The Brightmine Podcast (UK)

A significant proportion of the population have criminal records. So what are the legal requirements when thinking about recruiting someone with a spent or unspent conviction? And are employers that shy away from engaging with ex-offenders failing to make use of a valuable resource and even damaging their organisations? Debbie Sadler of Unlock and Brightmine senior legal editor Laura Merrylees joi...

Psychological safety is one of the cornerstones of a productive, progressive workplace. Strategist, futurist and data scientist Wilson Wong joins the podcast to discuss how to build it, how to measure it and what can go wrong when it's lacking in an organisation. Read the transcript Related resources How to create psychological safety at work Developing employee performance: Purpose, psychological...

Laura Kimpton, HR strategy and practice editor at Brightmine, discusses how organisations, and line managers in particular, can support and champion neurodiversity in the workplace. Topics include: employers' legal duties under the Equality Act; the value of adopting a "needs-led" approach; making reasonable adjustments; approaches to onboarding and communication. Read the transcript Related resou...

The Labour Government published its highly anticipated Employment Rights Bill on 10 October 2024. In this edition of the podcast, Brightmine employment law experts Zeba Sayed and Stephen Simpson analyse the key proposals in the Bill and offer advice on how HR can begin to prepare for the changes. Read the transcript The accompanying slides can be downloaded here Related resources Podcast: Employme...

The Labour Government published its highly anticipated Employment Rights Bill on 10 October 2024. In this edition of the podcast, Brightmine employment law experts Zeba Sayed and Stephen Simpson answer questions on different aspects of the Bill, from the timeline for the measures coming into effect to the nuances of the proposed unfair dismissal and fire and rehire changes. Read the transcript Rel...

What will the people profession look like in 2035? How will AI transform HR practices over the next decade? And how can HR teams prepare for the ethical challenges posed by emerging technologies like AI? Tessa Hilson-Greener joins the podcast to answer these questions and many more besides. Related resources AI fundamentals: How to identify AI needs in HR Three areas of focus for the AI workplace...

With changes to the law regarding sexual harassment in the workplace coming into effect this autumn · and further changes promised in the Government·s Employment Rights Bill · we are joined by Lisa Bell from Tell Jane to discuss the new legal duty on employers, the impact of technology and generational shifts in attitude.  Related resources Building a working environment free from harassment and s...

The phrase ·four-day week· has been trending in the media of late · and being used to refer to quite different things, to the confusion of many! In this edition of the podcast we aim to clear up some common misunderstandings. Related resources Right to request flexible working   Flexible working requests policy Compressed hours policy   Managing hybrid/flexible workers - line manager training

Justine Woolf, director of consulting at Innecto Reward Consulting, offers tips for HR to boost employee engagement and ensure that organisations get a better ROI on their benefits. Related resources Webinar: Why now is the time to align your rewards with your EVP Podcast: Evolving your EVP to meet the needs of a multigenerational workforce How to develop a reward strategy Rebuilding in 2024: Stra...

Andrew Walker, new business development director with  Personal Group , joins us to discuss the significant changes and trends shaping the future of work, and to explore strategies to evolve your employee value proposition (EVP) to meet the diverse needs of a multigenerational workforce. Related resources Webinar: Why now is the time to align your rewards with your EVP How to develop a reward stra...

From wellness and neurodiversity to ·hotelification·, Rachel Basha, founder and CEO of the architecture and design practice Basha-Franklin, discusses the ways in which the shifting needs and character of the 21st-century workforce are reshaping office design. Related resources Deskless and disengaged - how can you stop me from leaving? Introduction to neurodiversity - line manager training Health...

Bags for life, tea containing a surprising substance and more: Susie Munro, senior legal editor at Brightmine, discusses four recent employment tribunal cases where employees were dismissed for misconduct after making what they said were mistakes.  Related resources Misconduct dismissals following employee mistakes: Employment tribunal round-up How does a tribunal gauge whether an employee has bee...

Steve Allan joins us to talk about HR's role in mergers and acquisitions and offers five top tips for getting M&As right. We talk about: company culture; the impact of AI; understanding TUPE; and how to get integration right. Related resources Hiring across borders: Five compliance challenges and how to solve them Podcast: Global hiring - AI, EORs and worker misclassification risks   Guide for glo...

Miranda Zolot, general counsel at Oyster, talks about the benefits and challenges of distributed working and global hiring. Join her as she discusses subjects including: •    EORs and PEOs; •    compliance issues; •    employee/contractor misclassification risks; and •    AI. Related resources What is an employer of record? Hiring across borders: Five compliance challenges and how to solve them Gu...

According to research, almost half of the skills used by the workforce today will no longer be relevant in a couple of years. Given this context of a fast-evolving workplace with shifting needs, it's perhaps unsurprising that organisations are struggling to hire people with the right skills. What is to be done? Career mentor Laurie Macpherson joins us to discuss ways for HR and employees to begin...

A raft of employment law changes have come into effect over the past few months. In this edition of the podcast, Zeba Sayed and Stephen Simpson discuss some developments that have perhaps received less attention than others: the changes to special redundancy protection for family-related leave that came into force on 6 April 2024. Read the transcript here Want to learn more? April 2024 employment...

International and domestic politics, issues of gender and sexuality: people disagree about lots of things. Understandably, many organisations worry about the impact of controversial beliefs being expressed in the workplace - perhaps because of the effect on other employees, perhaps just because of the distraction that disputes can cause. In this edition of the podcast, employment law specialist Da...

Running an employment tribunal claim can be complicated and requires careful management. We are joined by part-time employment tribunal judge Tina Elliott, who offers practical tips on how to prepare effectively. The topics we discuss include: case management hearings; document disclosure; witness statements; and video hearings Read the transcript here

We are joined by Louise Haycock, immigration solicitor and partner at law firm Fragomen, to discuss the latest immigration changes affecting employers and the workforce, and how HR can prepare for them. Read the transcript here Want to learn more? Record of all workers' right to work in UK form Employment law guide: Immigration rules and right to work More XpertHR podcast episodes

The rules around COVID-19 were very clearly drawn in 2020. But what is the state of play now, not just in relation to COVID but to illness in the workplace generally? What should organisations do about employees who are nervous about returning to the workplace? Or about at-risk employees, particularly when infection rates are high? Or about long COVID - is it now treated as a disability? Bar Huber...

According to a YouGov survey, 15% of people meet their partners at work. Given how widespread the phenomenon is, to what extent does HR need to take an interest in office romances? Stephen Simpson, principal strategy and practice editor at XpertHR, joins us to discuss the finer points of workplace relationship etiquette and to answer the (somewhat unromantic) question: Should the UK introduce US-s...

Rebekah Martin, senior vice president of reward, inclusion and talent acquisition at AstraZeneca, joins us to talk about the changing motivations and requirements of the workforce - connection to purpose, skills-based learning, recognition and more. She discusses her role at AstraZeneca and sets out a series of ways in which organisations can try to ensure that they are employers of choice for Gen...

Mindfulness can be a great tool for building employee engagement and team cohesiveness. XpertHR's in-house mindfulness teacher, Christopher Bryant, explains how to make it work for you. Related resources How a mindfulness group can help HR promote engagement and teamwork

Gender pay gap reporting is now well established in the UK. But what approaches are being taken elsewhere in the world, and what difference might the new EU Pay Transparency Directive make? Elle Barreto and Ro Carracedo Lopez, international editors at XpertHR, answer these questions and more. Related resources Demystifying the EU Pay Transparency Directive for UK employers EU employment law develo...