health: how to be caring, not just compliant
Providing meaningful mental health support does not have to be complicated or costly for employers. By taking a simple three-staged approach to wellbeing, businesses can reap the benefits of a healthier, happier and more productive workforce. The average person today is said to spend roughly a third of their life at work – so it’s […]
Dig deeper: how to take our humanity out of hiding
Our inability to re-humanise our workplaces stems from three detrimental behavioural traps. How can we release ourselves from these harmful habits and get back in touch with our humanity? We’re not making sustainable shifts towards human-focused workplaces because we’re staying superficial when we need to dig deeper. If you’ve been involved in personal development for […]
Mental health: why a digital detox is essential for both wellbeing and productivity
Our ‘always on’ digital culture is having a negative effect on our mental health. It’s time to switch off. Here are three top tips to help you detach from that smartphone and start living in the real world again. Most of us use technology every day at work, at home and on the move. Modern […]
Workplace culture: why it’s time to bust the myth of the ‘ideal worker’
Many company cultures require people to compartmentalise their lives and prioritise work over all else, but research has proven that this is detrimental not just to employee wellbeing, but to the bottom line as well. I just got off the phone from my daughter who is travelling for work. This week she flew overnight, had […]
Are you really awake? Why conscious leaders are key to unlocking wellbeing
Positive wellbeing in the workplace does not come from discounted gym memberships and free fruit. It comes from a healthy working culture spearheaded by conscious leaders who instill good habits and value people’s need to switch off. We’re facing increasing complexity and stress in the modern world of work. Everywhere we’re seeing headlines about increasing […]
It’s not JUST emotions: putting energy and feelings at the heart of your work
For centuries we’ve been in denial about our human nature when it comes to work. Some of the most basic norms of the workplace are incompatible with peak human performance. Sitting down for large portions of the day, lack of natural light and air, wearing restrictive clothes and shoes, and being separated from our families […]