Uplifting - in more ways than one

In a week which began with World Mental Health Day (10th October) it seems somehow fitting to be watching live footage of the rescue of the Chilean miners and sharing in a very small way in the joy of their families and friends, together with millions of others around the world. We had a little chat about it at work today, standing round someone's desk to watch the 11th miner emerging from the rescue tunnel at lunchtime, and I think we all went back to our desks feeling rather uplifted ourselves. Remarkable and inspiring stories like this don't dominate the news very often and it's nice to share them with colleagues.

Maybe we should take a bit more time at work to celebrate the good things that happen - whether it's on a global scale or a team member's personal achievement. 'Connecting' and 'Taking notice' are two of the five ways to wellbeing according to the New Economics Foundation - just think how mentally healthy our workplaces could be if this was actively encouraged amongst employees.

First among unequals?

According to a report from the Chartered Management Institute, we may be 57 years away from equal pay for women. Is it seriously true that some employers pay men and women differently for doing exactly the same job? How on earth do they get away with it? Imagine if you paid someone a different salary because of their ethnicity? Pehaps that happens too. Unbelieveable.

Home working

This is such an interesting article about home working from yesterday's Guardian. I've heard Caroline Waters, HR Director at BT, extol its virtues before at one of our Good Jobs campaign events. Obviously working at home isn't suitable for every job, but many people could technically work from home from time to time - the issue for employers seems to be not "can my employees log on?" but "can my employees be trusted?"

Well if you can't trust your employees then that's an issue that needs to be addressed separately and urgently in my opinion. Do you really know exactly they're doing all day anyway, even if they're in the office? You'll be measuring their output/outcomes through regular performance reviews anyway won't you?

Personally I'd hate to work from home all the time - I'd miss the sociable side of work, the feeling of being part of a team, the view of Tower Bridge from my window at City Hall. But my current pattern of working at home on a Monday suits me just perfectly.

A for effort

My section of the stationery room on the 4th floor at City Hall has been declared beautifully tidy by our co-ordinator, after Melissa and I spent a happy half hour this afternoon rationalising the Good Jobs campaign materials. I can't post a photo (for legal reasons and to protect the guilty) but perhaps I should host a little sherry reception by my shelf in honour of the newly and neatly labelled boxes.

A bit of a tidy up at work is a marvellous thing.

Lunch in an urban orchard

What nicer place to spend a lunch break than at an urban orchard and community garden? Just opposite the London Fire Brigade on Union Street, SE1, you can wander round paths made of tyre chippings admiring plants, young trees, apple presses and jars and jars of seeds. You can play table tennis on a table made from a converted skip (unfortunately firmly occupied when I visited) and there's a poetry corner.


I know that not everyone's lucky enough to work on Union Street but there's so much free stuff on offer all over London, why not encourage your employees to take a lunch break and make the most of the local area? Evidence shows they'll have a more productive afternoon as a result...

Undercover Boss

I loved last night's episode of Undercover Boss featuring Kevan Collins, Chief Executive of Tower Hamlets council, as he worked alongside his employees incognito (as 'Colin') to find out how things really went down on the frontline.

I know the programme skipped over the £50 million cuts the council will be making over the coming months. I know that this type of reality TV is cleverly edited to present people and facts in a certain light and to generate an emotional response from viewers. And I know that the council's headquarters were awfully grand.

But I loved it when Cathy, the kindly meals-on-wheels lady, saw a suited and booted Kevan in his office and said "Ooh look at you Colin, don't you look lovely?"

I loved the way Kevan/Colin floundered when he tried to both deal calmly and professionally with a homeless person at the council's Homeless and Housing Advice Service whilst entering data into an overly complicated computer system.

And I loved the look on the street market officer's face when the person whom he now knew to be his boss asked him to join an expert planning group to use the 2012 Olympics to showcase Tower Hamlets to the world.

To me it demonstrated some of the messages we're promoting through the London Health Commission's Good Jobs campaign: take a back seat; share the big picture; and perhaps most importantly pause for applause.

I loved it.

£2.50 an hour for interns? Envision does even better.

The CIPD is recommending interns should be paid £2.50 an hour, the same as for apprenticeships. This is a good start, but can anyone really support themselves in London on this salary? I've already blogged about Envision, a young people's charity which pays its interns the minimum wage, currently £5.93 an hour. Pretty impressive for a charity.

Can anyone do even better and pay interns the London Living Wage at £7.85 an hour? We'd love to feature you on our campaign website.

YMCA

There is a 25 metre swimming pool, three badminton courts, a pilates studio, climbing wall, canoeing facilities and a resistance balcony (whatever that is) under Great Russell Street. Who knew?

I discovered this subterranean fitness emporium yesterday when I attended the launch of Central YMCA's Workplace Activator programme. 17 small businesses have signed up to take part - in theory they're at capacity but if you want to get your employees moving I'd take a chance and ring Robin Gargrave.

The axe falls?

Reading a list of projects axed or suspended by the coalition Government, I was struck by a) how many were related to employment, and b) how many were in Sheffield. I'll leave the Sheffield side of things for now (although I love this city almost more than I love London) and turn instead to the loss of the "Two year Jobseeker's Guarantee" worth £515m which aimed to give jobseekers a guaranteed offer of a job, internship, volunteering placement or work experience after two years of being out of work.

Thank goodness employers of all sizes can still offer internships anyway and benefit from the creativity, freshness and dynamism this brings to their business. Envision demonstrated this at a recent business breakfast they hosted for the Good Jobs campaign.

You can too - check out Internocracy's website.

Walking Works

Caught a bus each way to today's Walking Works meeting. Not their fault - their campaign is great: www.walkingworks.org.uk

Boris the Ebullient

Over 150 businesses came to this networking reception in London's Living Room to launch the London Health Commission's Good Jobs campaign.

My favourite piece of feedback: "Just a quick note to say that this was an excellent event and that Boris was his usual ebullient self. As a smoker I didn't even nip out onto the balcony for a quick one - was just too busy chatting".