Whilst we must try to remain positive, unfortunately, things don’t seem to be getting any easier, as we head towards the troubles that this winter is set to hold.
As Hugh Scantlebury, CEO and Founder of Aqilla, articulates, “This time last year, we were talking about the toll that lockdowns were having on our individual and collective mental health. Thankfully, most of us are pretty much back to normal in that regard — seeing family, catching up with friends, and going on holiday. But inflation and rising energy costs are having an impact on people’s mental health.”
Dave Birchall, Chief People Officer at Node4, emphasises the negative effects these rising costs can have: “This can have a significant impact on mental health, with 40% of people reporting poorer mental health when their financial situation worsens. This is something that all employers need to be aware of over the coming months.”
World Mental Health Day gives us the opportunity to reflect on what is troubling us, both within and outside the workplace – as Scantlebury notes: “Marking Mental Health Day provides a good excuse to talk about any issues that we might face as employees, colleagues, family members or friends. It also offers a chance for us to discuss positive ways to build our mental resiliency to deal with some of the challenges that 2023 might present.”
But how can organisations support their employees’ mental health?
Most companies have shifted employee well-being up the priority list, but there is still a long way to go. Terry Storrar, Managing Director, Leaseweb UK, acknowledges this, stating that “ in recent years, the majority of workplaces have taken considerable steps towards looking out for their employees’ mental health. However, recent research indicates that in many cases there is still a shortfall in the type of support that employers provide – the Deloitte UK Mental Health Report 2022 found that one-third of people expected or would have liked more mental health support from their employer.”
In order to support the mental health of their employees, organisations should strive to put them first – prioritising their well-being above all else. Marco Fanizzi, SVP & GM at Commvault International, agrees with this mentality, declaring that “motivations have changed. Our continued message to our staff is to primarily think about yourself, your well-being and family. And then, help us take the business and drive sustainable growth.”
Having this as a priority not only benefits the employees but also their organisations, as Samantha Humphries, Head of Security Strategy EMEA at Exabeam expresses: “By putting your employees first you can create an overall happier and more positive environment, while also improving retention and productivity.”
One important aspect of supporting employee mental health is protecting them from burnout. This can be a common problem in the often high-stress tech industry. Joanna Leach, Chief People Officer at HelpSystems, agrees that “burnout amongst workers is common in fast-paced industries that are constantly evolving. Our industry is no exception, with research suggesting as many as 51% of cybersecurity professionals have experienced extreme stress or burnout during the last 12 months. Employers need to provide the right environment and support to keep workers both physically and mentally healthy. Mental Health Day offers organisations an opportunity to reflect on whether they have the right initiatives in place to ensure their workers’ mental health is prioritised.”
She continues: “The industry isn’t going to slow down anytime soon, but together we can implement meaningful and impactful initiatives that will slowly but surely improve our collective well-being.”
Such support systems for employees are vital in industries like the cybersecurity sector, as Humphries explains, “It is important that we not only express our gratitude for our employees but look to implement practical solutions that get to the core of the most common problems. For example, with teams often time-poor and overstretched, security leaders should look to automation to help free up teams from mundane manual tasks so they can focus on doing what they enjoy most – solving cybersecurity challenges. This will not only fortify security measures, but most importantly it will relieve some of the stress and burnout experienced by employees.”
In order to effectively support employees, leadership teams must also listen to them – and actively engage in open conversations about mental health. This approach has proven to be a success at Commvault, as Fanizzi outlines: “We are having conversations, listening and assessing to find out what an individual’s realigned values are. We are also encouraging more spontaneous calls and conversations to recapture a sense of what remote working has taken away.”
Though these conversations need to occur year-round in order to raise awareness and support for mental health issues, World Mental Health Day provides a good opportunity to open a dialogue within an organisation. Birchall agrees, expressing that, at Node4, “to destigmatise mental health, we include personal experiences of mental health in our internal monthly newsletter. We hope that this plays even just a small part in encouraging Node4 employees to prioritise their wellbeing, with World Mental Health Day providing the perfect opportunity to reinforce this message.”
