The things we notice when we take a moment to slow down…

I was born and brought up in Uxbridge, North West London, and for as long as I can remember life there seemed like a complete blur! Everything and everyone was always rushing, I was really drawn to it and loved the fast paced way of life.

When I was living and working in Central London, everything I did felt like rushing, from getting ready for work, travelling on the Tube, eating and living in a “everything needs to be done by yesterday” pace. Even having a coffee at a coffee shop wasn’t the experience it should have been, it was more of a routine, go in, exchange a few pleasantries with the barista, never drink in, always with a “to go” nod, it is like a secret code that every barista knows!

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Putting People at the Centre of the Recovery

This engaging, motivational and highly inspiring session was held by Sir Ian Cheshire, Chairman, Barclays, Natasha Adams, Peter Cheese and Valarie Todd at the CIPD Festival of Work. It is certainly one of the highlights of the Festival of Work.

The current circumstances have allowed us to really bring things into perspective, we’ve learnt a lot about collaboration, priorities and key focuses during this time. Flexible working and wellbeing are critical as this crisis has presented so many people with varying concerns which employers need to acknowledge and respond to. Some people may feel disconnected, others have embraced and welcomed the new normal, mental health and wellbeing was part of the HR agenda, however going forward it needs to remain a priority for employers.

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It’s time to step up to the challenge

With the dynamic of the business world shifting, with 60% of people employed by smaller businesses. The Festival of Work session “Leading Good Work in Practice” lead by Peter Cheese, Dame Helena Morrisey, Charlie Mayfield and Andy Briggs was a panel discussion about how we move through and out of the current crisis. The mean message from this is that we are all responsible for making change happen and we need to embrace the changes as we continue to see them.

The challenges we are currently facing are by no means small and they appear to be changing almost daily; we have a responsibility to appropriately respond and ensure that our organisation is working in a sustainable way. This includes creating more diverse workforces, embracing flexible working and creating positive cultures whether we are working together or apart.

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The future of work? It is already here…

The best way to predict the future is to to create it.”

Abraham Lincoln and Peter Drucker

Today is a very exciting day as the CIPD takes its Festival of Work online for the first time.

Not only has this allowed people from all over the world to attend and come together, but it is also showing us the future of conferences by embracing the current circumstances and creating an opportunity despite the challenges we face.

The opening keynote from Peter Cheese was inspiring and as a leader, he is not afraid to address the current global issues, not only COVID-19 and the pending recession but he paid a touching tribute to George Floyd and called out the undertones of racism the exists within our society.

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Brightening up Blue Monday

A bit of fun to start our working week! It is safe to say that we can all pretty much agree that Monday is not the most exciting day of a week, and it is always hard to get back into the swing of things at work after a nice relaxing weekend.

Today is labelled “Blue Monday” which is officially declared as the most depressing day of the year (unless you really didn’t grab that essential Black Friday purchase of course!)

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