The Evolve Workplace Wellbeing Podcast

In this podcast, Professor Kevin Daniels speaks with Chris Tamdjidi, MD and business development director of Awaris, a multinational company that aims to strengthen the mental, emotional, and collaborative capabilities of people in companies. Kevin and Chris discuss how to cultivate resilient habits at individual and organisational level, drawing on insight drawn together in Chris' book: The Resilient Culture: How collective resilience leads to business success. 

In this episode of the Evolve Workplace Wellbeing podcast, Dr Helen Fitzhugh of the University of East Anglia speaks with Dr Balissa Greene, an occupational psychologist working in Accenture’s Leadership and Culture practice. Balissa has a strong track record of driving impactful change in diversity, inclusion and wellbeing across the public and private sectors. In this conversation, Balissa shares her insights on how to do 'real world' impactful research and how to overcome resistance to projects that are necessary.  

In this podcast, Dr Helen Fitzhugh speaks with Professor Daiga Kamerāde (University of Salford) and Professor Brendan Burchell (University of Cambridge) about their research on the four day working week and other types of working time reduction. Daiga and Brendan share insight into the research trial carried out recently at South Cambridgeshire District Council which showed how the council was able to maintain or improve performance, according to many of its key performance indicators, during the four day week trial.  

In this edition of the Evolve Workplace Wellbeing podcast, Professor Kevin Daniels speaks with Professor Paula Brough from Griffith University in Brisbane, Australia. She is the Director of the Research Centre for Work, Organisation and Wellbeing (WOW) and an expert on the topic of occupational stress and coping. Here, she discusses her work on tackling stress and burnout in high risk occupations - those occupations where challenge and even danger are an integral part of the nature of the job. 

In this edition of the Evolve Workplace Wellbeing Podcast, Dr Helen Fitzhugh of the University of East Anglia speaks with Lisa Chamberlain, a doctoral candidate at the University of Liverpool working in the field of Human Resource Management research. Lisa's previous experience as a Sergeant in the US army and an HR manager in a small Liverpool business led her to PhD research on job quality in small businesses for hairdressers. Engaging and insightful throughout, Lisa shares examples of relationship-building that will be of interest to any HR manager.  

In this edition of the Evolve Workplace Wellbeing podcast, Helen Fitzhugh speaks with Rachael Skews, Chartered Psychologist, coach and founder of Cognus Consulting on the topic of psychological flexibility at work and its relationship with wellbeing and performance. 

In this edition of our regular podcast, Professor Kevin Daniels speaks to Dr Sema Etuknwa about her extensive work on improving return to work practices. Sema gives insights into good return to work from her Innovate UK part-funded knowledge transfer partnership between the University of Huddersfield and Swiss Re. She  describes the toolkit she has been developing to support better communication between all the return to work stakeholders involved in each worker's absence and return journey. 

In this podcast, Dr Helen Fitzhugh of the Workplace Wellbeing Research Team at the University of East Anglia talks with Chloe Jepps of CMI about the importance of good management for wellbeing, performance, retention and more.  With a focus on CMI's recent Better Managers Campaign (report freely downloadable here: https://www.managers.org.uk/knowledge-and-insights/research/better-management-report-take-responsibility-take-action/ ) the podcast also explores other pieces of research carried out by CMI (see below). The findings build to give a rounded picture of the importance we in the UK should be placing on training and supporting managers - for happier workers and smoother-running companies. The podcast also references:- NHS report: https://www.managers.org.uk/knowledge-and-insights/research/a-picture-of-health/- Education report: https://www.managers.org.uk/knowledge-and-insights/research/the-state-of-leadership-and-management-in-education-report/- Insecurity report: https://www.managers.org.uk/knowledge-and-insights/research/managing-insecurity-report/

In this podcast, Professor Kevin Daniels of the Workplace Wellbeing team at the University of East Anglia speaks with Valarie Williams-Foy, Senior Organisational Development Consultant at Imperial College London. They talk about how evidence can be used to support organisational development. A note for those who may be coming in fresh to listening to our podcasts...- Mention of 'Helen' refers to Dr Helen Fitzhugh, producer of this podcast and another member of the Workplace Wellbeing Team at the University of East Anglia.- Mention of the 'Hackathon' refers to a day event put on by the PrOPEL Hub (www.propelhub.org) in 2022 where Kevin Daniels and Helen Fitzhugh facilitated workshops on workplace wellbeing. - Mention of the '4 boosts' refers to a project carried out at UEA to define 4 boosts for frontline workers (e.g. in retail, hospitality and care) which resulted in evidence-based resources that are free to download at: https://evolveworkplacewellbeing.org/4-boosts-for-frontline-workers/ 

 In this podcast we will look at an issue which could influence workplaces and workplace wellbeing in the future: Universal Basic Income. Dr Mark Bryan from the University of Sheffield joins us to explain what UBI is, who is thinking about it and the potential implications for organisations, managers and HR leads. Usually on our podcast we catch-up retrospectively with ways research has been used to influence workplace wellbeing. It’s important to base action on evidence and our podcasts like to offer that evidence to you. However, imagining how the future could be different is also important - it helps organisations prepare and potentially shape the future they want to operate in.