Why supporting employees through life events matters

The F Word at Work

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.

Book a call to speak with us here

Watch our FMAW 30-minute demo on our services to find out exactly how we'd support your organisation with our training and membership

Find out more about our services here

Follow us on Insta and hear what our community has to say

Join us on Linked In

Find us on Twitter