Five ways to improve workplace wellbeing
Find out more ways to improve your workplace wellbeing with The Ultimate Wellbeing Toolkit – a practical learning hub brought to you by financial protection specialists Unum, designed to equip HR professionals with the skills and knowledge they need to show employees that they are valued. Promoting wellbeing in the workplace benefits both employers and employees. A healthy […]
Six tips for business leaders to show staff they’re cared for
Learn more ways to improve your workplace wellbeing with The Ultimate Wellbeing Toolkit – a practical learning hub brought to you by financial protection specialists Unum, designed to equip HR professionals with the skills and knowledge they need to show employees that they are valued. You can also find out more information about the Institute […]
Mental health stigma silences employees – 79% wouldn’t speak out
“The costs of mental illness to the economy are astounding… I urge commissioners and decision-makers to treat mental health more like physical health.” – Chief Medical Officer & Professor, Dame Sally Davies According to the annual report by the Chief Medical Officer, mental illness led to the loss of 70 million working days within the UK during 2013, making […]
HR and health: The hard work starts here
Wellbeing and work. For HR at least the two ideas are synonymous but it’s only relatively recently that some of our biggest businesses and CEOs have settled down to consider this new world view. Perhaps they’ve been distracted by the huge numbers flying around: absenteeism costs £29bn a year, presenteeism £15bn and mental ill health […]
Seven ways to help staff look after their back
The cost of absence and lost productivity due to back injury or pain is a major consideration for many organisations. This week is back care awareness week so here are 7 ways that you can help everyone in your organisation take care of their back every day. 1) Keep everyone moving Sitting still has been […]
Addressing bereavement at work – why it’s time for employers to act
Last week Acas launched its good practice guide for businesses on managing bereavement at work. Such guidance is long overdue. How well employees are supported by their employer following a bereavement can be something of a lottery, with some disparities, even within the same organisation, in the way line managers handle bereavement and in the […]
Vaping in the work place – developing policy guidance
Key facts There are over two million regular electronic cigarette users in England. Electronic cigarettes DO NOT contain cancer causing tobacco, but do contain nicotine which is addictive. There is growing evidence that they can help smokers quit. The long-term health effects are not known. However there are no circumstances when using an e-cigarette is […]
Five myths about personality profiling
1. Can personality change be based on mood? Personality profiling tools measure the core or DNA of personality. The underlying traits don’t really shift. Research shows that the re-test for reliability statistics of profiling are high. Changes can occur because of a life event which may have caused, for instance, an emotional trauma, and people […]
Boris Johnson ‘committed’ to helping his staff manage stress
Employees working for London mayor Boris Johnson are being given free advice and support on how to manage their health and wellbeing. Free resources, such as mindfulness podcasts, are being provided on the Greater London Authority’s (GLA) staff intranet at City Hall, the Huffington Post UK reports. "We have a wellbeing portal on our intranet […]
Wellness and personal performance made easy: Part 3
In the final installment of our series, we highlight further strategies and behaviours that lead to exceptional results with personal health, wellness, energy and performance. As with our previous tips, these are all simple ideas that, when implemented with consistency, will lead to dramatic and positive results. Take charge of technology Technology is one of […]
Health and safety: Why HR managers need to think like marketers to win over colleagues
We all need allies in life and business. That’s particularly true if you are an HR manager with responsibility for health and safety (H&S). All too often the media and even leading politicians portray H&S as bureaucratic red tape that imposes costs on business and hinders managers and employees – yet, as HR and H&S […]
Wellness and personal performance made easy: Part 2
We continue our journey towards great personal energy, efficiency, productivity and enjoyment of both our personal and professional lives, by examining more simple lifestyle changes that are tried and tested and proven to result in people feeling great and performing to the best of their abilities. Prepare yourself for a good night’s sleep every evening […]
Wellness and personal performance made easy: Part 1
During the last 15 years of delivering wellness solutions to businesses, two things have become very clear. The improvements that people would like to make to their wellbeing are usually very simple; the most popular including the desire to get fitter, increase energy levels, lose weight, sleep better and experience an improved sense of balance […]
Flexible working changes – a smorgasbord of opinions on right to request
From today, 20 million people (according to BIS) now have the right to request flexible working from their employer. BIS have said that over half of businesses who allow flexible working see improved relationships, 40% report productivity boost and 38% see drop in staff absence. The salient points: The change affects those who have over […]
Leading the way: Tackling stress from the top
It is the norm for physical health issues to be discussed openly in most organisations, but mental health remains very much a taboo topic. We’ve witnessed people from all parts of society speak up about mental health, except in the business world. So it’s up to business leaders to ensure that it can be talked […]
Men’s Health Week: better sleep is four simple steps away
It’s Men's Health Week, and while sleep issues can affect anyone, there are a few specific ways in which men manage themselves and their approach to professional life that are clear triggers to poor quality or quantity of sleep. So what are the details when it comes to men and sleep? One issue is that […]
Men’s Health Week 2014 – Is there a role for business to tackle men’s mental health?
This is men’s health week. Many people question why there is a need to focus specifically on men’s health….surely health is important to everyone? It’s because men are known to monitor their health much less than women and they’re also less inclined to seek help when they need it, usually in the hope the problem […]
Employee wellbeing: supporting personal issues at work
Tackling tough work issues is one thing, but what about when the problems are wrapped up in situations at home, in relationships, debt, or bereavement? When complicated personal issues are involved, managers can sometimes prefer to keep their distance and hope the issue goes away. At the Royal College of Nursing, we have 850 staff who […]
Why do women take more sick leave than men – and what can we do about it?
This article is part of our in-depth content series on women in the workplace – take a look at the full list of articles today and increase your knowledge of a range of issues relating to women in the workplace, including sickness absence, impostor syndrome and mental health. Last year, a study by Octopus HR found that women take […]
How can I cope better with setbacks?
Jan Hills is one of our regular contributors – this article was adapted from the content in her new book, Brain-Savvy HR, available to buy in hard copy and for Kindle on Amazon. You and a colleague have been working on a new project proposal which gets rejected by the board. You're gutted, and finding […]
