Humansolutions Bulletin - May 4th 2017

The Cancer Challenge: Coping with Cancer When Someone You Love is Diagnosed by Hannah Mann Learning that someone you love has cancer can be a devastating experience. It can generate a wide range of emotions and leave you quite unsure about what to do. You will want to be supportive, of course. But what will help? What are the things you shouldn’t do in case they are perceived as unhelpful or inappropriate? This practical guide helps you to think through the issues involved.  Click here to read more

Capitalist economies work on the basis of constant consumption. To keep the wheels of the economy turning people need to keep spending money. So, companies need to keep coming up with new things for us to buy, new fads and fashions, new technological gizmos and so on. Alongside this is the tendency for success in life to be measured in material terms – not just the size of one’s bank balance, but also signs of what has come to be known as ‘conspicuous consumption’. This involves displaying symbols of wealth and standing: expensive cars, designer clothes, being seen out in the most expensive restaurants, and so on. Of course, these two phenomena are not separate. This is because all this…

The average FTSE 100 CEO is now paid around 190 times the wages of the average worker, and around 400 times that of someone earning the minimum wage. Executive pay has become divorced from reality, disconnected from performance and totally detached from the pay of other employees. Millionaire bosses are treated as irreplaceable talent, the rest of us are often dismissed as a cost to be reduced. That needs to change. That’s why The Equality Trust is asking you to sign our petition calling on the UK Government to introduce mandatory pay ratio reporting in the private sector immediately, and require businesses to reveal, and justify, the difference in pay between bosses and workers. Click here to read more

How can teachers make classrooms places of inclusion and belonging? That’s the question we should ask in light of Trump’s victory, which has legitimised misogyny, Islamophobia and racism, and the rise in hate crime in the UK following the EU referendum. We work with young women of colour from low-income backgrounds, many of whom are Muslim. In recent months, our participants have spoken about the growing fear they feel as a consequence of the current political rhetoric, and the hate crimes that have followed. Young people must have an education that enables them to stand up for justice, to act in solidarity with their peers, and to lead change. But under the strain of ever-growing workloads and emotional exhaustion, it…

It's no secret that the volatile and unstable climate we face in business today takes its toll on our employees. According to a recent study, a full 42% of employees feel disengaged at work, costing U.S. businesses nearly $350 billion dollars a year. What’s perhaps even more surprising is what’s at the root of this: Feeling undervalued is actually the leading cause of stress in the workplace, and one of the top causes of turnover and low engagement. The good news: Recognizing your people’s work and input is a simple antidote to feeling undervalued, and what’s more, it is easy and inexpensive to implement. It will leave your employees feeling strong, resilient, and engaged — helping to buck the trends…

Disability campaigners will produce guidelines for social workers on how to help service users become more physically active. Disability Rights UK is producing the guidance after the charity found many disabled people don’t know what activities are available or what they can spend their personal budget on. The organisation has identified that social workers can play a key role in discussing these issues during the assessment, supporting planning and review processes. It now plans to develop evidence-based guidelines that can help practitioners in their day-to-day work. Click here to read more