September 20, 2016
New project invites organisations to explore issue of workplace wellbeing 0
Are our offices making us sick? This is the question addressed by a new research project looking at the link between health in the workplace and access to the natural environment. The study is backed by the Soil Association, is endorsed by Kate Humble and Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall and draws on studies from the past thirty years which have also addressed the issue. The Good Life Project aims to provide evidence-based and cost-effective solutions to the benefits of nature in making businesses happier, healthier and more profitable. The project is led by behaviour expert and author Jez Rose along with a team of psychologists and neuroscientists and is endorsed by the Soil Association. The Project is designed to overcome the problem of workplace absenteeism by trying out a range of workplace initiatives based around the natural environment to see what sort of difference they make to an employee’s feeling of wellbeing.
Some may think this is a daft question. They’ll argue that of course people matter when we design workplaces. Granted, there are those for whom the human experience of the built environment is really important. They demonstrate this it in their attitudes and actions. However, based on some of the attitudes and actions I have observed over the years, I would suggest that the belief that people really matter when some designers design workplaces for them is quite frankly all too often skin deep. How do we know this? And if we accept that it is true, it then begs the secondary question of why this should be the case. Is it entirely our fault? What might we do to address the issues? In part, we know that people haven’t really mattered enough in design because of mistakes of the past. Meanwhile, society is facing many pressing challenges, ranging from health to housing, work to economy and climate change to resource depletion.
A series of reports published in the past few days highlight the challenges faced by Britain’s disabled workers. The studies claim separately that disabled workers are keen to work but are less likely to be in employment and may be hiding disabilities from employers, are paid less when they are in work and that many employers do not feel they are well equipped to deal with the needs of disabled staff. The first study from Reed in Partnership and Disability Rights UK found that one in ten employers do not feel able to support a disabled employee. Meanwhile research from the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) found that employees who experience mental ill-health earn up to 42 per cent less than colleagues. A third report from Citizen’s Advice found that 40 percent of disabled people would like to work but can’t find a job. And finally a report from RIDI claims that many people applying for jobs may be hiding their disability from employers.
October 4, 2016
Motherhood or livelihood? Pregnancy discrimination in the workplace 0
by Tar Tumber • Comment, Legal news, Wellbeing, Workplace
Recent research by the Commons Women and Equalities Committee suggests that around 54,000 expectant and new mothers have no choice but to leave work due to pregnancy discrimination or concerns over the safety of their children; and shockingly, this figure has doubled in the last decade alone. Other research carried out by the Equality & Human Rights Commission (EHRC) and the former Department for Business, Innovation and Skills shows that despite 77 percent of working mothers reporting potentially discriminatory or negative experiences, only 28 percent raised the issue with their employer, and less than 1 percent pursued a claim through the tribunal system. As a mother of two young children, this is a topic very close to my heart. I have worked in HR for over 18 years now, and advised on all manner of employee relations issues and know from personal experience that being pregnant and suffering discrimination or redundancy is not at all unusual.
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