June 1, 2018
Opening the door to a new workplace experience for everybody
There’s no one way to approach diversity and inclusion initiatives. However, we’re very lucky as fellow professionals involved in creating a great workplace experience for everybody to be able to take an active and vital role in improving the setting for these initiatives. If you work at a company that is embracing diversity and inclusion, what I have set out in this commentary is simply a group of thought starters based on previous experience, pain points, and ways you could easily push forward to make spaces that better accommodate all users. At a time when 69 percent of executives rate diversity and inclusion as an important issue, it’s important for we workplace professionals to take the initiative.
December 5, 2017
How do you really go about creating a great place to work?
by Jo Sutherland • Comment, Wellbeing, Workplace design
The topic of workplace wellbeing is becoming increasingly prevalent. And for good reason. In the UK, 45 million working days are lost due to stress, anxiety and depression and the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) Absence Management survey reveals that over two fifths of organisations have seen an increase in reported mental health problems over the last year. What’s more, a recent government report found that up to 300,000 people leave their jobs each year due to mental health-related issues. Last month, Symposium hosted the “Workplace Wellness & Stress Forum 2017”, back for its twelfth year, to help employers step up and tackle the greatest inhibitor of growth, innovation and creativity – stress. Medical professionals have their definition of “stress”, health and safety execs have theirs, and the academic community promulgate another. Forum host Neil Shah, chief de-stressing officer of The Stress Management Society, offered a definition that resonated with the entire audience: “where demand placed on an individual exceeds their resources”.
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