Physical and Mental Wellbeing: I haven’t got time for lunch
I haven't eaten today. I've got no time for lunch.
We are nearing the end of a challenging and taxing half term and we all know the score by now. The dark mornings and afternoons and the feeling that time, instead of being on our side, is actually our enemy. There's just never enough of it. For senior leaders, this pinch point is all too clear, the mental exhaustion comes from balancing everything from the strategic to the seemingly trivial, managing budgets of millions of pounds one minute and then managing the Year 8 lunch queue the next. The toll on our brains and bodies becomes evident at this stage in the year, but it’s this time where our colleagues really look to us to see something completely different.
The only answer for senior leaders seems to be to work harder, for longer. We sacrifice precious moments and time with friends and family, sacrifice break and lunchtimes in a desperate attempt to catch up and to squeeze everything in. Unused gym memberships, broken social engagements with friends and fatigue beyond words becomes the norm. You forget your body’s need to fuel and refuel during the day, because even eating or drinking a glass of water gets added to the bottom of your growing to-do list.
This would be the case if this was an ordinary year, but it isn’t- for so many reasons this year is extraordinary. But even so, there are bigger issues that need to be addressed here in order to ensure that senior workload is manageable and that we are able to serve the teachers and colleagues in our schools to the best of our ability.
Being in leadership is a public affair, you’re on show, performing, walking the walk during every waking working moment. In our cars being the last on the staff carpark, in working through lunchtimes and breaktimes we are sending a message, loud and clear to future generations of senior leaders that in order to retain your position and be proficient in your role, work has to be prioritised ahead of your own health and wellbeing.
We need to shift that narrative, to stop promoting martyrdom as a glamorous pursuit. To stop telling colleagues what time we shut the laptop the night before.
This is easier said than done, particularly if it’s all that our colleagues have ever seen or all that's been promoted by their leaders. As an NQT, I remember feeling the weight of expectation when I and 12 other colleagues were asked to prepare a presentation, summarising our learning for the year. We spent weeks preparing, trying to source the time around planning our lessons and learning how to be teachers. In the end, we decided it would be best to just stay in school until it was done. We camped out in a computer room until around 9:30pm, ordered pizza and planned for our lives. After we had done our presentation to the whole staff the day after, we were praised for our dedication and the additional hours we had spent putting the work together- we were congratulated on the sacrifices we had made.
I don't remember exactly what was in that presentation but I do remember that that experience created an unhealthy work ethic that I still battle against, 12 years later.
I'm more and more aware now of the language I use around my impressionable colleagues, and I'm trying more consciously to ensure they don't perceive me as somebody who can fit a week's worth of work into a day.
The key here is in developing those around us more successfully and modelling the sort of leadership behaviours we would want to see in them. A greater focus on distributing leadership capacity into middle leader posts is crucial in building sustainable change and in ensuring the healthy working habits of future leaders. Developing opportunities to have honest and candid conversations about the challenges of managing your time at senior level is so important.
In 12 years time, I hope that the next Assistant Head says they learnt from somebody who made time for their lunch, drank plenty of water and picked up their child rather than their laptop in the evenings. That's when we will know we've been successful.
Physical Health and Wellbeing: Women’s Health
Why do senior leaders need to make improvements for women’s health in the workplace?
Not least because pregnancy and menopause are a normal part of women’s lives. As such it can be an equality and safety issue, women could very well need flexibility, reasonable adjustments to work patterns and the workplace environment and support but overall better knowledge and understanding by their line managers and colleagues.
Women’s health can incorporate pregnancy, early motherhood, menopause, fertility treatment, miscarriage, still birth and gynaecological issues. All of these have the possibility of causing physical, emotional and mental health issues for women. Conditions in the workplace can have a detrimental effect and make symptoms worse.
Menopause it is still a taboo topic, one that is rarely spoken about, particularly in the workplace, unless through jokes and banter. The lack of awareness by employers of the impact symptoms may have to our capacity to complete activities at work and which affect our well-being. We need to start speaking up; challenge negative menopausal stereotypes and encourage our friends and colleagues to do the same.
There is a significant lack of understanding and knowledge we all hold around the menopause and its symptoms. The period of time leading up to the menopause is actually called the peri-menopause, being the period of transition leading up to the menopause where women experience a huge variety of symptoms, but few people are aware of the term. Most of us will have heard about hot flushes, heavier periods, frequency changes to periods and starting to get hair where we don’t want it, but how many more symptoms do you know about even if you are currently in the transitional stage of peri-menopause? They can include: difficulty sleeping; low mood or anxiety; skin irritability; palpitations; panic attacks; joint stiffness and problems with memory and concentration.
Did you know this period of hormonal change can last for 4 to 8 years and for some up to 12 years?
All women will all experience some symptoms and for some they can be severe and have a significant impact on the quality of our personal and working life. It is said 1 in 4 women will experience severe symptoms! These symptoms affect working life and we try to manage tiredness, memory changes and poor concentration plus the stress and embarrassment, which may be detrimental to confidence levels.
New and expectant mothers are covered by specific requirements under the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999. The term ‘new or expectant mothers’ includes pregnant women, mothers who are breastfeeding, mothers who have given birth in the last six months and women who have miscarried after 24 weeks of pregnancy.
However, it is harder to pin down the legislation for women undergoing fertility treatment, miscarriage before 24 weeks, menstrual difficulties and the menopause. The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 requires employers to ensure the health, safety and welfare of all workers. Under the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations, employers are required to undertake general risk assessments which should include specific risks to pregnant and menopausal women.
The Equality Act prohibits discrimination against people on the grounds of certain ‘protected characteristics’ including sex, age and disability. Conditions linked to the menopause may meet the definition of an ‘impairment’ under the Equality Act and require reasonable adjustments.
Every workplace needs to be committed to ensuring that women feel confident in discussing pregnancy, menopause and female health symptoms openly, without embarrassment and are able to ask for support and adjustments in order to continue to work safely in the organisation. For this reason, pregnancy, menopause and female health at work is an issue for men as well as women.
Workplaces need a positive attitude towards the menopause, pregnancy and female health treating all individuals with dignity and respect during this time and ensure that the workplace does not make symptoms worse.
Workplaces need to aim towards:
Everyone who works has a role to play in ensuring a comfortable working environment for all staff, including women experiencing the menopause or female health difficulties.
These could include simple measures such as:
Not being proactive in this area may lead to the staff member suffering from physical and mental health issues and being on sick leave, which could be long term and potentially resigning or taking early retirement when reasonable adjustments could have retained valuable, experienced staff.
We can also pledge to share important points about the topic to ensure everyone is better informed and the subject does not remain taboo.
Bretta Towned - Jowitt