The US Surgeon General recently declared an ‘epidemic of loneliness and isolation’ in the US. Meanwhile, in the UK, a new study discovered that a third of workers have a high mental health risk which is being driven by workplace loneliness.

The above statistic is very telling of the fact that a person’s work life plays a huge part in helping to alleviate feelings of loneliness. After all, we spend a vast majority of our time at work, so it’s no wonder that the relationships we form there would have influence over our health and wellbeing.

So, what can employers do to help foster social connection in the workplace?

Firstly, striking a balance between in-person and remote working. Hybrid work has proven to be favorable, but it has its drawbacks; whilst some find it allows them to have a better work-life balance, others have cited that working digitally can contribute to feelings of loneliness. There is no one-size-fits-all solution to this, but it seems that employers who are creating opportunities for social interaction to take place will help to ward off feelings of loneliness and isolation.

However, it’s important to remember that if you want employees to come into work physically, there must be a purpose behind it! Make sure you are doing the more collaborative, innovative work on those days in the office, and not work that they could very easily do from home.

Secondly, it can always be good for employers to host team building events. Not only does this allow for departments within a company to mix and mingle, but it also allows for employees to have the opportunity to bond over something that is not work-related.

It is important to consider that those who have been feeling lonely may also be feeling less confident in their socialising abilities, and so this should be kept in mind when deciding on an exercise that could unite employees.

For example, have staff take part in some volunteer work for the day. This ultimately removes the pressure of socialising as there will be things to attend to, but at the same time it is an environment that is outside of the workplace, and so will hopefully help to encourage more organic connections to form. Plus, it contributes positively to an employer’s corporate social responsibility initiatives!

Lastly, having mental health support programs in place. Those employers who have invested in Employee Assistance Programs will be able to signpost staff that are struggling through the correct channels to get them support with their wellbeing. Choosing not to invest in mental health support can sometimes seem like a necessary sacrifice to cut costs, but ultimately, the worsening mental health of employees will end up costing employers so much more in the long run. One study even estimates that stress-related absenteeism attributed to loneliness costs employers $154 billion annually in the US.

Those employers who are actively investing in supporting and preventing loneliness are helping to improve the physical and mental wellbeing of their staff. There are many studies that suggest that stronger social ties are linked to increasing the likelihood of an individual’s overall survival by as much as 50%. There is also a growing body of evidence that suggests that our brains actually function better when we’re interacting with others and experience togetherness. In contrast, when people feel lonelier, they tend to have higher levels of the stress hormone cortisol, which can leave them much more susceptible to burnout.

Whilst loneliness may seem like a trivial issue, it can have a huge effect on the productivity of your teams, as well as their engagement levels. When your people are your most valuable asset, investing in their wellbeing will likely prove to be the best way of optimizing their capabilities.

If you would like to discuss how we can help implement strategies to mitigate workplace loneliness, please get in touch with me at Brittany@orgshakers.com

Many of us are likely familiar with the famous collection of photographs, Lunch atop a Skyscraper, which depict a group of workers in very precarious – and notably unsafe – positions during the construction of the Empire State Building in 1932.

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Whilst the images are visually stunning, they also highlight a key fact about the state of health and safety regulations almost 100 years ago – they were nearly non-existent!

But over the years, the importance of health and safety in the workplace has increased exponentially all across the world.

In the US, occupational health and safety truly began in 1970, with the passing of the Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Act, and was further improved in 1971 with the establishment of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), which helped to transform the health and safety landscape into what we now see today.

Similarly, in the UK, the first notion of health and safety becoming a legal issue was in 1833 with the introduction of the Factories Act. However, health and safety was only truly brought to the forefront and addressed on a mass scale with the passing of the Health and Safety at Work Act in 1974.

A common thread throughout the history of health and safety at work is that it has always been focused on the physical safety of workers. Today, with new laws in place and with the help of HR, physical risks at work have been significantly mitigated.

This begs the question – what is the next step in the evolution of health and safety?

And the answer that’s emerging is psychological health and safety.

A hundred years ago, the idea of considering one’s mental health a matter of safety at work may have seemed strange – especially to those high-altitude workers accustomed to leaping between girders! – but in the modern world, mental health is a growing area of focus.

