How the end of jobs could liberate future generations

This article was co-authored by Rohit Talwar and Alexandra Whittington from Fast Future Publishing. Much of the current debate on automation focuses on the demise of existing jobs across great swathes of economic activity. The traditional loss of jobs to automation in manufacturing looks set to accelerate, and the incursion of automation into the service […]
Why do UK workers feel undervalued and what can HR do?

A recent study by the ADP Research Institute has revealed that 70% of UK employees would consider leaving their current job and are happy to do so for the smallest salary increase in Europe. In contrast, only 60% of European employees would consider this. European workers would also expect an average salary increase of 12% […]
“Wellbeing is about managing the energy of the organisation needed for it to perform.”

Tim Munden is the Chief Learning Officer of consumer goods multinational Unilever. He was previously VP HR, UK and Ireland at the company. Tim will be speaking at the HR Directors Business Summit in February 2018 in Birmingham, UK – his subject will be “Wellbeing at the Heart of your People Strategy: A Collective Approach.” […]
Employee perspectives: “HR should be a more visible part of the hospital.”

We wanted to take a look at how employees within the healthcare industry are coping with the NHS crisis – on top of what is already a very challenging sector to work in – and whether they feel HR is supporting them adequately in their role. In this anonymised interview, a Band 6 critical care […]
Are we burning ourselves out in the pursuit of happiness?

There’s so much rich insight coming out of the academic sector that HR professionals need to know. At Academics’ Corner we feature the best HR researchers that tell you what they’ve found and what you need to do differently on the back of the research. Get connected to the academic sector through Academics’ Corner and […]
My war on OCD

Colin Minto is the co-founder of APeopleBusiness, an organisation set up to diagnose hidden, problematic workforce stress and equip leaders to invest in mental wellbeing effectively to increase productivity and brand value. Colin set up the business after ‘going public’ with his struggles with OCD – here he tells his story. My first attack, or […]
Why investing in employee health is good for business

It’s widely recognised that many long-term health problems – including a significant increase in the risk of heart disease, diabetes, obesity, certain cancers, depression and muscle and joint problems – are associated with sedentary work and lifestyles. Yet despite this, many employers still remain slow to make the connection between extended periods of sitting and […]
Does #ThrivingAtWork risk your employees’ mental health?

It was Dr Brock Chisholm, the first Director-General of the World Health Organization, who once famously stated that “without mental health, there is no health”. For years now, we have seen the rise in the popularity of yoga, mindfulness, clean eating, wellbeing, and a whole array of trends to help us live better, healthier and […]
How can organisations improve job quality?

There’s so much rich insight coming out of the academic sector that HR professionals need to know. At Academics’ Corner we feature the best HR researchers that tell you what they’ve found and what you need to do differently on the back of the research. Get connected to the academic sector through Academics’ Corner and […]
Employee mental health and wellbeing – are you doing enough?

With a recent national emphasis on mental health, UK employers have never had a better opportunity to start a conversation on this topic with their employees. And with 7 in 10 employees having experienced a condition that’s related to mental health – from stress to suicidal feelings – there couldn’t be a more important time to […]
Becoming a balanced leader – getting more yin for your yang

Debates about leadership often end up by contrasting different leadership styles, and inviting prospective leaders to detect which one suits them best and then build on it. Be true to yourself, the argument runs. There are numerous lists of styles to choose from: a recent piece in Forbes argued for four of them; Daniel Goleman […]
Anti-bullying week 2017: stopping the timer on workplace bullying

What constitutes workplace bullying? The most likely things that come to mind are threatening, abusive or patronising behaviours at work. Increasingly, these behaviours are reinforced by email or online work forums, and may even continue outside of work on social media sites. This all constitutes workplace bullying, but what is less spoken of is the workplace […]
Credit scores: how employers can help employees improve it

With all the big changes in the current political and economic climate, it’s fair to say that millions of employees are feeling a very large and painful financial pinch. In fact, in a survey of over 10,000 employees and 500 employers, 33% of employees said that financial worries are their biggest concern, after health (29%) […]
The debt stigma – how trainers can help

There is a stigma in UK workplaces that employers are rarely tackling, but must. It focuses on the vast levels of debt that millions of UK employees are carrying and which is shown, through mounting evidence, to have a debilitating impact on an employee’s wellbeing, their work and, as a consequence, a businesses’ overall productivity. […]
Are UK employees crying out for financial wellbeing training?

UK adults believe their financial situation will worsen, says new CIPD research. With economic factors driving down wages and raising living costs, just 15% of the population say they live comfortably. Financial pressures are always highlighted as particularly damaging to mental health, work-life balance, personal stability and identity and relationship health, all of which have […]
When culture kills the killer app

This article was co-authored by Helen Rosethorn, Partner, Practice Leader – Culture, Capability & Engagement, London, and Josh Feldmeth, Senior Partner, New York, at brand marketing consultancy Prophet. Every industry has been disrupted by a technology-enabled alternative promising faster delivery, lower costs, and delightfully better user experiences. In many sectors, these former disruptors now occupy […]
What does a mindful organisation look like?

Mindfulness may seem like a bit of a fad. There certainly appears to be a mindfulness bandwagon going on, with many more organisations and schools exploring mindful initiatives. So what’s the attraction? And what does mindfulness bring to the workplace? Is it worth the investment? Where mindfulness is no quick fix (it’s a practice, requiring […]
“For the human operating system, downtime is a feature, not a bug,” says Arianna Huffington

HRZone spoke to Arianna Huffington before her keynote at Unleash 2017 (formerly known as HR Tech World) in Amsterdam in October 2017. Arianna Huffington is not against transformative technologies but thinks people should set boundaries to retain their humanity. After all, we’ve done it before. Why can’t we do it again? “When electricity was invented, people […]
Why you might need a Chief Happiness Officer

Fostering employee happiness is fast moving up the HR agenda and is becoming a key focus for many organisations of all sizes and industries. Companies are increasingly coming to realise that happy employees make engaged, empowered and high performing employees. Ultimately, businesses in which staff wellbeing is not only taken seriously but is made a […]
How to speak up about sexual harassment

Following the hundreds of thousands of people that have joined the #MeToo movement, uncovering the magnitude of sexual harassment at work, what should you say or do if you encounter the problem? The first thing to bear in mind is that the sheer volume of people speaking out about the problem means that a new […]