My attention was caught this morning by a fascinating discussion on BBC Breakfast regarding personal social media profiles. It was off the back of a number of high profile cases where celebrities have been required to apologise after a series of historical comments on social media came to light which contained discriminatory language.
We live in a 24/7, “always on” society. The boundaries between our home and personal lives are more blurred than ever before. With the rise of the internet and its plethora of social networks, there is barely a second in any given day when we are not being bombarded with information, communications and a blur of white noise.
Friday 10 November 2017 marked Equal Pay Day. It’s the day on which, based on the current gender pay gap, women effectively stop earning relative to men. With the gap between male and female pay sitting at a staggeringly 14.1% – and worse, not having closed in the last three years, despite the increased publicity and mandatory gender pay reporting regulations which have been introduced – it is time for us all to take action.
It might still only be the second week of November, but for most employees there is just one more pay day before Christmas. While talking about the festive season this early might be seen as overkill, we all need to be aware that, for a number of employees within our organisations, Christmas will already be very much playing on their minds… and not for the reasons you might think, either.
It can’t just be me who seems to have a spate of friends suddenly deciding to leave their nice, safe, stable jobs and branch out on their own. Self-employment is becoming more and more popular, and this is borne out by the statistics we see. In 2008, there were 3.8 million self employed people, according to the Office for National Statistics. By 2015 there were 4.6 million, an increase of more than 20% over just 7 years. With the rise of the gig economy, it seems the trend of “going it alone” is one that is here to stay.
One of the most frequent questions I get asked is how I make things work as a working parent. More specifically, a working mother. This is partly because I am still a significant minority. Despite the many advances we have made in our approaches to work, we are all familiar with the statistics showing just how few women – and especially those women with young children – progress to Board level. The New York Times published a report sharing studies which show that, while having children penalises women, it actually benefits men. We still have a very long way to go to find true gender equality at work.
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