To mark Mental health awareness week this month, we are devoting a four-part mini-series to mental health at work. In part 1, Ellie Gelder is joined by Jonny Benjamin MBE, whose incredible story touched many people all around the world when his search to find the stranger, who talked him down from taking his life on Waterloo Bridge, went viral with the hashtag #findMike.

We discuss:

·       Jonny's experience of mental illness;

·       How a stranger on a bridge changed his life forever;

·       Jonny's work to champion mental health, especially among young people;

·       The importance of support for relatives;

·       The power of listening without judgment; and

·       How colleagues can effectively support someone at work who is struggling with their mental health.

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To access further support on mental health, you may wish to visit: the Samaritans, Mind, or Rethink. Or you can use the text service from Shout on 85258.

We hope you enjoyed this episode. If you did, please subscribe to be notified when new episodes release. You can subscribe on Apple Podcasts and Spotify to stay up to date with the latest episodes.

All information is correct at the time of recording. 

The Work Couch is not a substitute for legal advice.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Whistleblowing commonly features in today's top news stories, recent examples including the Post Office and Horizon dispute, and the harrowing Lucy Letby case. It's also a notoriously complex, and sometimes misunderstood, area of employment law, which can present challenges for line managers, HR teams and business leaders.

In part 3 of our mini-series on whistleblowing, Ellie Gelder is joined by Sybille Raphael, legal director at whistleblowing charity Protect, to run through the five key challenges in the world of whistleblowing for employers to tackle in 2024 and beyond. We discuss:

·     How whistleblowing legislation may change in the future to reflect the shift in the types of wrongdoing at work that workers are reporting today;

·     The increasingly pivotal role that whistleblowing plays in relation to a business's ESG obligations and associated risks, including greenwashing and social washing;

·     Whether AI will help or hinder whistleblowing, including potential risk areas and opportunities;

·     Why some people are more or less likely to speak up than others, including a possible connection between certain neurodivergent conditions and whistleblowing;

·     How whistleblowing can help employers to comply with their legal and regulatory duties to protect employees from bullying and harassment at work; and

·     The impact of the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 (the first UK anti-SLAPPS law), and the extent to which this applies to whistleblowing.

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We hope you enjoyed this episode. If you did, please subscribe to be notified when new episodes release. You can subscribe on Apple Podcasts and Spotify to stay up to date with the latest episodes.

All information is correct at the time of recording. 

The Work Couch is not a substitute for legal advice.

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Addiction comes in many forms; it is often hidden and, due to social stigma, is rarely discussed. In the work context, addiction and dependency can raise complex challenges for line managers and HR teams.

In this week's Work Couch podcast episode, Ellie Gelder is joined by Charlotte Reid, senior associate in RPC's Employment, Engagement and Equality team and Eleena Misra KC, of Old Square Chambers, to explore how employers can respond appropriately to a colleague who is affected by addiction, while at the same time also ensuring that the safety of others are protected, and business interests are preserved.

We discuss:

·     The importance of considering why a person may have an addiction or dependency;

·     Factors to take into account when responding to a situation where a person's addiction is impacting their work or others;

·     How addiction, in certain situations, could form the basis of a disability discrimination claim;

·     Making reasonable adjustments, where appropriate;

·     Employment tribunal cases involving alleged misconduct due to alcohol or drugs; and

·     Helping employees open up about their addiction or dependency in a "safe space".

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To access further support on addiction, you may wish to visit: With You, (formerly known as Addaction), GamCare, or Talk to Frank.

We hope you enjoyed this episode. If you did, please subscribe to be notified when new episodes release. You can subscribe on Apple Podcasts and Spotify to stay up to date with the latest episodes.

All information is correct at the time of recording. 

The Work Couch is not a substitute for legal advice.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Whistleblowing commonly features in today's top news stories, recent examples including the Post Office and Horizon dispute, and the harrowing Lucy Letby case. It's also a notoriously complex, and sometimes misunderstood, area of employment law, which can present challenges for line managers, HR teams and business leaders. 

In part 2 of our mini-series on whistleblowing, Ellie Gelder is joined by Sybille Raphael, legal director at whistleblowing charity Protect, to explain how employers can approach whistleblowing complaints proactively and effectively. We discuss:

·       The reasons why employees don't speak up about wrongdoing at work, and how to foster a "speak up" culture;

·       Protecting whistleblowers from victimisation;

·       The shifting perceptions of whistleblowers, and how the nature of complaints has changed over the last decade;

·       How the employer's approach to whistleblowing will differ to its approach for grievances;

·       Balancing the duty of confidentiality to both the whistleblower and to the subject(s) of the complaint; and

·       Using whistleblowing reporting as a positive tool to achieve wider commercial goals.

