Your September at-a-glance summary of insights, tools and resources to keep your people practices impactful and relevant in a changing world of work
As your professional body, we’re here to help you stay ahead of emerging trends and changes in the world of work. This month, we released our latest Health and Wellbeing report (supported by Simplyhealth), updated our guidance on managing workplace stress, shared new insight into the future of flexible working, and much more. Here’s what you need to know to keep your people practices relevant and effective.
This month, our biennial Health and Wellbeing at Work report, supported by Simplyhealth, revealed that sickness absence is at its highest level in more than 15 years. Employees are now averaging 9.4 days off each year: a sharp increase from 7.8 days in 2023.
Our report looks beyond the statistics to examine the driving force behind this increase, from heavy workloads and rising stress levels to gaps in line manager training. We also provide practical recommendations to help you anticipate and address issues.
People professionals are central to creating supportive workplace cultures, but to lead lasting change while avoiding burning out in the process, it’s equally important to manage your own wellbeing too.
That’s why our focus on employee health and wellbeing this month is highlighting tools and resources to help with both.
This month, we hosted a webinar on empowering workplaces by championing women’s health and reproductive health.
We were proud to be joined by journalist and government Menopause Employment Ambassador Mariella Frostrup, who urged employers and policymakers to remove the taboo around women’s health and make it central to workplace policy.
Speaking alongside Claudia Nicholls, Chief Customer Officer at Simply Health, and Kevin Lyons, Senior HR Manager at Pearson, Mariella described her own experience as the driver behind her work to improve menopause awareness and support.
We’ve refreshed our factsheets on business partnering and skills development. In our business partnering factsheet you’ll learn what business partnering is and how its role has changed, as well as how to implement good business partnerships in your organisation.
Our skills development factsheet focuses predominantly on UK skills policy. It explores the skills situation in the UK, covering the issues of low productivity, as well as careers advice, the graduate labour market, and skills mismatch.
Employers are facing a complex landscape of evolving skills requirements alongside growing use of AI and automation. Alongside this, people professionals are facing the challenge of growing expectations in addressing widening skills gaps and supporting continuous learning.
We’ve published a new guide to help you do this. You’ll learn more about how to build an effective L&D function through effective strategy, needs analysis, learning interventions and impact measurement.
We’ve also added a range of member-exclusive tools to our website, including interactive resources like checklists and templates, to help you develop a strategy that meets the unique needs of your organisation.
We’ve published a new report into the public sector workforce, outlining how stronger leadership and people management could lead to improved retention, morale, wellbeing and innovation.
Policymakers must make this a priority if the UK government is to deliver on its ambition of better quality, more affordable public services – especially as productivity is yet to return to pre-Covid levels.
With 92% of Scottish employers reporting they offer some form of flexible working arrangements, whether through part-time hours or remote working, it’s clear that the practice is here to stay. After all, quality flexible working can help organisations attract talent, improve job satisfaction and loyalty, reduce absence and improve wellbeing.
However, there are still perceived gaps in flexible working availability, with a fifth of employees believing senior employees were more likely to work flexibly than more junior staff. In line with our 2025 report into flexible and hybrid working practices, we’ve updated our flexible working quiz to bring you tailored and relevant suggestions for bridging those gaps.
We’re committed to staying on top of the ever-changing employment law landscape and updating our knowledge hub with everything you need to know. Here’s the latest this month:
Our discussion forums provide a safe, open space for our global community of people professionals like you. Members share their insights and seek advice on the issues they may be facing in their day-to-day roles. Topics of discussion this month included:
As your career partner, we’re here to champion your growth and success. To keep delivering the support you need, we want to hear from you: what’s working well in your membership? And what could be better? We’ve already introduced a range of new member benefits based on our feedback, and this is your opportunity to help us continue shaping a better experience for you and the wider CIPD community.
We have around 100 regularly-updated factsheets providing overviews and information on key topics
Our guides provide recommendations and advice on how to apply good practices in the workplace
Listen to episodes from our podcast series on a range of topical workplace, HR and L&D issues
Practical resources to support you in the workplace
