HR musings with added sparkle!
Happy Valentine’s Day everyone!
I thought that on today of all days it would be a perfect opportunity to talk about why it is important to love what we do every day.
Work may be seen as a typical 9-5 necessity, but it is, in fact, a big part of our lives, with 1/3 of your life is spent at work, that’s 90,000 hours over the course of a lifetime! With that in mind, can you really afford to spend all of that time in a career you simply don’t enjoy?
Many people reading the title of this post will be wondering why is employee financial wellbeing important, and what does it have to do with me as an employer?
Financial worries account for the majority of stress felt by employees in the workplace today, this can be attributed to the rising costs of living combined with the stagnation of salaries. However, the impact that personal finances has on your employee’s health in terms of poor psychological wellbeing, higher stress and anxiety levels, can be felt heavily by the employer such as increased levels of absence and lower levels of productivity.
Continue reading “How can employers effectively support employee financial wellbeing?”
Fleetwood Mac are one of the worlds longest standing and best selling bands of all time, but behind the scenes, there was a substantial amount of conflict, giving a fantastic example of how conflict can be effectively managed yet production of work and standards remain high.
The song Go Your Own Way, was written about the breakdown in relationship between Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks, and in fact the whole Rumours album was apartied to the imploding relationships throughout the whole band. If you look at the footage of that era, you can see the distain and strain upon the various relationships, yet they performed on stage and recorded together as a collective. This is often referred to as having a case of the “Mac” and situations like this are not unusual within our workplaces.
So how was this managed so well? Conflict management is incredibly complex and a subject that line managers spend a lot of time on, at the end of the day, we don’t have to get along with everyone that we work with, but we do have to be professional and abide by the policies and procedures outlined by the company.
As I write this blog post, instead of sitting in my usual spot, the office at home, I thought I would continue the festive mood by sitting by the Christmas tree with it’s beautiful twinkling lights whilst drinking a cup of tea and a mince pie. You cannot get more festive than this!
Christmas is a time of year conjures up a mixture of thoughts and feelings, it is also a season of familiarity, full of traditions and not to mention an endless to do list. Whilst most soak up the atmosphere of the festive season, one thing that people think of, yet often forget to do is reflect upon the year that we are about to leave behind; sometimes we just need to take stock amongst the overflowing preparations to organise ourselves for the fresh year that awaits.
Today’s post is particularly personal to me; it is often said that we can forgive and we don’t necessarily forget, well this I can relate to and is true. I can honestly say that this is one of the most difficult posts I have ever written, but I now feel strong enough to be able to finally talk about it.
When I was in my twenties, I met someone who influenced so many aspects of my life, some were for the better such as how I shaped my career; but others were not so good such as how relationships are not supposed to be.
Continue reading “HR acts of kindness advent calendar; day 19, forgiveness”
Natalie Ellis HR 