This episode of Oven-Ready Reheated looks again at some of Season 4’s themes and best bits.
Paul Nowak, deputy general secretary of the Trades Unions Congress explains how the media characterisation of a them and us relationship between unions and employers is unhelpful. Paul also tells me how he started his trade union journey.
The jobs market is apparently white hot so I sat down with Nick Croucher, the lead UK partner for global HR search and recruitment firm Frazer Jones. I talk to Nick about the trend to appoint non HR practioners to senior HR roles and whether professional HR qualifications are really worth it.
Lord Hendy QC, widely acknowledged as one of the UK’s leading experts in employment law, has recently introduced the Status of Workers Bill to simplify the UK’s confused position on who is and isn’t an employee. His bill will also extend employment protections to millions more of the country’s most vulnerable workers. In this segment, I put it to Lord Hendy that it’s often confusing to establish if an individual is an employee a worker or something else.
Sticking on the legal theme, I talk to Nick Hurley, divisional managing partner in the employment practice at Charles Russell Speechleys about expected developments in UK employment law. Here Nick explains a little more about the government’s pledge to make a request for flexible working a right from the get go.
Thanks to interventions from individuals such as Michele Obama in the US and TV personality Davina McCall in the UK, the menopause at long last has been recognised a major workplace issue. I turned to Anne-Marie Yates and Dr Lynne Green from Kooth, the UK’s longest established digital mental health provider to share both their own experiences and what enlightened employers should be doing. Anne Marie explains why she thinks we’re now having a proper conversation about the menopause. Dr Lynne then explains why she believes employers have a moral duty to consider the impact of the menopause on women.
If like me you’re constantly checking your phone, you might benefit from a digital detox. Hector Hughes, co-founder of the digital detox business Unplugged, explains how his customers feel when they emerge from one of his digital detox cabins having been separated from their devices.
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A final compilation of the last seven interviews of season 4 available next week.
