Highlights – 18 September

We’ve been blessed with another dose of sunshine this week, but there’s a nip in the air too – a reminder that the summer is about to bow out. Which means, for many, the post-summer blues are just around the corner. 

With the nights about to start drawing in, this is the perfect time to examine how you support people’s mental and physical health. There may be more you can be doing to support people, whether that’s flexible working or – an increasingly popular option – offering sabbaticals.

If Labour’s proposals are anything to go by, it may soon be a legal obligation to ensure your wellbeing practices start going further. Its ideas for bolstering employee rights have garnered their share of criticism since being announced – but they should offer no concern if you really grasp the productivity gains that a strong and well-respected workforce can give you.

Healthy pipeline

Of course, you need to be able to find suitable recruits in the first place. One potential source is people you’ve employed before. CMI chief executive Ann Francke OBE used her most recent column in The Times to examine the pitfalls of this approach – and discuss how employers can make recruitment simple but fair and free of cronyism.

How about people who have just finished university? Last week, The Guardian cited a CMI poll that showed the majority of managers believed graduates were not work ready.

That Guardian article was about the value of degree apprenticeships in resolving this issue. As Anthony Painter, CMI’s director of policy and external affairs, recently pointed out, Gen Z employees can make a vital difference to the workplace – if you help them to do so. New CMI research reveals that managers who are properly trained in both EDI and management play a key role in creating inclusive workplaces and harnessing all the benefits that can bring.

Feeling secure

Indeed, it’s not just potential recruits who may lack core skills. Two in five employees feel their manager lacks adequate training. 

Is that you? Let’s run an example. Say you were suffering a cyber threat – a worry for 85% of managers according to a CMI poll. How would you get people to shift their focus from their pressing day-to-day tasks to this urgent new priority, without inducing panic or alienating them? In this week’s newsletter, we share some ideas for how. 

Working or walking?

Also in this week’s newsletter, we asked career coaches and leadership experts to reveal the management behaviours that inspire others – as well as those that definitely don’t. (Hint: commuting 1,000 miles by private jet falls into the latter category). 

Of course, it helps if managers are better supported and empowered to become better managers in the first place. If not, they may find themselves creating a toxic work culture and a staff exodus.

But it’s all too easy as a manager to find yourself winging it. Jen Baines CMgr MCMI recalls the moment she lost trust in a former employer – which made her see that good management was something she needed to actively work towards. 

That realisation served Jen well. She became a Chartered Manager in 2022, and last year won our Chartered Manager of the Year award. The shortlist for this year’s award has now been published. Keep your eye out for more on our nominees in the coming weeks – and why not get prepping your entry for next year? 

But first, make sure you get some of that precious sunlight.

Best, 

Ian