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We hope you enjoyed this episode. If you did, please subscribe to be notified when new episodes release. You can subscribe on Apple Podcasts and Spotify to stay up to date with the latest episodes.

All information is correct at the time of recording. 

The Work Couch is not a substitute for legal advice.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Kicking off part 1 of our mini-series on exploring the cost of untapped talent, we look at social mobility at work, inclusive hiring and the commercial drivers for generating social value.

Host Ellie Gelder is joined by two champions for social inclusion, James Fellowes and Chance Bleu-Montgomery from Bridge of Hope, a pioneering organisation that matches job-ready candidates from a pool of untapped talent, who face various social barriers to employment, with inclusive recruiting employers.

We discuss:

·     James and Chance's contrasting lived experiences of social exclusion and unemployment;

·     Social barriers to employment and the unique qualities that disadvantaged or system-impacted people can offer to employers;

·     The role of empathy in inclusive hiring;

·     Real-life examples of how organisations are adapting their recruitment processes to identify and attract untapped talent;

·     How inclusive hiring can generate more social value than other social impact initiatives;

·     Inclusive hiring through the commercial lens, including how it can help secure pitches, attract and retain the best talent, as well as boost productivity and brand perception; and

·     How the benefits of social mobility and inclusive hiring extend beyond the individual candidate to their family and wider communities.

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We hope you enjoyed this episode. If you did, please subscribe to be notified when new episodes release. You can subscribe on Apple Podcasts and Spotify to stay up to date with the latest episodes.

All information is correct at the time of recording. 

The Work Couch is not a substitute for legal advice.

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The term "social washing" is increasingly used to name and shame businesses – with substantial commercial consequences. But what does it actually mean? And how can businesses avoid the pitfalls?

Ellie Gelder is joined by Kelly Thomson, partner and RPC's ESG lead, to explore the issue of social washing, including:

·     What the "S" in ESG means, how far it extends, and how it overlaps with the "E" (environmental) and the "G" (governance);

·     The conflicting commercial drivers for businesses to engage with today's pressing social concerns;

·     The concept of social washing and examples of how it can arise;

·     Potential commercial risks of social washing;

·     The links between social washing and greenwashing;

·     Future trends in respect of regulatory scrutiny and stakeholder focus on a business's social engagement and accountability; and

·     Key anchor points to bear in mind when engaging with a social issue to reduce the risks of social washing.

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We hope you enjoyed this episode. If you did, please subscribe to be notified when new episodes release. You can subscribe on Apple Podcasts and Spotify to stay up to date with the latest episodes.

All information is correct at the time of recording. 

The Work Couch is not a substitute for legal advice.

References

1.    United Nations Foundation: Sustainable Development Goals

2.    Article by Harvard Business Review "Woke-washing your company won't cut it" (27 July 2020)

3.    Research by Kantar Mistrust and rejection: The impact of greenwashing and social washing on brands (9 November 2023)

4.    Research by RepRisk on the link between social washing and greenwashing (3 October 2023)

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Welcome to The Work Couch, RPC's podcast that covers everything employment.

Whistleblowing commonly features in today's top news stories, recent examples including the Post Office and Horizon dispute, and the harrowing Lucy Letby case. It's also a notoriously complex, and sometimes misunderstood, area of employment law, which can present challenges for line managers, HR teams and business leaders.

In part 1 of our mini-series on whistleblowing, Ellie Gelder is joined by consultant employment lawyer Victoria Othen to take us on a whistlestop tour of the law and explain:

·     How whistleblowing can arise in the work context;

·     The shift in how whistleblowing at work is perceived;

·     How whistleblowers are protected at work;

·     The legal elements required to make a "protected disclosure";

·     How "in the public interest" is defined; and

·     Potential remedies in the event of a successful employment tribunal claim and other commercial implications.

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We hope you enjoyed this episode. If you did, please subscribe to be notified when new episodes release. You can subscribe on Apple Podcasts and Spotify to stay up to date with the latest episodes.

All information is correct at the time of recording. 

The Work Couch is not a substitute for legal advice.

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Welcome to The Work Couch, RPC's podcast that covers everything employment.

