Working fathers need flexibility too! Encouraging gender equality in parenting

“Being a father means you have to think fast on your feet. You must be judicious, wise, brave, tender, and willing to put on a frilly hat and sit down to a pretend tea party.”

Matthew Buckley, Fatherhood: The Manliest Profession

The debate around parental leave is one that seems to be ongoing and in light of the latest British Social Attitudes survey, the results demonstrate that despite being in 2019, that there is still a strong view towards mothers taking the lead on parental leave.

Despite the shifting dynamics of UK households, a time where women have a focus upon their career and are quickly becoming the main source of income within thousands of households, it begs the question; what can we do to change the view on fathers taking time out to bring up their children equally with mothers?

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Could two million of the UK’s lowest paid workers soon be eligible for Statutory Sick Pay?

Today it has been announced that millions of the UK’s low-paid workers could become eligible for Statutory Sick Pay for the first time under new government proposals.

The Department for Work and Pensions announced that they would be consulting on new policies which it claims, could help businesses support and retain employees with disabilities and health conditions, it is proposed that this would be achieved by lowering the eligibility threshold for Statutory Sick Pay (SSP).

As with any changes to Government policies, this is met with both pros and cons, and today there has been plenty of debate following the announcement with multiple differing perspectives, including a rather interesting talking point on Radio Two!

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CIPD Level 7 dissertation – done! #ICSrealstories

“Learning experiences are like journeys. The journey starts where the learning is now, and ends when the learner is successful. The end of the journey isn’t knowing more, it’s doing more”. 

Julie Dirksen

I know I don’t normally publish a blog post every time I complete a piece of work on my CIPD Level 7 journey but today will be an exception as I finally pushed the submit button on my dissertation! It is admittedly the biggest and most time consuming challenge for Level 7 students, so I hope by writing this, it can provide some much needed reassurance around tackling the Investigating a Business Issue module.

A lot of people I speak to are really intimidated by this particular module, I am not sure if it is due the the 7000 word count and reflective report or if it is simply the volume of work involved, but if you are umming and ahhing like I was over this, then I promise it really isn’t as scary as you think!

Firstly, remember that this module is meant to be a challenge, after all, nothing worth working for comes easily, so do keep this in mind when approaching this module. I’ve pulled together some learning points that may help you when it comes to approaching this piece of work so I hope you find it useful.

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What is imposter syndrome and how can you overcome it?

“We all have doubts in our abilities, about our power and what that power is”

Michelle Obama

Do you ever feel like a fraud? Are you ever overcome with feelings of doubt in respect of your capabilities at work? If so, then you could be one of the thousands of people who experience imposter syndrome.

I have just finished reading Michelle Obama’s book for the second time and this particular subject, whilst it certainly isn’t new, is one that so many overlook and it can be a really confidence knock. It was a part of her book that really resonated with me, many times in my career I have experienced not being taken seriously, that led me to think that there is a problem with how I present myself to others.

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How can HR support those struggling with mental health?

“People are scared to talk about it, but they should be scared about not talking about it.”

Prince Harry

There is currently a lot of buzz around the subject of mental health, but whilst we debate about it, how can we really get to grips with managing mental health within our organisations?

This post is just a simple outline of how you can start to structure those trickier conversations and allow people to speak openly about their mental health at work. It is important to remember that the steps towards positive mental health cultures begin with creating a safe space within our organisations.

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