Wouldn’t it be great if we lived in an enlightened age where sexual harassment was an obsolete term describing something that only happened a very long time ago? Sadly, despite great strides forward in awareness and action, such as from the #MeToo movement, incidents of sexual harassment are still stubbornly on the increase. Figures from ONS and the Crime Survey of England and Wales state that there was a 31% increase in police recorded sexual harassment offences in March 2022 compared to the previous year. In a TUC poll from April 2023, 58% of women stated they had experienced harassment at w ..read more

Were you aware that it was World Environment Day this week? Instigated by the United Nations Environment Programme, this awareness day has been held annually on 5th June since 1973, making World Environment Day 50 years old! It is one of the largest global platforms for environmental concerns and is used to highlight the imperative of global environmental pressures, which affects the wellbeing and economic development of people throughout the world. Encouragingly, more and more organisations are demonstrating that meaningful environmental and socially responsible initiatives can have significa ..read more

I’ve written a lot about KINDNESS over the years and feel that this year, more than any other, it’s about time it was taken seriously and seen as an important and powerful component of good business? In an increasingly VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous) world, there is a pressing need for more responsible and kinder forms of leadership in both business and society. Haskins and Gill carried out a comprehensive research project with leaders from around the world and identified key attributes of empathy, altruism, respect and fairness. They also identified the following common ‘kin ..read more

A lot of people are talking about stress these days! And November is a busy month for stress awareness – there’s National Stress Awareness Day and International Stress Awareness Week – helping to give focus to stress management and support for campaigns against the stigma associated with stress and mental health issues. But how much do we really know about stress, what it is and where it comes from? A false start! The title of this article is misleading, because our prehistoric ancestors did not actually suffer from caveman stress, mainly because they relied heavily on an instinct called the ..read more

There is a LOT to feel challenged by at the moment. Try Googling ‘unpredictable times’ and you get a sense of just how unstable and uncertain our world is right now! While organisations and their people grapple with ongoing political and economic instability, many workplaces have been shifting beyond recognition: Old command and control methods from the 1950’s and 60’s are finally being dismantled in favour of more open and collaborative styles of leadership Rigid policies and procedures are being critiqued, questioned and, where necessary, thrown out or re-written New working patterns are no ..read more

I was writing about ‘loneliness’ back in 2018 – before Covid and mass remote working was amongst us and before the global energy crisis and inflation started pressing in on people’s lives. Despite a lot of parliamentary gesturing and the setting up of the government’s Tackling Loneliness Network, the Office for National Statistics has revealed that even after the lifting of social restrictions, more people are now chronically lonely than before the pandemic and younger people are still more likely to report feeling lonely than older people. May gave us Mental Health Awareness Week and a specia ..read more

I first wrote about ‘in-work poverty’ back in 2016, referencing research from the Joseph Rowntree Organisation highlighting the growing number of households experiencing poverty, even when at least one person was working. Sadly, there is an even greater need to raise awareness and tackle similar issues, with rising inflation, soaring energy bills and new taxes. A recent You Gov Survey provided a worrying insight into the financial vulnerabilities of many employees. It revealed that more than a quarter of respondents said money problems affected their job performance and less than half those s ..read more

What is Polyworking? The pandemic has had a profound effect on not just how and where people work, but also how they think and feel about working. Virtual and remote working have already challenged the geography of the workplace and put flexibility at the heart of many business and HR strategies. However, during the last two years of intermittent lockdowns and furloughing, more people have also taken the unusual opportunities presented to embrace their inner entrepreneurial spirit, seeking out secondary incomes either by launching their own businesses or undertaking freelancing work whilst sti ..read more

On the eve of the government’s consultation deadline for “Making Flexible Working the Default”, will we see radical changes to the way we work? After all, the government has stated that it wants to take a world class approach to flexible working to ensure the opportunities and challenges of the post Covid-19 economy are maximised. In contrast, the TUC has criticised the government’s proposals, stating that they will not be the ‘game changer’ ministers are claiming. Unfortunately, over the last few months the media has tended to focus on just one type of flexible work – hybrid – the magic compr ..read more

Latest HR News and updates on Covid-19, Right to Work checks, Flexible Working and Inclusion  * * * HOT OFF THE PRESS * * * Check out information on the Black History Month website to help create a bank of resources and reading for you and your staff for October and beyond. Also, there is now a further extension to the Kickstart Scheme which will run until March 2022 and apprenticeship incentive payments will be available until the end of January 2022. Important Covid-19 Information for Employers Covid Response – Autumn and Winter Plan (Sept 2021) The government’s current A Plan states th ..read more