When yawning costs you money
We all know how it feels to come into work after a poor night’s sleep; it’s hard to think clearly, we’re slow to respond to things and we lack creative energy. What usually results is a slow and unproductive day and we only get back to normal once we’ve slept well again. However there are […]
How to develop resilience quickly
In organisational life, pressure, change and adversity are almost inevitable daily aspects of our work. To cope, we need a proactive rather than reactive approach: we need to develop resilience. People describe resilience in many different ways: as ‘mental toughness’, ‘emotional stability’, ‘grit’ or ‘perseverance’. Perhaps more helpfully, we can think of resilience as the […]
NHS Customer Service – forget about process, it’s about emotional engagement
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 […]
Companies should take a public health approach to wellbeing
More HR teams need to be taking a ‘public health’ approach – similar to that used by national governments – to understand and improve the health of their whole organisation. Traditionally, preventative healthcare and private health screening has been seen as a perk for senior executives only, with elements sometimes offered as part of the benefits […]
Is it worth investing in ‘active’ workstations?
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 […]
Shift workers risk mental and physical health
Staff working shifts outside the hours of 0700-1900 hours are at higher risk of developing chronic health conditions and serious illness, and could even be risking a decline in cognitive function a recent survey revealed. In this article, Gary Cattermole, director at award winning employee engagement consultancy and staff survey specialist, The Survey Initiative, explains […]
Avoid winter coughs and colds
You’ve heard it before: ‘don't go outside in this weather, you'll catch a cold’. But colds are actually caused by viruses, not cold weather. It is true that you are more likely to get a cold during the winter months, but that's because we spend more time in confined, unventilated spaces with larger groups of […]
Putting empathy back on the workplace agenda
One of the more surprising items on the British political agenda this year was empathy. This is largely thanks to Labour leader Ed Miliband, who has cited empathy as one of his core political values and has even recruited the help of empathy expert Professor Simon Baron Cohen to develop his “politics of empathy”. It […]
All in the mind: mindfulness in the workplace
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. Since 2009, I have been teaching leaders and executives mindfulness based practices. There […]
The ageless workplace: how to attract and retain employees across five generations
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. Regardless of age, a key factor in employee retention is whether staff feel […]
Book Review: Developing Mental Toughness by Clough & Strycharczyk
Title: Mindful Leadership Coaching: Using Mindfulness to Develop Leaders and Transform TeamsAuthor: Peter Clough & Doug StrycharczykISBN: 978-0749463779 This book was reviewed by David Evans of Burn Bridge Associates. Subtitled “Improving performance, well-being and positive behaviour in others”, this is a useful book that will offer new insights for HR managers and line managers alike. Based on over […]
Why your best workers may not always be your employees: exploring the freelance factor
The working environment has changed drastically in the last ten years. Technological advances have empowered today’s workers to become increasingly global, mobile and flexible. And with more and more businesses looking to pursue an on-demand workforce to scale labour efficiently, the rise of the ‘independent worker’ in recent years has been no surprise. According to […]
A ticking time bomb: the workplace stress epidemic
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. Presenteeism – or attending work while sick – is on the rise. A […]
Why you should show staff that 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. It’s a given that being cited as a company that […]
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 […]