Rethinking how your organisation supports new parents
Release Date: 11/03/2025
Flexible working – tips to achieve best practice now
The Brightmine Podcast (UK)
There have been many significant legislative shifts in relation to flexible working in recent years, of course, and under the Employment Rights Act 2025 we are promised further changes. joins the podcast to look at the way flexible working is transforming employee expectations and workplace culture, and to offer some ideas about what best practice looks like in this new era. Resources
info_outline
Employment Rights Act 2025 – the trade union reforms reshaping industrial relations
The Brightmine Podcast (UK)
Brightmine legal editor Lilia Dangi joins the podcast to talk through recent and upcoming trade union-related reforms under the Employment Rights Act 2025. She discusses how these changes are modernising industrial relations and rebalancing the relationship between employers and unions, and looks in particular at: the new duty to inform workers of their right to join a union; unions' right of access to the workplace; and the role of the Fair Work Agency. Tune in to hear what employers need to know, and how these reforms could reshape the future of industrial relations. Related resources ...
info_outline
Employment Rights Act 2025 harassment changes - a fresh perspective from the high seas
The Brightmine Podcast (UK)
Some major changes are coming to the harassment laws in October. Global inequalities specialist – and licensed skipper – Georgie Williams joins the podcast to talk about what it’s like to draw up an anti-harassment policy on a ship. What does it mean when you can’t “clock off” and go home in the way you can with land-based office jobs? How does this change dynamics? What challenges does this raise? Resources
info_outline
Employment Rights Act special – how organisation design can help businesses in a period of profound change
The Brightmine Podcast (UK)
Organisation design expert and founder Lilian Duckart joins Brightmine HR strategy and practice editor Laura Kimpton to discuss how HR departments can use organisation design to meet the changing needs of their business - and how AI can help. Resources
info_outline
The AI challenge - adjust your performance expectations and measurements now!
The Brightmine Podcast (UK)
Research suggests that AI is making a nonsense of the traditional equivalence between output and productivity and creating a new category of worker: the person who is thriving themselves into exhaustion. Jeremy Hollander joins the podcast to discuss how HR can tackle these issues by upgrading productivity measurements to distinguish sustainable high performance from intensity that is destined to end in burnout. Related resources
info_outline
Gender pay gap reporting – lessons learned and what comes next
The Brightmine Podcast (UK)
Pay gap reporting is about to get an important upgrade. Michelle Gyimah, pay gap strategist and founder of , joins the podcast to break down what the Employment Rights Act 2025 changes really mean - and how HR can get ahead of the likely next wave: ethnicity and disability pay gap reporting. Resources
info_outline
Pay reviews in 2026 – balancing budgetary pressures and employee expectations
The Brightmine Podcast (UK)
With early pay awards showing signs of growth, joins the podcast to dig into what the data tells us about pay award plans for the year ahead, and how employers can navigate the growing tension between affordability and employee expectations. Related resources
info_outline
Employment Rights Act 2025 - why HR should review its probationary process before July 2026
The Brightmine Podcast (UK)
The Employment Rights Act 2025 marks a major shift in unfair dismissal law. From January 2027, the qualifying period will drop from two years to six months - applying retrospectively to employees hired from July 2026 - and the cap on compensatory awards will be removed altogether. Stephen Simpson, principal editor at Brightmine, joins the podcast to break down the changes and share practical steps HR should be taking now to prepare. Related resources
info_outline
Employment Rights Act 2025 – will women in the workplace benefit?
The Brightmine Podcast (UK)
, author of , joins the podcast to discuss measures in the Government's Employment Rights Act 2025 - harassment and flexible working reforms, menopause action plans - and set out ways in which employers and employees alike can benefit from the forthcoming legislative changes. Related resources
info_outline
Wellbeing that works - what the research tells us
The Brightmine Podcast (UK)
Neurodiversity. Menopause. Men's health. What are organisations doing and what should they be doing to truly support the wellbeing of their people? Brightmine HR data insight analysts Hannah Mason and Vernujaa Nagandiram join the podcast to reveal surprising trends and share their latest research insights. Tune in now and discover what your organisation could be doing better - starting today. Related resources
info_outlineDoes your organisation provide fair and equal leave and pay for all new parents? The Government has launched a full 18-month review of family-related leave and the Employment Rights Bill is set to introduce some changes in this area.
In the meantime higher expectations among the workforce appear to be prompting organisations to take matters into their own hands and to develop ambitious new policies.
In this episode of the podcast Zeba Sayed, senior legal editor at Brightmine, talks to Becs Peedell, employment lawyer at Lewis Silkin, about her organisation's equal new parent policy - and how it is seeking to encourage other firms to follow suit.
Resources
Equalised new parent leave policy
How Lewis Silkin developed and rolled out its equalised new parent leave policy
Statutory neonatal care leave: What HR needs to know
On your radar - Employment Rights Bill updates and HR mythbusting
Key Takeaways
- The podcast discusses UK parental leave, the newly launched Government review and law firm Lewis Silkin's equalised new parent leave policy.
- UK statutory leave offers 52 weeks for mothers, 1-2 weeks for fathers, and shared parental leave, but uptake is low and policies are seen as outdated.
- Lewis Silkin's policy gives all new parents up to 52 weeks' leave, with 26 weeks at full pay for those with a year's service. Leave can be taken flexibly.
- The policy has seen high uptake, including among fathers, and has cost more than expected, but is viewed as a success for workplace equality.
- The firm encourages other organisations to consider similar policies, emphasising stakeholder buy-in and operational planning.