One study found that 89% of employees now believe that psychological safety in the workplace is essential. The concern for mental health has been catapulted to the forefront for many due to the pandemic, which brought into perspective the importance of feeling content and supported at work, as it made many realize that life is short and they want the best out of it (we subsequently dubbed this the ‘carpe diem’ mindset).

With psychological safety now lining up alongside wider health and safety concerns for employers, the role of HR in managing this expanding wellbeing portfolio is paramount to ensure that employees are getting the support they need.

If you would like to discuss how we can guide you in this process to ensure that the health and safety needs of your workplace – whether physical or psychological – are being met, please get in touch with us.

On April 23^rd, 2024, the US Department of Labor (DOL) announced a finalized rule which will see the minimum compensation levels increasing for the ‘white collar’ exemptions to the federal Fair Labor Standards Act’s (FLSA) overtime premium pay requirements.

The rule will significantly increase the minimum salary threshold for those who work in an executive, professional, or administrative role (the so called ‘white collar’ exemptions). The threshold will increase across two dates; one on July 1^st, 2024, and the other will follow on January 1^st, 2025.

The current threshold for this exemption is $684 per week ($35,568 annually). This threshold will increase as follows:

• July 1^st, 2024, the threshold will rise to $844 per week ($43,888 annually).
• January 1^st, 2025, the threshold will rise to $1,128 per week ($58,656 annually).

In addition to this, this new rule also increases the minimum annualized salary threshold to qualify for the highly compensated employee (HCE) exemption. As it stands, the current threshold for HCE employees is $107,432 annually, but this will increase as follows:

• July 1^st, 2024, the threshold will rise to $132,964 annually.
• January 1^st, 2025, the threshold will rise to $151,164 annually.

Employees who meet the new minimum pay requirements must also meet all the other requirements of the FLSA exemptions in order to apply for one. For clarity, here are the criteria that need to be met alongside salary for each ‘white collar’ role:

Executive:

• The primary duties of the employee must relate to managing the business, or a department within the business.
• The employee must regularly manage at least two full-time employees, or the equivalent in part-time employees.
• The employee must have the authority to hire or fire employees, or the employee’s recommendations on hiring, firing, and promotions must carry significant weight.

Professional:

• The employee’s primary duties must relate to work that is largely intellectual and involves the regular use of “discretion and independent judgment” (defined by the DOL).
• The employee must work in a field of science or learning.
• The employee must have acquired his or her knowledge through a prolonged course of specialized intellectual instruction.

Administrative:

• The employee’s primary duties must be the performance of office or nonmanual work directly related to the management or general business operations of the company (or the general business operations of the company’s clients).
• The employee must regularly exercise discretion and independent judgment on important matters.

It is important for employers to be aware of these changes so to ensure that the employees who they are enrolling for exemption are still applicable against these new monetary criteria. This will either mean raising salaries to meet these new threshold increases, or formally reclassifying currently exempt employees and making them aware of their eligibility for overtime.

If you would like to discuss how we can help assist you with auditing your current payroll in anticipation of this change, as well as overseeing the management of this change, please get in touch with us.

In recent years, consumers have become much more environmentally conscious; one report even discovered that 90% of Gen X would be willing to spend an extra 10% or more for sustainable products.

This rising concern for the environmental wellbeing of the planet is also having huge effects on the world of work – especially when it comes to attracting and retaining talent. For example, Deloitte’s ConsumerSignals survey found that 27% of workers will consider a potential employer’s position on sustainability before accepting a job. KPMG’s research further strengthens this notion, as they discovered that one-third of young people reject job offers based on a business’s sustainability stance.

So, when it comes to attraction strategies, employers need to be considering their environmental, social and governance (ESG) initiatives, and ensuring that these initiatives are clear and transparent to potential new hires. More specifically, 69% of employees are looking to see if their employers are investing in efforts such as reducing carbon, using renewable energy, and reducing waste.

At the same time, nearly half of Gen Z workers (48%) said they would consider leaving a job that did not follow through on its promises on sustainability. Whilst having a clear commitment to environmental sustainability helps attract talent, following through on this commitment is key to retaining that talent.

