How to negotiate for family-friendly work habits

Flexibility is a key consideration when returning to work. We talk you through the best ways to get the accommodations you need at work – from asking for a trial period to finding solutions to staffing issues. This article was originally published on Mumsnet. The right to request flexible working has been a welcome innovation for […]

What mothers want: What women say about how they can be best supported in the workplace

Discrimination can begin before a woman even steps foot in the office. This is how you can ensure that all women are supported in the most effective way possible. This article was originally published on Mumsnet. When thinking about mothers in the workplace, ‘flexible working’ comes up constantly; it seems, too, that the options for and benefits […]

Workplace hygge: how to embrace it

The Danish art of Hygge has become the latest buzz word in wellbeing. Health and fitness magazines are bursting with stories on how Hygge – pronounced ‘Hooga’ can revitalise your mind and body whilst the world of fashion and interiors is full of features on how to embrace Hygge-style. So, what is Hygge? And, can […]

Man against the machine: the struggle against unconscious bias

Artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, robotics, self-driving cars – the debate around these innovations is raging. And much of this debate surrounds the power of the ‘machine,’ the fear of job redundancies, the ethics of new technologies and the prospect of unemployment for those who can’t keep up. But is it all that bad?  Is […]

What’s happening at the frontiers of wellbeing?

This is the third in a series of articles about the state of workplace wellbeing. Here Paul Barrett from the Bank Workers Charity examines what’s happening at the frontiers of employee wellbeing. He considers how research in related disciplines is enriching our understanding of the factors that shape it and is giving rise to some innovative […]

In defense of night: we treat it with disdain yet spend 26.5 years asleep

Society is starting to pay attention to sleep. This is important because for something so critical to our survival and wellbeing, sleep has a chequered history with researchers. “Scientists in the 1950s said that ‘sleep is of no medical importance,” says Guy Meadows, Clinical Director at Sleep to Perform. “That’s an actual quote. Now in […]

Tackling presenteeism in the banking sector: the role of work-life integration

Presenteeism is an issue facing businesses of all shapes and sizes up and down the UK. The implications of this phenomenon are well known. Presenteeism has been referred to as the single biggest threat to UK workplace productivity by Robertson Cooper’s Professor Sir Cary Cooper. It poses a substantial risk to workers’ health and wellbeing, […]

Four top tips for better sleep and improved workplace performance

This article was written by Jeff Archer, Director of The Tonic Corporate Wellness.  Sleep, or lack of it, is a hot topic at the moment so how might sleep routines impact on energy levels and performance in the office? In his book, Internal Time: Chronotypes, Social Jet Lag, and Why You’re So Tired, Professor Till Roenneberg […]

Coffee Break: Corporate vs. professional, office design and the LinkedIn for working mums

We've got through the four day week – and it's already time for the weekend again! Here are some of the articles we've enjoyed this week – let us know what you've been reading and what you think in the comments below. Optimising your office – 3 trends from the leading edge of workplace design […]

Equality begins at home: men step up, women step back

According to research conducted by McKinsey and Lean In for womenintheworkplace.com, in households where both partners work full time, 41% of women report doing more childcare and 30% report doing more chores. Furthermore, there is little evidence the next generation is striking a better balance. Although younger couples split household chores more evenly, women under […]

Men ‘twice as likely’ to have flexible work hours requests knocked back

Stat attack gives you the facts, figures, numbers and survey results you need to keep on top of developments and changes in sentiment in the HR and L&D industries, all in an easy to digest format. It’s your regular dose of facts and figures, parcelled up for easy reading. Context: These statistics are from an […]

Do I have to agree to a flexible working request?

Originally, the right to request flexible working was a family-related right. In order to qualify to make a request, it was a criterion that the employee had to be a parent of a child under a particular age or have caring responsibilities and the reason for the request had to be in relation to providing […]

How can supervisors help employee work-life balance?

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 make […]

Will Zuckerberg’s move shake up paternity culture?

Mark Zuckerberg, CEO, Facebook recently announced he is taking two months paternity leave. His move has been met with much praise, especially in the States, where neither paid maternity or paternity leave is a legal requirement. What’s happening in the world of paternity leave? Are big brand digital companies, such as Facebook, leading the way in […]

How to create flexible working arragements for older workers

The ageing workforce constitutes one of the most influential contemporary labour market  trends. Falling birth rates and increasing lifespans mean that fewer younger workers are entering the labour market and older worker numbers are growing. Older workers are aged between 50 and State Pension Age (SPA), although this definition is broadening as, with the removal […]

Watching me, watching you: making sense of social interaction

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 […]

Netflix goes unlimited on parental leave

With last week’s announcement, Netflix reasserted itself at the cutting edge of workplace practices and policies, alongside a band of innovative US tech companies like Google, Twitter and Facebook. What did Netflix do? It announced unlimited paid maternity and paternity leave for new parents. Compared to some European countries, granted, that doesn’t seem all that […]

Learning from Europe’s approach to working hours

There’s more to the EU than the Working Time Directive. Whilst EU employees should be guaranteed these standards, many European countries have their own approach to working hours. This impacts upon their citizens’ subsequent work-life balance; something UK businesses could certainly learn from. However, depending on the EU nation that you look at, their rules […]

How do you tell if someone is ready to work flexibly?

Eleven years after the right to request flexible working (Right to Request) was introduced, initially limited to assist carers with young families or disabled children, we saw the extension of that right to request in 2014 to most employees. Although some, such as The Agile Forum which was set up by Sir Winfried Bischoff to […]

More than a quarter of long-term absences related to mental health

Learn more ways to improve mental health in the workplace 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 to improve employee wellbeing.  New figures released by Unum show that mental health issues accounted for 27% of Income Protection […]