Welcome to another episode of The F Word at Work where we join Helen Letchfield co-founder of P&P coaching which she set up in 2009 based on her personal experience of the startling transition of moving from being a professional with a senior role, to a sleep-deprived, brand-new, home-alone parent – and then back again into the world of organisational politics and career demands – all on reduced hours. In this thought-provoking conversation Helen shares her insights on what has changed in the workplace well-being space over the last 16 years and what she thinks are key trends for 2023.

What was discussed:

• Primary and Secondary caregivers
• What has changed over the last 16 years in terms of workplaces understanding wellbeing - more about legal cases
• Now it’s around helping everyone back into the workplace after becoming parents 
• What it means to be a family-friendly supporting organisation 
• Importance of making people feel welcomed and supported at work
• Progressive organisations are using that for an attraction and retentions tool
• How the pandemic has helped to shifted the awareness around looking after new parents and leadership develop
• How post-pandemic both Mums and Dads were asking for flexibility ch
• How virtual sessions have enabled a greater reach with people feeling happier as they are able to have these conversations at home 
• The choice of partitioner can be determined by the coach, not location 
• Why employers are worried about giving ‘managers’ more to do - as senior managers hadn’t done the role play needed to coach middle managers - there was a skill and knowledge gap
• Didn’t realise the impact it has to be supportive
• How organisations are now more ready to look at the whole cycle - happy to look more at what family-friendly means - including looking at fertility issues and menopause, gendered ageism. 
• How different organisations in different sectors are in different places in terms of taking this whole conversation.
• Finance and Law sectors - lead the way, now more male-heavy, male-dominated sectors such as manufacturing are coming to talk about these issues as they are recognising the need. 
• Fertility keeps coming up time and time again as people recognise they want to break the taboo 
• Need to support HR, D&I, Managers in taking on these new roles 
• Ensure that initiates are put out for men and women
• Create an equal playing field 
• Trends in 2023 - work to prove that this work does support the attraction and retention route
• Gendered ageism - the impact on the over 50’s and the importance of this population 
• Making sure managers don’t make assumptions about anyone’s circumstances 

Thanks once again to our series sponsor Apricity.

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