The problem with a quarterly newsletter is what to call it when the seasons don't really play ball. This one is a bit late for summer, bit early for autumn ... so we ended up plumping for an optimistic halfway house. But, it's the sort of everyday dilemma which, multiplied many times over, may have resulted in the inspiration for this edition's stress tip!

A warm welcome to our latest newsletter, we hope you'll find some of the wellbeing ideas, advice and resources it contains helpful.

With best regards as always from the In Equilibrium Team

New Courses available this Autumn

We've been busy over the summer and have introduced six new courses available for in-house delivery. As ever, they are all developed and delivered by trainers who are experts in their field.
Read our post with details about the new courses here ...

Recent articles added to our website

The law relating to sexual harassment at work is changing - are you ready? Read here

Toxic Managers - causes, signs, impact and resolutions Read here

For Autumn 2024 - 6 new training courses to aid workplace wellbeing Read here

Tips to help reduce productivity anxiety

It can be easy to feel worried or stressed that we aren’t getting through our workload as quickly or effectively as we think we should. For our latest wellbeing at work tip, we take a look at productivity anxiety and share some practical actions both individuals and managers can consider to help reduce it.
Read this edition's tip to help reduce productivity anxiety here ...

Suicide Awareness Day 2024

Suicide Awareness Day was on 10th September. However, the theme “Changing the Narrative on Suicide” runs for the next 3 years until 2026. It aims to help transform our perception of this complex issue; moving from a culture of silence and lack of understanding to one of inspiring individuals, communities and organisations to engage in open and honest discussions about suicide and suicidal behaviour.

Any death by suicide is tragic and has far reaching effects. The Samaritans recently published the first figures in over a decade on the cost of suicide to society. We link to their report on the economic cost of suicide in the UK within our external resources section below.

Our expert trainers can deliver in-house suicide awareness training either in person or live online, our range of courses can be found here.

Workplace wellbeing resources

Click here to view our latest round up of external resources which include:

• a link to the CIPD Good Work Index 2024 with insight and recommendations for practice
• an updated Disability Confident Guide for Managers
• recently published figures by the Samaritans on the cost of suicide
• Deloitte's 2024 fourth report on mental health and the workplace with the impact of children's mental health on parents' work and performance investigated
• the results of a study exploring training line managers in mental health and its link to better business outcomes

Short thoughtful quotes

“Either you run the day or the day runs you.”

“Give whatever you are doing and whoever you are with the gift of your attention.”

“If someone is going down the wrong road, he doesn’t need motivation to speed him up. What he needs is education to turn him round.”

All quotes by Jim Rohn (1930 - 2009)
American entrepreneur, author and motivational speaker

3 workplace wellbeing articles from around the web

Article links are included in each title text:

1. An employer’s guide to dealing with stress
   Published in The Cover by Markel UK for this year’s Stress Awareness month, a succinct guide which looks at the employer’s role, the legal risks of ignoring stress, tips on how to support employees, along with ideas on how to deal with stress at work both for others and ourselves.
2. Bosses get bullied too: exploring upward bullying
   A short article from the Wavell Room that aims to raise awareness of the least talked about of the three types of bullying research has identified in the workplace. Although the direct and indirect costs to both individuals and the organisation has much in common with subordinate and peer to peer bullying, acknowledging the different forms of bullying is essential to ensure policies and processes are in place to cover all types of bullying.
3. Council’s four-day week trial led to greater retention and productivity – so should the wider public sector follow suit?
   An article from People Management discovers that despite the scheme being initially criticised by the previous government, a follow-up report of the study regarding the four-day week pilot undertaken at South Cambridgeshire District Council, has found a ‘dramatically better environment’ including greater retention, productivity, job satisfaction and cost savings.

Until next time ...

We end on an eye watering note with a short read about eye yoga from The Conversation. Sadly, it doesn’t sound like we’ll be ditching the reading glasses anytime soon, but this article does give you some interesting background to dispel the myth that eye yoga may stop us needing glasses, has some helpful eye health tips ... and for any Beetles fans, a short video from Paul McCartney in which he entertainingly demonstrates his own eye yoga routine! Read it here ...

Thanks for browsing our late Summer newsletter, we hope you found something of interest or value to boost workplace wellbeing.