Today is a very special day, because I officially pushed the button to print my book!
Launch Your HR Career will be released on 20th November and my blog followers will have exclusive access to a very special copy of the book.
Launch Your HR Career is for those who want to grow their confidence, develop their resilience, discover their purpose and carve the best HR career for themselves. If you are a career changer, university student, already in HR and lack motivation or even someone with an interest in HR, this is the book for you.
After a lot of reflection time and given all that we have been through in recent months, now more than ever, kindness is an essential element needed in our workplaces and our every day lives.
Kindness is the key component to a healthy, successful, and well-balanced life. These elements are all essential to our overall wellbeing and kindness is something that we do because we can, not because we should or are obligated to.
For many of you HR acts of kindness will be a new concept but it was actually founded in 2016 after the Brexit result brought so much divide and upset. Since then HR acts of kindness has appeared in Be Kind Magazine, has influenced behaviours at work all over the world and all through simple acts of kindness and there’s plenty of opportunity to get everyone involved!
It is said that duvet days originated in the UK in 1997. August One Communications introduced the scheme that allowed employees time off that was not pre-planned or sickness. The idea behind duvet days was to reduce the number of sick days that were taken, specifically the days when an employee is ‘pulling a sickie’.
Benefits of the duvet day
Introducing duvet days can ensure that employees feel that they are being treated with respect. As a result they become more productive in the workplace. The scheme also allows employees to avoid lying to their employers, specifically on days where they are not in the right frame of mind to work. Promoting honesty in the workplace and not lying about being ‘sick’.
Drawbacks of the duvet day
Idleness could be encouraged, and also a lack of responsibility for overindulgence the night before might become the norm in the workplace. If the duvet day does not offer any additional perks to retain staff, then perhaps it isn’t right for your company.
Adding duvet days to your business
To add duvet days to your business you need to think of how you will make it work and also the steps you need to take to implement it. Below is a checklist of things you need to think about:
Implementing a Duvet Day Policy – new and existing employees
Number of days (majority of employers offer two per year)
Time of year days can be taken
Days of the week that can be taken
Duvet days vs mental health days
In 2017 an employee was praised by her employer for taking a ‘mental health’ day. (Read about this story here)
But what is the difference between a mental health day and a duvet day?
A duvet day in essence is a day that is taken when you are not sick but would like a day to rest and recharge yourself. Mental health days are a sick day and employers are encouraged to treat time of work because of mental health the same as days taken off for physical health problems.
While it may be easier for an employee to take a duvet day or say they have food poising to avoid having a conversation about mental health, all employees should be encouraged to talk to their employer to allow for potential reasonable adjustments.
Sickness absence management
Having an employee call in sick is frustrating but inevitable. Employees will have sickness at some time and be unable to attend the work place. Stress as a reason for sickness is difficult to manage and it is on the increase, sick notes being extended and long-term sickness situations can be frustrating to manage. Frustration can come from feeling there is nothing that you can do about this, but there is.
“Women are working more, men are understanding their value as caregivers, women are primary breadwinners—I mean, we could go on and on and on. Things are different. So we can’t keep operating like everything is the same, and that’s what many of us have done. And I think it’s up to us to change the conversation.”
Michelle Obama
As an HR Consultant, if I had £1 for every time a client said to me that “flexible working is only for parents” I would be a very wealthy lady!
The most common question my clients ask is “how can flexible working help my business?” so if you are thinking just that, then read on!
Whilst flexible working is traditionally associated with working parents, we must acknowledge that the world of work is changing and with that, we are seeing a shift in the demographic in society (a third of workers will be over 50 by the end of 2020) therefore the myth around flexible working being just for parents, is simply that, just a myth! Now everyone has the right to request their employer to work more flexibly, which means that change for businesses is inevitable.
Frequently, kindness is often considered a sign of weakness especially in the serious business world. As professional people we don’t want to show weakness, especially when competition for promotional opportunities or desire to climb the career ladder is so great and kindness is always seen as a “fluffy” subject and can appear to affect our chances of being successful. Everyone knows you can’t be a successful professional in business by being a doormat, fortunately though, practicing kindness at work has absolutely nothing to do with being a doormat and everything to do with showing great courage and strength.
Natalie Ellis HR 