February
25feb09:0017:30International Women's Day Conference & Exhibition 2025 | ThinkFest IWD
25/02/2025 09:00 - 17:30(GMT+00:00)
Millennium Point - Birmingham
Curzon Street, Birmingham, B4 7XG
Join us for a kick-ass International Women’s Day Conference & Exhibition, celebrating and empowering women from all walks of life! International Women’s
Join us for an inspiring and empowering event celebrating women’s achievements and promoting gender equality. The International Women’s Day Conference & Exhibition will take place at Millennium Point – Birmingham. This in-person event brings together influential speakers, thought-provoking discussions, and a vibrant exhibition showcasing the talents of women from various fields. Don’t miss this opportunity to connect, learn, and be inspired by remarkable women from around the world. Come and be part of this incredible celebration of women’s accomplishments and the journey towards a more inclusive society.
The Event is split in two, a ticketed Conference and a free to attend Expo.
FREE TO ATTEND EXPO – This part of the event will feature a number of exhibition stands as well as seminar stage delivering content to individuals, small businesses and young females. This is completely free to attend and we have content running throughout the day.
For more for more information about all of the sessions we are running, please take a look at our website. www.IWDExpo.com
We look forward to welcoming you all there, don’t forget it’s not just for women, we need more men in the room to create a greater alliance for gender parity.
10:00 AM Welcome & Introduction
10:30 AM Motivational Networking
11:00 AM How to Start and Scale Your Business
11:30 AM The Magic of Writing Your Book
12:00 PM Funding Females
12:30 PM Mental Health & Wellbeing
1:00 PM Women In STEM
2:00 PM Women in Media
3:00 PM Empowering Girls for Career Success
4:00 PM Building Your Personal Brand
4:40 PM Monetise your Passion
5:10 PM Finish
PAID TICKET CONFERENCE – The content delivered at the conference will be targeted towards senior leaders across business and corporate as well as third-sector organisations. We will be exploring a range of different topics, looking at key issues that women face and what we can do to improve the experience for women in the workplace. A key part of the conference will focus on how we increase the number of male allies for females and have a dedicated panel of speakers discussing this. To top it all off we will be hearing from fashion entrepreneur Karen Millen OBE, founder of Karen Millen.
25feb10:3011:30The FTSE Women Leaders Review | Report Launch Tuesday 25 February 2025
25/02/2025 10:30 - 11:30(GMT+00:00)
We are delighted to extend to you a special invitation to the live broadcast launch of the FTSE Women Leaders Review report on Tuesday 25 February 2025 from
The FTSE Women Leaders Review has made remarkable strides, with the FTSE 350 achieving over 40% women’s representation on boards ahead of the target. However, our work is far from complete. Achieving gender balance and diversity on boards and leadership teams has never been more crucial to harness the wealth of experience, expertise and skills essential for business to navigate complex issues successfully.
With just one year remaining to reach our recommendations, realising genuine equality and enabling further progress will require a united commitment from us all to achieve the 40% women in leadership target and to drive more appointments of women into the ‘four key roles’; the Chair, Senior Independent Director, CEO and Finance Director.
We therefore warmly invite you to join us for the 2024 report launch, where we will share new and exclusive findings on the progress made in achieving gender balance during the year. We are delighted that the Secretary of State for the Department of Business & Trade and the Minister for Women & Equalities will be sharing their support for the Review, and we are excited to host a panel of distinguished guests who will share insights on how they are accelerating progress.
Our panellists include:
– Allison Kirkby, CEO BT Group Plc
– Lee Chambers, Business Psychologist, Speaker, Author
– Yetunde Hofmann, Non-Executive Director Cranswick Plc
– Mary Ann Sieghart, Author of ‘The Authority Gap’
Please confirm your attendance at this virtual event by completing this registration form. If you encounter any difficulties during the registration process, our team is available to assist you at [email protected]
This year, our event will be exclusively a live broadcast, and so we encourage you to share this invitation with your network.
