Opinion & Commentary

Search behaviour tells a clear story. Thousands of organisations are actively looking for support across terms such as employee benefits, wellbeing in the workplace and corporate wellness programmes. Yet most providers are not visible when those searches happen. They sit beyond page one, often beyond page two, effectively invisible at the point of demand.

major shift in UK employment law is underway. And this is not just a legal reset. It is a test of just how seriously organisations take workplace health and wellbeing. 

Britain produces plenty of ambitious young firms, but too many struggle at the hardest point of growth. In the early days of starting a company, working at a relentless pace is often seen as a positive signal rather than a warning sign. As firms grow, urgency can turn into sustained overload for founders, which then affects the health of the whole workplace. 

When conversations don’t happen, things start to unravel. Slowly at first, almost invisibly, but they unravel all the same. 

The government’s new menopause action plan is a welcome and much-needed step towards better supporting those experiencing the menopause in the workplace. More than a quarter (27%) of women say menopause has negatively affected their career progression and many women report leaving the workplace altogether because of their symptoms.

In today’s rapidly changing world of work, the conversation around wellbeing is undergoing a meaningful shift. During and immediately after the pandemic, corporate wellbeing programmes largely focused on stress, anxiety and basic emotional support.

New research from Total Fitness suggests that many women move in and out of gym participation over time, rather than following a steady, uninterrupted journey. While the sector itself is not workplace-focused, the broader insight still applies. Engagement is not linear. It shifts with life. And that matters far beyond the gym floor.  

Keyboard jamming has been making headlines - employees using devices to simulate activity, creating an illusion of productivity while doing nothing at all. For some, this is shocking. For others, it was entirely predictable.

Grief is usually framed as an emotional experience, but the reality of bereavement is far more complex. Alongside the loss itself comes a wave of administrative and financial responsibilities, and in the UK, women often shoulder that disproportionately. 

It is no longer possible for UK employers to ignore the seriousness of becoming menopause friendly. With Menopause Action Plans moving from good practice to legal requirement under the Employment Rights Act 2025 for organisations with 250 or more employees, the issue has shifted from being an optional wellbeing initiative to a call for governance, risk management and leadership. Read the advice from Deborah Garlick, CEO and founder of Menopause in the Workplace by Henpicked 

Nearly one in four employees worries about money every single day. Not occasionally. Not just when a big bill lands. Every. Single. Day. 

enopause is already in your workplace - but most men still don’t understand it. Here’s why that matters, and how better awareness benefits everyone.

Change inevitably creates uncertainty, and uncertainty often triggers anxiety. Many employees are already balancing heavy workloads alongside personal pressures. And when organisational change is layered on top, it can push people beyond their emotional limits. 

The average working-age adult now sits for roughly 9.5 hours a day, according to The British Heart Foundation, and that is before accounting for the commute. For employers, this is not a peripheral wellbeing concern.

The direction of travel in disability discrimination law is changing. While the definition is widening, tribunal scrutiny is getting sharper. Building genuine enquiry, careful documentation and meaningful engagement with adjustments into everyday people management is the only reliable way to stay on the right side of it. 

International Women’s Day has long focused on the barriers women face in reaching leadership roles. But the concept of the second glass ceiling suggests the next challenge lies elsewhere: whether women can remain in work long enough to reach those roles at all.

Perimenopause is often simply described as a hormonal transition. In reality, it represents a complex neuroendocrine shift that affects the brain, sleep, emotional regulation and cognitive performance. For many women, these changes begin in their early-to-mid 40s, a stage when they may be at the peak of their careers and/or bearing responsibility for small children or ageing parents.