And this sentiment is not just limited to younger workers. A report from Unily revealed that 72% of multigenerational office workers expressed concerns regarding environmental ethics, and 65% indicated a greater inclination towards working for companies with robust environmental policies.

What we are seeing is that eco-friendly companies are in high demand across the board, meaning that for employers, doubling-down their environmental support efforts are going to play a huge role in attracting new talent, and retaining current talent. And considering the fact that green jobs – which are defined as roles focused on sustainability and environmentally-friendly activities – now make up a third of job postings in the UK, it’s clear that the working agenda is becoming greener as time goes on.

For those employers who aren’t able to offer a ‘green job’, there are still other ways they can help the planet. Whether this be through tying their charitable initiatives to an environmental cause (this will also help to tick the ‘Social’ box of ESG!) or creating a roadmap to reducing their carbon footprint, there are a number of ways that going green will translate into profitability.

If you would like to discuss how we can help support your company with its environmental strategies, please get in touch with us.  

Taking inspiration from the International Women’s Day 2024 theme – #InspireInclusion – this webinar explores how organizations, leaders, and individuals can create inspiring, equitable workplaces.

For Autism Awareness Month, we have secured ourselves a copy of Untypical: How The World Isn’t Built for Autistic People and What We Should All Do About It by Pete Wharmby.

Pete was diagnosed with autism in his adulthood, and after spending the majority of his career as an English teacher, he is now a full-time author and speaker, advocating for autistic inclusion.

The crux of Untypical is all about remaking the world, and the target audience for this book is any neurotypical adult – whether that be an employer, a parent, a romantic partner…the list goes on! Told through the lens of Pete’s own experiences, and woven with various theories and studies surrounding autism, this book is a great way for those who think neurotypically to gain a deeper understanding of how the world can be fundamentally inaccessible for someone who is neurodivergent.

Pete uses his own experiences to bring the reader into the mind of an autistic person, helping them to understand what it means to be autistic, what to do to be supportive of this, and what to try and avoid doing. It’s a fantastic exploration in empathy, further strengthened by the inclusion of the experiences of a range of autistic people, shedding a light on the intersectionality of autism.

The book offers practical advice for how to better support autistic individuals in key areas of life including personal relationships, in the classroom, and in the workplace. So, for employers, they can expect to find both ‘easy fixes’ and longer-term solutions for making working life for autistic workers easier, in turn optimizing their capabilities, with many of these adjustments having been shown to make the employment experiences of neurotypical people better, too.

Overall, Pete captures the autistic experience expertly, and shines a light on the fact that the world is very much built for neurotypical people. By recognizing the everyday changes that can be made, life for autistic and neurodivergent individuals can become so much more accessible – you just have to know where to start.

If you would like to discuss how OrgShakers can help with optimizing neurodiversity in the workplace, please get in touch with us.

And to grab a copy of Pete’s book, head over here if you’re in the UK, and here if you’re in the US.

Around this time last year, I wrote a piece in response to the rising trends of ‘quiet quitting’, ‘quiet firing’, and ‘quiet hiring’ that begged the question: why are we being so quiet? Why are these issues not being spoken about loudly?

In that context, the ‘loud quitting’ phenomenon we are seeing now has been a bit of a surprise!

Loud quitting has taken TikTok by storm – indeed, it’s also been dubbed ‘QuitTok’ – with workers very publicly quitting their jobs by recording or live streaming themselves doing so … and then posting the results on social media.

The thinking behind this is that workers are feeling empowered within themselves to take control and leave a job they feel was not invested in their wellbeing.

And it’s a rapidly growing phenomenon. The hashtag ‘QuitTok’ has already amassed over 100 million views on TikTok … with X and Instagram postings adding to the melee.

The idea of naming and shaming an employer and posting this on the internet is a generational one; Millennials and Gen Z have grown up digitally native, and so the concept of sharing what was previously considered a very private thing has become much more normalized with the rise of social media.

There is also the influence of ‘cancel culture’ at play. Many young people believe that exposing bad behaviour publicly on the internet is justifiable, and we are seeing this ideology in action with the ‘loud quitting’ trend.

So, what is the key takeaway for HR?

