Employee wellbeing post-pandemic

07/13/21 • 38 min

Employee wellbeing has risen up the corporate agenda during the pandemic. However, this is set to become an even bigger issue in the coming months, as HR and legal teams navigate the impact of hybrid working, the right to work flexibly, the end of furlough, long Covid and more.

How can employers address the stigma around mental health and wellbeing? What does proportionate support look like? And what new risks and challenges do they face?

In this episode, we discuss:

The right to disconnect – what is it, how does it work, and could it work in the UK? With insights from Deirdre Lynch, partner at ByrneWallace LLP in the Republic of Ireland.
Gender equality – with more women planning to work from home after the pandemic than men, is “proximity bias” and backwards progress on gender equality in the workplace inevitable?
Remote line management – how can employers make sure they’re spotting the signs and giving the right support to line managers and employees working remotely?
Common themes in employment tribunal claims – including the growth of psychiatric injury claims, and the importance of early intervention and being able to show that you’ve taken proactive steps to support employees with their mental health and wellbeing.

We also explain how TLT is using the Mindful Business Charter to reduce unnecessary stress in the workplace and show respect for colleagues’ wellbeing.

Send us your questions and we'll answer them in a future episode – email [email protected] or tweet us using the hashtag #TLTemploymentpodcast and tag @TLT_Employment

You can find out more about our employment team at tltsolicitors.com/employment

If you’ve enjoyed listening, please rate us and write a review.

How can employers address the stigma around mental health and wellbeing? What does proportionate support look like? And what new risks and challenges do they face?

In this episode, we discuss:

The right to disconnect – what is it, how does it work, and could it work in the UK? With insights from Deirdre Lynch, partner at ByrneWallace LLP in the Republic of Ireland.
Gender equality – with more women planning to work from home after the pandemic than men, is “proximity bias” and backwards progress on gender equality in the workplace inevitable?
Remote line management – how can employers make sure they’re spotting the signs and giving the right support to line managers and employees working remotely?
Common themes in employment tribunal claims – including the growth of psychiatric injury claims, and the importance of early intervention and being able to show that you’ve taken proactive steps to support employees with their mental health and wellbeing.

We also explain how TLT is using the Mindful Business Charter to reduce unnecessary stress in the workplace and show respect for colleagues’ wellbeing.

Send us your questions and we'll answer them in a future episode – email [email protected] or tweet us using the hashtag #TLTemploymentpodcast and tag @TLT_Employment

You can find out more about our employment team at tltsolicitors.com/employment

If you’ve enjoyed listening, please rate us and write a review.

Previous Episode

The impact of workplace technology on employees

Should HR be more involved in the design and rollout of workplace technology?

Will modern technology force us to replace roles (performed by people) with functions (performed by people, technology, robots and algorithms)?

At what point do employees start to resent technology impinging on their jobs? When it can do 10%, 20% or 30% of their role faster and better than they can?

These are just some of the questions we explore in this episode on workplace technology and its impact on employees. Jonathan Rennie and Sarah Maddock in our employment team are joined by Emma Erskine-Fox from our data privacy and cybersecurity team.

We dig into this complex topic and highlight the issues HR and legal teams need to be aware of, and share our thoughts, cases and practical tips.

Our news section covers a rare case where the tribunal gave some useful advice and a stark warning against allowing your equalities training to go “stale”.

Our listener’s question asks about dismissal and reengagement or “firing and rehiring”, which has become increasingly popular during the pandemic. Read our short guide to this practice.

Note: since we recorded this episode, the court in the Netherlands has ordered Uber to reinstate the five British drivers who were struck off by robot technology.

Send us your questions and we'll answer them in a future episode – email [email protected] or Tweet us using the hashtag #TLTemploymentpodcast and tag @TLT_Employment

You can find out more about our employment team at tltsolicitors.com/employment

If you’ve enjoyed listening, please rate us and write a review.

Next Episode

The rise of the disability agenda

After Me Too and Black Lives Matter, there are growing signs that disability could be the next recipient of a major social media movement, not to mention new legal duties for employers.

In the UK, the government has published a new National Disability Strategy including mandatory reporting for employers, the employment gap is impossible to ignore, and the Tokyo Paralympics sparked the campaign WeThe15 representing the world’s 1.2 billion people with a disability.

But are employers ready for this? Disability varies wildly from other areas of equality law, and as PageGroup CEO and disability rights champion Steve Ingham recently said, many employers simply think: “It’s too complex an issue to grapple with” and therefore don’t engage.

We discuss:

Why this is such a complex area of employment law, and why employers should act now
The merits of pay gap reporting and quotas, but more importantly, the need for an inclusive workplace culture
Employer attitudes when deciding what is/is not a disability
The different types of disability discrimination and knowledge tests
The tricky business of using medical reports

We also explain cases covering:

Concealment of a disability
Assuming the knowledge of your agents
“Reasonable” adjustments including cost

Our listener question looks at four-day working weeks and what employers should consider when defining the scope of a trial.

Useful link: EHRC Code of Practice

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Send us your questions and we'll answer them in a future episode – email [email protected] or Tweet us using the hashtag #TLTemploymentpodcast and tag @TLT_Employment

You can find out more about our employment team at tltsolicitors.com/employment

If you’ve enjoyed listening, please rate us and write a review.