Covid-19 Resources: HR blogs

Ed Griffin looks at the steps businesses need to take to tackle the coronavirus crisis, urging compassion and sensitivity from management and HR.

In light of the Covid-19 pandemic, Ed Griffin reflects on a framework of questions that can help HR professionals navigate the process of making difficult and challenging decisions.

What can employers of Coronavirus key workers do to aid staff welfare and morale? Dr Alison Carter considers the evidence-based benefits of coaching and its potential to enhance resilience and wellbeing.

Stephen Bevan considers the plight of the many millions of new homeworkers and how this dramatic shift in working pattern could affect their physical and emotional wellbeing.

In a guest blog originally published by the Society for Occupational Medicine, Stephen Bevan looks at the challenges facing homeworking parents and what bosses can do to both recognise and alleviate the pressure.

Stephen Bevan looks at the impact of COVID-19 on the social gradient and the challenges facing policymakers if the social gradient graph in income and job quality is to be prevented from getting steeper.

Using data from the IES Working at Home Wellbeing survey, Beth Mason considers ways in which homeworking is reportedly having a positive impact on people’s work and lifestyle.

Dr Duncan Brown considers the long-standing need to deliver better pay and career progression for care workers, with recommendations including transitioning the social care workforce onto the NHS Agenda for Change pay structure.

Julie Vanderleyden and Stephen Bevan consider the link between precarious employment and employee wellbeing, and the capacity for both policymakers and employers to influence the relationship between the two.

Based on recent IES research into factors that influence psychological and physical health in the seafaring community, Zofia Bajorek looks at how the findings might help employers and workers in other sectors to ‘tune’ their own policies and practices.

Dan Lucy considers the challenges faced by managers working remotely, whilst highlighting the potential opportunities to develop more effective ways of managing their teams to better meet the current context.

In a guest blog, Professor Duncan Lewis warns that the challenges of remote management could lead to an increase in bullying and harassment - highlighting the need for managers to use emotional intelligence and new techniques to promote cohesion and trust.

In a guest blog, workplace wellbeing expert James Rind, shares key questions organisations should be asking employees, in order to adapt their wellbeing strategies to meet new and disrupted ways of working.

In National Carers week Dr Zofia Bajorek reflects on the impact that the Covid-19 lockdown has had on the wellbeing and employment outcomes informal carers and how any lessons learnt should be sustained in the next phases of economic recovery and the ‘return to the new normal’.

In a guest-authored blog, Dr Jasmine Kelland considers how many parents are re-evaluating their work life balance as a consequence of their experience during the pandemic - and the challenges this presents to the HR function in a post-lockdown landscape.

Ed Griffin considers the complexities of conducting a Covid-19 workplace risk assessment and the challenges facing HR in making sure returning staff have the right support.

With home and remote working now normalised for many, Peter Reilly questions whether there will be any fundamental changes to HR shared services centres in larger, physically dispersed organisations.

Ed Griffin highlights the issues and challenges facing the adult social care workforce and stresses the importance of creating an overarching workforce plan, that will build, develop and support the workers providing this critical service.

To mark World Mental Health Day, Zofia Bajorek reflects on her personal mental health challenges through the Covid-19 lockdown and highlights the potential benefits that workplace counselling can deliver.

With conflicting evidence and mixed reports from both employers and staff, Dan Lucy considers the future of homeworking and the implications for HR.

With many staff now working from home, employers are exploring new ways to monitor their workforce. Dan Lucy looks at the impact of new forms of surveillance and their potential threat to employee relations.

Zofia Bajorek highlights the issue of increased alcohol consumption during lockdown and what can employers do to help staff who are using alcohol as a coping mechanism.

In a guest-authored blog, Tejal Fatania considers the sources of stress which can be experienced during the Covid-19 pandemic and suggests how employers can minimise negative staff impacts.

To mark World Cancer Day, cancer survivor Stephen Bevan highlights how the Covid-19 pandemic may result in cancer patients dropping down the list of priorities for some employers - just at the time when they most need support.

In his latest blog Dr Duncan Brown considers the key points from a new report by the Women and Equalities Committee, looking at the gendered economic impact of the Coronavirus.

Zofia Bajorek considers learning points from the year-long 'working from home experiment' highlighting the need for employers to adapt to the increasing demand for flexible working in a post-lockdown environment.

Zofia Bajorek details strategies for remote line management and the role of HR in supporting line mangers now and in the future.

Zofia Bajorek considers the physical toll that long working hours can have on the human body - and what can employers do to address a better work/life balance where workplace flexibility and hybrid working patterns are increasing in popularity.

With hybrid working and the desire for greater workplace autonomy becoming more commonplace, Zofia Bajorek considers the use of idiosyncratic deals (i-deals), where special conditions of employment are offered to individual workers.

In light of the government’s open consultation on flexible working proposals coming to an end, Astrid Allen looks at the limitations of legislation versus the need for cultural change and how some progressive employers are maximising the recruitment and cost benefits that flexibility can deliver.

With the government once again invoking work from home guidance where possible, Stephen Bevan reflects on evidence-based research from the first wfh ‘experiment’ and highlights the resilience and agility of managers and organisations when needing to pivot quickly to ‘keep the lights on’.

With primary care workers once again on the frontline of a national emergency pandemic response, Dr Alison Carter reflects on a recent major evaluation study of an NHS coaching service to support frontline primary care workers as they respond to the evolving threat of Covid-19.

Claire Campbell reflects on a tumultuous year for HR, highlighting the value of important lessons learnt from 2021 and reasons to feel optimistic about the year ahead.