People Matter – April 2025

National Workplace Well-Being Day

The 26th April is National Workplace Well-Being Day, so what better time to shine a spotlight on workplace well-being and remind you of the government National Framework for Healthy Workplaces in Ireland.

Healthy workers will be better energised and so have more capacity to be productive. They are likely to take less sickness absence and contribute to an upbeat workplace culture.

The national framework highlights changes that broadly need to be made in Irish workplaces and encompass seven areas to address:

• Sustainable culture change

• Safety first

• No health without mental health

• Engage and empower

• Integrated ways of working

• Proportionate universalism

• Evidence-led

Many of these are self-explanatory, but to expand on two of them: Proportionate universalism refers to targeting those at the greatest risk of ill-health to move them away from danger; while sustainable culture change means being in it for the long-term, not implementing a flash-in-the-pan initiative.

So how can you as an employer promote well-being. It is not your role to hand-hold, but you can facilitate well-being in many ways. Here are a few ideas:

Lead by example – Your own well-being is just as important as your staff, so explore ways to take time for yourself to exercise, work sensible hours and start the conversation about well-being.

Employee benefits – You probably already offer some employee benefits, but reviewing these to have an influence over well-being is a worthwhile exercise: a cycle to work scheme, an employee assistance programme with mental health support, gym discounts or company fruit bowls. When chosen well, they offer excellent value to you and your employees, but ensure they are relevant to your team.

Mental health training – The understanding around mental health has taken a great leap forward in the past decade, and there are training courses that you or managers can go on to ensure you follow best practices. Stress, anxiety and burnout are huge drains on productivity so this makes strong business sense on top of the good you will do for your team.

If you would like bespoke advice on workplace well-being, please get in touch.

Boost your employee engagement

Employee engagement isn’t just a way to create a positive atmosphere in the office – it can directly boost the success of your business. Engaged teams show 21% higher profitability, driving stronger outcomes regardless of industry, business size or the overall economy.

Disengaged staff decrease morale and productivity, and can lead to high turnover rates. Despite the importance of employee engagement, only 23% of employees worldwide fall into the engaged category. To keep your business ahead of the curve, you’ll want to cultivate a culture of employee engagement – starting from the top of your business.

Staff engagement isn’t just down to the employees. It comes from the top.

You’ll need to equip management with the skills to encourage an open culture of communication: clearly sharing goals and values so staff feel actively involved in your company purpose. This helps with both current employees and in recruiting future staff aligned to your vision.

Listening leadership styles are a good foundation for engagement. To be effective, it is important that feedback is not only encouraged, but perceptibly acted upon. Interestingly, this could also save you money on outsourcing idea generation – with specialised ideas coming from the staff who understand your business inside out. Talk to us about management training to improve this.

Be creative and allow space for fun around all the work that takes place. Chocolate eggs for staff this Easter for example?

Get in touch today to see how our HR services can help you: from data driven feedback resources to quality management training schemes. We’ll leave you to buy the Easter eggs though!

Freedom of speech – where is the line in the workplace?

Whether it’s in the office, at after work drinks or on social media, you might have experienced staff with a desire to discuss controversial topics. Article 40.6 of our constitution deems individuals entitled to freedom of expression – subject to certain limitations which balance others’ freedoms and public order – but there is a fine line to tread in the workplace.

You need to balance freedom of speech with the constitution, whilst also managing conduct that could be deemed inappropriate, provocative or offensive.

As an employer, you’re entitled to indicate what is acceptable in your workplace – and it’s good management to make this transparent with a code of conduct that is clearly accessible across your business. Politics and religion have long carried risk, and gender nowadays can be particularly divisive.

Let’s be honest – the alignment of workplace discrimination laws and constitutional rights is confusing at best, and a tribunal fuelled minefield at worst. To ensure you’re in the clear, it’s worth seeking specialised support, such as our handbook policy guidance.

Supporting sandwich carers on your team

Some employees, you may have experienced, are in a particularly challenging situation: caregivers for both their children and their parents at the same time.

As you can imagine, this is a stressful position to be in; with the routine demands of childcare juxtaposed with parental illness or immobility. Inevitably, these pressures could seep into your workplace and inhibit productivity.

To counter this, you’ll want to support sandwich carers where you can. How supportive is your management culture? Normalising discussions about caregiving, especially from senior figures, is one way to help sandwich carers feel supported. Being open to various forms of flexible working could be another. It’s all got to work for your business too, though.

It could also be worth investing in outside employee support as well, such as an Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) – the helplines available through these could be a valuable release valve for under pressure staff and provide them with coping mechanisms without you having to get involved.

Fostering a culture of support goes beyond just supporting sandwich carers, it will help all of your employees at certain times of life: boosting morale, engagement and overall productivity for your company.

AI can make workdays shorter but more productive

Love it or hate it… you definitely can’t avoid it! It seems AI is percolating through every element of our lives – and that includes our workplaces.

In fact, the increasing use of AI in the workplace is actually showing major productivity gains: making the average workday 36 minutes shorter, yet 2% more productive, apparently. One study even found worker productivity increased by 33% for every hour using generative AI. It seems AI can be an increasingly valuable tool to employ in your business – as long as it’s used correctly.

It is still a bit of a Wild West though, despite new laws; used incorrectly your employees could cause a lot of damage with AI – from giving away company secrets to devaluing your brand with poor content. We can help you implement clear guidelines for safe usage of AI. Get in touch today to find out more.

How symbolic gestures in the workplace could be (mis)judged

Ever forgot to CC someone into an important email? Presumed they were already aware of a senior meeting? Or even reorganised where they sit in the office?

These seemingly innocuous gestures could actually be drastically misinterpreted as something far more serious… like a demotion! A recent tribunal in the UK found that arranging a senior employee to sit on a desk associated with lower positioned employees could be a breach of employment law. This may sound ridiculous, but it’s an important reminder of how people can get the wrong end of the stick!

To avoid major misunderstandings, and nip any potential confusion in the bud, don’t forget your communications skills, and thinking about how gestures are received as well as delivered.