'Within the space of a few short weeks, the gloomy forecasts of rising joblessness after the furlough scheme ended have morphed into stories of labour shortages and the ‘great resignation’. What is clear is that post-lockdown Britain is a turbulent place and that some employers are struggling to keep up.'

'Over the past decade there has been considerable progress made in our understanding of the importance of workplace health – not just for the individual, but for business and wider society.'

'Whatever your personal judgements about the causes of a health condition, we will get better outcomes if we provide support rather than vilification Obesity represents one of the most urgent public health challenges. In the UK one in 25 10- and 11-year-old children are severely obese, and by 2035 the number of adults who are morbidly obese is forecast to double.'

'What do the next generation of HR leaders think the future of HR looks like? When we ponder the people management challenges of the future we are used to seeking out the wise words of HR practitioners (and thinkers?) whose authority and wisdom derives in part from their years of hard-won experience.'

'When we consider the intergenerational ‘mix’ that many UK workplaces are now seeking to manage, it is easy to forget that the HR profession itself comprises a diverse demographic. I was reminded of this recently at the sixth annual conference of the European HR Director’s Circle in Lisbon.'

'Leaving home for work and arriving back in darkness is a common experience for commuters at this time of year. The train carriages on wet winter mornings are often full of people who look bleary-eyed, haunted and silently resigned to the ordeal of public transport. And all this before they even get to the office.'

'How does the prospect of working until you are 70 sound? Speaking to graduates recently as they took their first steps into the world of work, I was struck by how remote this prospect seemed to them.'

'Regulation and persuasion are ineffective. Is there a third way to encourage investment? At certain stages in the economic cycle it is widely regarded as important that as many employers as possible ramp up the kinds of activity that help grow productivity.'

'Despite the good news around employment figures, the UK still seems to be stuck in a low pay, low productivity cycle. While there are political skirmishes about the minimum wage, the Living Wage and the need to see higher real wage growth before people will start to feel the recovery, the debate about low productivity remains unsophisticated.'

'Despite recent good news about the UK jobs market, we still face a struggle to raise levels of productivity to anything like their pre-crisis levels. From a human capital perspective it is clear that we need to do more to maximise the skills, engagement and wellbeing of the workforce.'

'Leaders are often touted as charismatic, hero-type figures, but it's time we looked beyond the rhetoric. Line managers have more influence over organisational success, but are squeezed from above and below.'

'As top pay comes under scrutiny in annual meetings, it becomes clear that financial incentives aren't the best motivators. This week we are expected to believe that investment bankers and other high-flyers in finance are only motivated by money.'

'As I’m sure you know, the term ‘decimate’ has its origins in the Roman army where, to snuff out the risk of mutiny or punish disobedience, one in 10 soldiers in a cohort would be killed. In a nice twist, it was usually fellow soldiers who were forced to carry out the clubbings and stonings.'

'The ‘people’ or human capital contribution to the fragile economic recovery will rely on three key assets. They are: the skills base of the workforce and employers’ capacity to make good use of it; the level of engagement felt by the workforce and their willingness to ‘go the extra mile’; and the health and wellbeing of the workforce and its impact on productivity.'

'Not for the first time, I’ve just discovered something I’ve been doing for years has a fancy new name. In many ways, of course, this is a good thing. In my experience, many HR professionals are custodians of a whole bunch of data which they haven't got the time or, in some cases, the imagination to mine or explore sufficiently.'

'A young relative of mine was recently delighted to be offered a job in sales. His family were relieved. At last he could start out in the world of work and begin building an independent life. Although I’m no employment lawyer, he asked me to look through his offer letter and contract.'

Technology, I’m told, is cool. Pictures of people queuing impatiently at midnight to get their hands on the next version of a sleek tablet or smartphone clearly show technology has powerful and seductive qualities that are hard to resist.

'In March 2009, in Pontonx-sur-l’Adour, south-west France, Serge Foucher, CEO of Sony France, was taken hostage by workers in one of the company’s factories, which was due to close with the loss of 300 jobs. The workers objected to both the closure itself and the severance terms on offer.'

'For too many people, getting home after a hard day at work is not the comfort that it should be. Indeed, for an increasing number, the pressure at home may be even more intense than the pressure at work, and this may affect their performance in their job.'

'Len is a long-service civil servant five years off retirement. He works in IT. His department, like all of Whitehall, has been making job cuts in response to the Government’s drive to reduce headcount in the public sector. Len opted for voluntary redundancy, as his wife, a teacher, was also close to retirement and they wanted to spend more time together.'

'I have been researching workforce health and wellbeing for almost 20 years. I have looked at the causes, costs and consequences of sickness absence, presenteeism, patterns and at the trends in workplace health and the management practices likely to improve wellbeing.'

'Compared with 20 years ago, employers are now much more likely to be open to the view employee well-being is a mainstream business issue. Some are even becoming more comfortable with the notion that they have some role to play in supporting their staff to make and sustain lifestyle changes, such as losing weight, quitting smoking or eating more healthily.'

'In my first year at university, we were set an essay to discuss that ‘the business of business is business’. Former GM CEO Alfred P Sloan was the originator of this quotation, embellished in 1970 – ‘The social responsibility of business is to increase its profits’ – by none other than Milton Friedman, famous economist of the free market Chicago School.'

'There seems to be no end in sight to the gloomy economic outlook: growth stagnant, unemployment still growing, fear of job losses high and pressure on workers and families building. Business continuity – keeping on track when the firm is buffeted by external shocks – has become a major challenge.'

'The labour market in the UK is going through one of its periodic convulsions. Just when we had hoped that perhaps unemployment would hold at around 2.6 million, forecasters are expecting it to hit three million before things get better.'

'This is the time of year when thousands of 18-year-olds are busy on applications for university.This cohort is the first to be liable to annual fees up to £9,000 and the normal anxiety about predicted grades and 'personal statements' is heightened by the prospect of a sizeable debt and a hostile labour market for graduates, as well as for many other young people.'

'August used to be the height of the newspaper ‘silly season’. Nothing of note happened. Important people were in Tuscany, skateboarding dogs and ice cream sales filled the tabloids. But August 2011 has been different. Jittery financial markets and riots have made for a gloomy summer, journalists and politicians more introspective and sober than in previous years.'