Primarily, this trend is highlighting how important wellbeing support is to younger workers.

Where once it was all about how much you earned, in a post-pandemic world gripped by a ‘carpe diem’ mindset, the younger generations are seeking more than just compensation. They want work-life balance, flexible working, and support for their mental wellbeing.

Whilst the concept of posting yourself quitting online is a bit extreme, it does also highlight how far workers are now going when it comes to seeking proper support.

As well as this, this phenomenon brings to light just how powerful “stay” interviews can be for organizations. These should be harnessed as valuable sources of feedback and insight into workplace issues. This paves the way for employers to begin to address these problems so to improve the retention rate of their staff and shape their future workplace culture into one that better aligns with the needs of their workforce.

If you would like to discuss how OrgShakers can assist you in creating a roadmap for implementing wellbeing strategies, or how we can help to optimize your off-boarding processes, please get in touch with us.  

A report issued by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development found that 72% of carers in the UK are providing care in addition to full-time paid work.

In response to this enormous number, the Carers’ Leave Act was laid before Parliament at the latter end of 2023, and from April 6^th 2024, it will officially go into effect. So, what does this mean for employers?

The new Carers’ Leave Act will most notably introduce an entitlement to one week’s unpaid leave for employees with caring responsibilities. These can be taken as full or half days, and this leave will be a day-one right – that is, employees will have the right to request this leave from their first day of employment.

For employees to request this flexible leave, they will need to offer advance notice that is at least twice the length of the time being requested as leave, plus one day (for example, if an employee requests two days off, they need to make this request at least five working days prior).

There will be a variety of factors and criterion that have to be considered in order for a worker to qualify for this leave (are they a primary carer? Who is the dependant? Does the dependant have a long-term care need?). The finer details of the Carers’ Leave Act can be found here for employers to review.

This new Act is being introduced in order to highlight the need for employers to begin supporting those employees who double as working carers. Previously, a working carer was expected to use other kinds of leave in order to care for a loved one who was in need of care, such as flexible working arrangements or annual leave, but now this Act provides the entitlement to specific leave dedicated to these caring needs.

Therefore, employers should be ensuring that, before April 6^th, they are updating or creating new policies that reflect this new legislation. They should also be communicating to their teams how to go about requesting this leave and what criteria has to be met to be entitled to it. Employers may also decide whether or not they want to offer this leave as paid leave either in full or in part, or whether it will be a week of unpaid leave.

At OrgShakers, we have always been passionate about the support of unpaid carers in the workplace, as those employers who can successfully recognize and support these workers are going to be in the best position to optimize their productivity. If you would like to discuss how we can help support your business in creating working carers policies, please get in touch with us.

Happy employees are productive employees – 13% more productive to be exact.

But in days past, keeping an employee ‘happy’ was usually intrinsically linked with the amount of money they were being paid. If their salary was good, and their performance was methodically rewarded, then this tended to spark contentment in the general worker.

However, we are now beginning to discover that making employees happy is no longer that straightforward. Matt Phelan’s recent book The Happiness Index is a testament to this, as it identifies the 24 sub-drivers of happiness and engagement at work. Yes, 24! But of these, there are some that have a stronger driving force than others; a recent survey from Wondr Health discovered that 30.1% of employees believe that building friendships was the key to fostering happiness at work, in comparison to only 12% who cited financial freedom. What’s even more interesting to note is that financial freedom ranked fourth, below physical and emotional health and wellbeing (21.5%) and engaging in activities that spark joy (16.8%).

Our own poll findings affirm this notion, as when we asked respondents what makes them feel happiest at work, 49% said it was the people they worked with, and 40% said it was the purpose their job gave them.

So, why is salary less of a concern, and what has taken its place as the key factor for fostering employee happiness?

There are two primary forces at play: the post-pandemic mindset and the flood of Gen Z into the workplace.

Since the pandemic, there has been a ‘carpe diem’ mindset emerge. After being faced with our mortality, it’s become common to use this as a point of reflection and determine what we really want to do and achieve with our time. This has driven a major shift in focus towards wellbeing, physical and mental health, and work-life balance. A report from Hays confirms this, as it revealed more than half (56%) of employees are willing to accept a lower-paid job in exchange for a better work-life balance.

