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A Sick ‘Note’ Rant
If you have the right antennae on, then you soon begin to see the HR side to many of the stories hitting the news. You begin to form opinions, shift your behaviour, change your mindset, or after informed consideration, ignore it as it doesn’t impact you. The item which has got my attention in the…
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Managing Menopause in the Workplace
In the UK, 75-80% of menopausal women work; understanding and supporting symptoms, both visible and invisible, is crucial for managers and employers. Facts The average age for women to reach menopause in the UK is 51, although the expected age range is between 45 and 55. Currently, around 75-80% of women of menopause age…
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The Elephant in the Room: Loan Elephants – Bullying
Do you remember the school bully? If so, why? To misquote Maya Angelou, “It’s not what they said, but how they made you feel”. You forget the actual words, but you are left with the feelings. This is true whether the words are positive or negative and their impact can be felt for years. Bullying…
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The Elephant in the Room: Protected Characteristics – Disability
Starting with the assumption that the person can do the job, has done it before and has a proven track record…… Would you employ a disabled person? If not, why not? Would it depend on their disability? Would it depend on your location and working environment? If they are deaf, blind, wheelchair bound, an amputee…
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The Elephant in the Room: Mental Health – Suicide
**TRIGGER WARNING** The content of today’s blog is heavy reading. If you are affected by any of the issues raised by today’s blog, please seek support and speak to someone immediately. Contact details are in the box at the end of this blog. There are a lot of myths which surround suicide, and it is…
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The Elephant in the Room: Mental Health – Psychosis
The main forms of psychosis are schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Unfortunately, it often takes a long time to diagnose properly and to treat effectively. Psychosis is a condition in which the person has changes in their thinking, perception, mood and / or behaviour. As you might imagine, all of these can be a problem in…
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The Elephant in the Room: Mental Health – Self-harm
Self-harm is widely misunderstood. There are many people who self-harm as a way of exerting control over themselves or a situation. Contra to popular belief, self-harm is NOT an attempted suicide, however, the people who self-harm are at increased risk of suicide, often because the stress triggers are the same. Self-harm is a behaviour which…
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The Elephant in the room: Mental Health – Anxiety
Anxiety can be a good thing. It helps us to avoid dangerous situations and it motivates us to solve problems. However, like many mental health issues there is a spectrum of anxiety which ranges from good mental health through to debilitating mental health. There are a number of different disorders which are classified as anxiety…
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The Elephant in the Room: Mental Health – Depression
Having clinical Depression is very different from being depressed. You can feel depressed when you hear bad news, when you read a sad story, or if you have had a bad day at the office. However, a medical diagnosis of Depression is made when symptoms last for more than two weeks and affects the employee’s…
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The Elephant in the Room: The Smelly Employee – Body Odour
Ouch! The ultimate of difficult conversations and one we have had to support a lot of employers through over the years. Unlike most of our previous smelly employee* blogs, where the employee usually has a measure of control over the smell, body odour is one which many people have little or no control over. In…