This week, Ellie Gelder is joined by Emma Cusdin, director at Global Butterflies, champion for trans and non-binary rights, and award-winning role model in the business sector for LGBTQ+ people.

Drawing on Emma's lived experience as an openly trans woman and her 30 plus years' experience of working in HR, she shares her expertise on how we can all be good allies to trans and non-binary colleagues. We discuss:

• Terminology and dispel some of the myths around the trans and non-binary community;
• Using pronouns, titles and the importance of respecting people's names;
• The unique challenges experienced by trans and non-binary people in their day-to-day lives;
• How managers and colleagues can best support someone who is, or who is about to embark, on their transition journey;
• Common barriers to trans-inclusion, including the fear of "getting it wrong";
• How to be an effective ally at work and outside work; and
• Emma's top tips to create a genuinely trans-inclusive culture for your organisation's workforce, customers, prospective employees, suppliers and stakeholders.

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We hope you enjoyed this episode. If you did, please subscribe to be notified when new episodes release. You can subscribe on Apple Podcasts and Spotify to stay up to date with the latest episodes.

All information is correct at the time of recording. 

The Work Couch is not a substitute for legal advice.

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Welcome to The Work Couch, RPC's podcast that covers everything employment.

We kick off season 2 with a look ahead to 2024 and discuss five key employment law changes and HR trends on the horizon. 

Ellie Gelder is joined by Kelly Thomson, partner and RPC's ESG lead, to explain how HR professionals and business leaders should start preparing now for the following:

·     Redundancy protection extending to pregnant employees and those returning from maternity leave and other family-related leave;

·     Leave for carers;

·     Changes to employers' duties under the Equality Act 2010 to prevent sexual harassment at work;

·     Increased regulatory focus and scrutiny on diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging in certain sectors; and

·     New rates of statutory minimum wages and changes to the national living wage.

Kelly also highlights other HR trends and developments to monitor in 2024.

Listeners may also be interested in our Christmas special where we explore 12 key employment law developments of 2023, which will remain relevant in 2024, including: changes to the right to request flexible working, TUPE consultation, and holiday pay.

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We hope you enjoyed this episode. If you did, please subscribe to be notified when new episodes release. You can subscribe on Apple Podcasts and Spotify to stay up to date with the latest episodes.

All information is correct at the time of recording. 

The Work Couch is not a substitute for legal advice.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to The Work Couch, RPC's podcast that covers everything employment.

In our feature-length Christmas special, we give you the download on 12 important employment law and HR development from the year of 2023. Essential listening for those of you who need to catch up on the many changes in the last 12 months.

Ellie Gelder is joined by Patrick Brodie, partner and head of RPC's Employment, Engagement and Equality team, Kelly Thomson, partner and RPC's ESG lead, Charlotte Reid, senior associate and Victoria Othen, consultant.

We discuss the following topics and explore the impact on employers, and the key actions to take. Please note the time stamps so you can easily navigate to the topics relevant to you:

1.    [2:14] Recovery of holiday underpayments and the Supreme Court's decision in Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland and another v Agnew and others [2023] SC 33;

2.    [5:33] Increasing focus by HR and regulators on conduct in the workplace, following various high profile cases of toxic workplace culture and sexual misconduct in the workplace;

3.    [9:42] The potential repeal to the ban on employers using agency workers during strike action;

4.    [12:12] Changes to the law on flexible working requests;

5.    [16:00] Dealing with gender-critical beliefs and the EAT decision in Higgs v Farmor's School [2023] EAT 89;

6.    [20:58] Reforms to holiday pay calculations for part-time workers and those with irregular hours;

7.    [23:45] TUPE and changes to the rules on consultation with affected employees;

8.    [27:01] AI and its impact on the workforce;

9.    [32:43] Menopause support at work, and the case of Rooney v Leicester City Council;

10. [38:19] Dismissal and re-engagement and the incoming code of practice;

11. [43:19] Industrial action and minimum service levels; and

12.[47:03] Employment status and collective rights, and the recent Supreme Court decision in Independent Workers Union of Great Britain v Central Arbitration Committee and Roofoods Ltd t/a Deliveroo [2023] SC 43

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We hope you enjoyed this episode. If you did, please subscribe on Apple Podcasts and Spotify to stay up to date with the latest episodes.

All information is correct at the time of recording. The Work Couch is not a substitute for legal advice. Opinions expressed by the speakers are their own and do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of RPC.

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