What’s working in conjunction with this shift is the fact that Gen Z are now embedded into the workplace, with 27% of the workforce expected to be made up of these younger workers in 2025. With this influx of young talent also comes new ideals and values; Gen Z are the first generation to be socialised in a world with the internet readily available, and so it is no wonder that what they value and expect from work has evolved. For example, 77% of Gen Zers only want to work for a company whose values align with their own. They are more eco-conscious, they don’t shy away from previously taboo topics such as mental health, and they are notably the most diverse workforce in history.

As employers look to attracting new young talent into their businesses, they need to consider that a decent salary – whilst important – is not enough on its own to foster happiness and contentment amongst employees. Instead, salary is playing second (or maybe even third) fiddle to the rising importance of work-life balance and wellbeing support. If you would like to discuss how we can help you implement these changes into your talent attraction strategy, please get in touch with us.

Gen Z are flooding into the workplace, and with this assimilation they bring to light conversations around work-life balance, environmentalism, and the importance of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). And it is no wonder we’re seeing the latter take place; a recent study discovered that 36% of students and graduates identify as LGBTQ+.

And yet, a survey by the Williams Institute found that nearly half of LGBTQ+ workers (46%) have experienced unfair treatment at work at some point in their lives – and many reported engaging in ‘covering’ behaviors (that is, trying to conceal their sexual or gender identity to appear heteronormative) to avoid harassment and discrimination at work.

As someone who resides in a relatively ‘prideful’ London, it can be a shock to see that so many LGBTQ+ people are still subject to this discrimination in contemporary society.

With this being the most openly queer generation to date, it is no wonder that those companies who are on top of their inclusion initiatives around LGBTQ+ support are the most favorable workplaces. And with a third of the workforce predicted to be made up of Gen Z workers by 2030, it is so important for companies to ensure they are building a culture at work that is fostering feelings of safety and belonging.

So, what are the key ingredients for reinforcing LGBTQ+ inclusion in the workplace?

• DEI Programs – whether this be training programs, employee resource groups, or creating mentoring opportunities, it is important for employers to have one or more of these programs in place in order to continue driving their DEI agenda.
• Inclusive Policies – ensure that your policies are inclusive to all when designing them, taking into account specific policies you may need when addressing LGBTQ+ related issues (for example, same-sex parental leave policies, leave for reassignment surgery, bereavement leave for the loss of a child through surrogacy, etc.)
• Role Models – having diverse leaders can really help to highlight that opportunities in your company are available to all and attainable by all.
• Recruit for Culture-Add – hiring for ‘culture fit’ can sometimes feel like the comfortable option, but by hiring a diverse set of people who think differently and have differing life experiences, this can open up opportunities to break into new markets and consider new innovations. At the same time, it will also help to diversify your team and grow the culture of your company.
• LGBTQ+ Workshops – having regular LGBTQ+ workshops throughout the year can be so helpful to stay on top of the most up-to-date and inclusive terminology to be using. These will also promote the use of inclusive language in the workplace to help make everyone feel comfortable (for example, encouraging the use of the term ‘partner’ when discussing your significant other no matter your sexuality can be a signifier to queer people that they can comfortably share parts of their personal life at work).

The future of the workforce is set to be bright (and colorful!), and so fostering an inclusive workplace environment is key to creating a sustainable business. If you would like guidance on creating this inclusion roadmap and implementing this at the core of your company, please get in touch with us.                             

That’s right – another buzzword has entered the mix.

‘Coffee badging’ may sound a bit peculiar, but it is essentially when an employee comes into the office very briefly, taps in with their identity card, then grabs a coffee and mingles with colleagues for a short stint before leaving to work the rest of the day from home.

According to a recent survey of 2,000 full-time workers in the US, more than half (58%) of hybrid workers admitted to coffee badging.

The trend seems to be rising in popularity in conjunction with the increased return-to-office mandates we seem to be seeing. As companies continue to try and force their employees back into the office full-time, employees seem to be revolting against this by poking their heads in for a quick coffee and then slipping back out again.

