The Latest Bulletin

The Cancer Challenge: Coping with Cancer When Someone You Love is Diagnosed by Hannah Mann Learning that someone you love has cancer can be a devastating experience. It can generate a wide range of emotions and leave you quite unsure about what to do. You will want to be supportive, of course. But what will help? What are the things you shouldn’t do in case they are perceived as unhelpful or inappropriate? This practical guide helps you to think through the issues involved.  Click here to read more

Unfortunately, there is very strong tendency for many people to think in black and white terms – a sort of ‘all or nothing’ approach. It is as if there is a strong urge to assign things to one category or another. This is what I call either/or thinking. Others have referred to it as ‘binary’ thought. In reality, life is much more complex than that, and so either/or thinking prevents us from appreciating the subtleties of the situations we find ourselves in. It places a sort of straitjacket on our way of understanding whatever it is we are trying to make sense of. Of course, an important thing to recognise is that thought is so often the basis of action.…

Many households earn too little to pay for basic necessities, and to save for an uncertain future. Over a third of households now owe more in debt that they have saved, and millions more face falling into trouble in the event of a financial shock they cannot avoid. In our new briefing note, Walking the Tightrope - Savings and Debt Inequality in Great Britain, we find that: 6.5 million households are in debt, or face the prospect of falling into debt within a month, should they lose their jobs. Over 40 per cent of non-retired households have too little saved to pay even a month’s worth of household bills. 5.5 million households owe more in debt than they have saved. Many families are also…

Around half of HR professionals believe that senior business leaders don’t have the people management behaviours and skills needed to get the best from their people, according to the latest CIPD HR Outlook survey of HR professionals. Performance management and people management were voted the top leadership behaviours and skills needed by organisations over the next three years. However, out of those who chose performance management, more than half (53%) said senior leaders’ current skills in this area were ineffective. Similarly, 44% of HR professionals felt senior leaders’ people management skills were ineffective. Click here to read more

From a startup tackling isolation among the rural elderly population in Devon, to a veteran organisation working in a number of northern towns and cities, social enterprises are playing a part in meeting the growing need for social care services across the country. In a recent survey, 10% of social enterprises listed social care as their principal activity. But why are they involved, and what are the benefits for staff and service users? Click here to read more

Friday 3 February 2017. Join over 200 people from across the public, private and third sectors to learn and share the latest best practice on creating an inclusive workplace for all of your lesbian, gay, bi and trans (LGBT) staff. There is new content including sessions focused on inclusive service delivery, supporting trans staff, building and sustaining ally networks and exploring multiple identities. Return to your organisation with practical ideas to make a lasting impact for all LGBT people. Click here to read more

The Cancer Challenge: Coping with Cancer When Someone You Love is Diagnosed by Hannah Mann Learning that someone you love has cancer can be a devastating experience. It can generate a wide range of emotions and leave you quite unsure about what to do. You will want to be supportive, of course. But what will help? What are the things you shouldn’t do in case they are perceived as unhelpful or inappropriate? This practical guide helps you to think through the issues involved.  Click here to read more

Sadly, I have known several people who had various things they were keen to do when they retired, but died either before being able to retire or soon after they retired. What I learned from that is that I really must make space for the things I want to do and do them sooner rather than later. Putting all the eggs in the one basket of retirement is a risky strategy. But it isn’t just about retirement – the issue is broader than that. It is likely, for most of us, that there will be things that we are not putting on hold for retirement, but we are not getting round to them either. This is more than everyday procrastination…

Modern life can be challenging and, at times, stressful. Young people are struggling to get on the property ladder while the so-called ‘sandwich generation’ has to juggle supporting both children and elderly relatives. It’s no surprise that the difficulties of balancing workplace demands and personal lives is becoming an increasing problem. Changing demographics and demanding jobs are contributing to a vicious cycle, which starts with a gradual build-up of stress and sleepless nights, leading to underperformance at work, absence, and ultimately, long-term sick leave. A recent report titled ‘Breaking the Cycle‘ highlights the potent combination of both professional and personal stress, revealing that one in four employees have taken time off work due to stress in the last year -…

Charities working with women released from prison say that some are breaching their parole conditions or committing further crimes so that they will be returned to jail – because their lives on the outside are so bleak. Many of the women seek a return to prison because they have nowhere to live, fear an abusive partner or have unmet mental health needs. The trend – which is particularly notable around Christmas – highlights what campaigners say is a chronic lack of concern for the women’s welfare upon release. “Christmas is a really difficult time if they haven’t got family,” said Joy Doal, who runs the Anawim project in Birmingham, which helps female prisoners. “Many have come from care and have…