27feb08:3014:00Clarity Connect International Women's Day Conference | Clarity Leadership Ltd
27/02/2025 08:30 - 14:00(GMT+00:00)
Bloomsbury Ballroom
Bloomsbury Square, London, WC1B 4DA
Ahead of IWD2025, please join Clarity Leadership as we hear from leaders and generate discussion around the key themes of gender equality. Ahead of International Women’s Day
Ahead of International Women’s Day 2025, please join Clarity Leadership as we invite you to join us for an open and inclusive morning of presentations and lively debate. To follow the IWD 2025 theme, #AcclerateAction, the speakers will be generating discussion and debate around female leadership, gender equality and the creation of an inclusive and more gender-equal world.
We will be joined by two exceptional leaders, Lee Chambers, Founding Director of Male Allies UK, and Riham Satti, Co-Founder and CEO of MeVitae, Creating Fairness in the Workplace. They will share their experiences, challenges, and the obstacles they’ve overcome in their efforts to create a more equal world.
We also invite you to hear research, experiences, and views from a group of leaders who identify as women from several leading organisations, including Pfizer, Microsoft, Vodafone, Reckitt, and Bayer. The speakers join us from all over the world and around the UK, providing a global perspective on their discussions. This is the culmination of six months’ work by 16 leaders who identify as women, who have been through our Women in Leadership Programme. The final part of their journey has been the design and delivery of this event.
This is an event for everyone and we look forward to welcoming you!
Free
27/02/2025 12:30 - 13:30(GMT+00:00)
We are delighted to be joined by Laura Bates, Best-selling Author, Keynote Speaker and Founder of the Everyday Sexism Project.
Laura will be setting out the existing and potential ways in which emerging technologies can have unintended negative impacts on women and marginalised groups, both in and outside the workplace. From the metaverse and deepfake technology to AI and adult robots, these technologies are fast becoming the building blocks of our future societies, so it is vital that we understand the risks and act now to prevent them from reinventing existing forms of inequality in our brave new world.
Laura Bates is a best-selling author, keynote speaker and founder of the Everyday Sexism Project. Her books include Everyday Sexism, Girl Up and Fix the System, Not the Women. Laura writes regularly for the New York Times, Guardian and others, and is a frequent media commentator and consultant for TV productions tackling issues around gender inequality.
She works closely with government, schools, businesses, police forces and bodies from the United Nations to the Council of Europe on sexism and inequality.
In recognition of Laura’s work surrounding sexism and gender inequality, she was awarded a British Empire Medal in the 2015 Queen’s Birthday Honours List and has been named Woman of the Year by Cosmopolitan, Red Magazine and The Sunday Times Magazine. She is also an Honorary Fellow of St John’s College, Cambridge, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.
Please note, this event will be hosted as a Teams Town hall. Please register your place on Eventbrite and we will share the Teams meeting link.
We look forward to seeing you!
free
27feb18:0020:30Planning and Goals Workshop | WeAreTheCity
27/02/2025 18:00 - 20:30(GMT+00:00)
Nomura
1 Angel Lane, London, EC4R 3AB
Join Dr Vanessa Vallely OBE to discover why and how to create your career strategy and plan in order to
This interactive session is aimed at injecting the “va va voom” back into your career.
Dr Vanessa Vallely OBE, CEO of WeAreTheCity, will share why leaving your career solely in the hands of your line manager is no longer enough. Vanessa will provide insights on how to take charge of your career, create a strategic plan, and actively seek opportunities to propel your professional growth.
The workshop focuses on why and how to create a career strategy and plan, to unlock your potential and path to success. This session is not about theory, science or blue sky thinking, it is about a realistic look at what you want to achieve and actions to take in order to get where you want to go!
Session includes:
By the end of this session, participants will have the foundation of a career plan they can continue to develop and implement throughout 2025.
We will close the evening with networking and drinks/canapés.
We look forward to seeing you there!
Please note that on arrival at Nomura guests will be asked to provide photographic ID, a passport or driving licence.