A huge reason for this is that many employees enjoy having hybrid and remote working privileges; one in five workers dread working from an office, and less than one in ten (8%) want to be in an office every day. One study even discovered that companies that issued return-to-office mandates experienced no improvement in financial performance, and 99% of them saw a drop in their employees’ overall job satisfaction.

The tug-of-war between employers wanting their employees in the office and employees wanting to work from home has been going on since lockdown ended. And whilst some solutions are being trialled – hybrid working where everyone comes into the office the same days, a 4-day working week entirely onsite – we are not seeing any that seem to stick.

What employers need to do is reverse engineer the problem in order to find the solution; in this case, workers are dissatisfied with coming into the office because all the work they do in the office they can do just as easily from home (except at home, they can save money on travel, work more comfortably, and lessen commuting time). It’s no wonder many of them don’t want to come into the office, because there is not a clear incentive to.

This is where companies need to focus their efforts. Demanding employees return to the office without a real reason insinuates a lack of trust in your team. Instead, employers must consider the fact that the role of the office has evolved in the modern working world, and therefore focus on optimizing the areas of onsite working that cannot be mimicked at home.

The most obvious one is face-to-face collaboration. It can be creatively stifling to attempt to exchange ideas over a Zoom call, but in a meeting room you can bounce off of each other. In this sense, the office has taken on the role of an ‘idea hub’ whose purpose is to encourage cohesion and the exchange of innovative ideas – all the while strengthening the interpersonal bonds between colleagues and leaders.

So, if you would like to discuss how we can help assist you in optimizing your organizational effectiveness when it comes to hybrid working, and ward off the coffee badging mindset, please get in touch with us.

In a move that underscores the evolving landscape of workplace benefits, the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) has recently unveiled a groundbreaking parental leave policy. Effective from 1 July 2024, this policy not only represents a significant step forward in the realm of employee benefits, but also marks an important shift in the paradigm for Human Resources (HR) management worldwide. Understanding this shift is crucial for firms aiming to stay ahead in the competitive global market.

LSEG’s new policy offers an impressive 26 weeks of fully paid leave to all employees with more than 12 months’ service who are welcoming a child into their family. This is irrespective of the parent’s gender, how they become a parent, or their location, ensuring equal opportunity for all LSEG parents to engage in child caregiving. This initiative is a substantial leap towards achieving true Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) in the workplace, setting a global benchmark that other organizations are likely to follow.

Why does this matter for HR?

            1.         Attracting and Retaining Talent: In today’s job market, where competition for top talent is fiercer than ever, benefits like LSEG’s parental leave policy can be a significant differentiator. By offering such forward-thinking benefits, companies can attract a more diverse talent pool and retain employees who value family-friendly workplace policies.

            2.         Promoting Gender Equality: Traditional parental leave policies often reinforce gender stereotypes by assuming primary caregiving roles for one gender over the other. LSEG’s gender-neutral policy challenges these norms, promoting a more inclusive environment that supports and encourages shared parental responsibilities.

            3.         Supporting Work-Life Balance: The addition of an eight-week phased return to work, with employees working 80% of their normal hours at full pay, acknowledges the challenges of balancing professional and personal responsibilities. This approach can lead to healthier, more productive employees.

            4.         Enhanced Support for Neonatal Care: Recognizing the additional challenges faced by families with children requiring neonatal care, LSEG’s enhanced leave policy provides critical support during difficult times. This consideration reflects a deeper understanding of employee needs and a commitment to supporting them through life’s challenges.

LSEG’s policy is more than just a generous employee benefit; it is a statement on the importance of nurturing an inclusive, supportive, and equitable workplace culture. For HR professionals, it serves as a clear indicator of the shifting expectations towards employee welfare and the role of organizations in facilitating this. As firms navigate the complexities of the modern workforce, adapting to these shifts is not just beneficial but essential for sustainable growth and success.

For HR professionals and firms worldwide, this new global parental leave policy highlights the importance of re-evaluating traditional policies and practices to align with the evolving expectations of the workforce. As we move forward, embracing such paradigm shifts in HR will be pivotal in building more resilient, inclusive, and competitive organizations. If you would like to discuss how we can help you with your policy creation, please get in touch with us.