Astriid

Flexible working is a phrase familiar to many people and organisations, but are you aware of the breadth of adjustments that fall under this umbrella term? For people with long-term health conditions, flexible working practice is of the utmost importance - it enables people to find inclusive work that’s suitable and accessible alongside their condition management. The graph below, showcasing research findings identified by Astriid's Making Employment Work report, details just a few of the adjustments most commonly sought out by this community. In order, they are: - Working from home - Flexible start and finish times - Flexible working hours over the week - Ability to take flexible rest breaks - Part-time and reduced hours - Annualised hours - Disability leave (time off for medical appointments, condition management, or rehabilitation) - Hybrid working How many of these have you heard of? Are there any areas where you could be better informed? Here at Astriid, we deliver bespoke training for employers and recruiters who want to support and empower employees with long-term health conditions. You can find out more about our Supporting People With Long-Term Conditions At Work eLearning course and sign-up today here: https://buff.ly/3UabMK5 This session will help you to... - Gain awareness of long-term conditions and their impact on working life - Understand how to implement effective and personalised support to enable individuals to thrive in work - Learn how to correctly apply legal duties to make reasonable adjustments for disabled employees. And plenty more! For further information, visit our website or contact training@astriid.org - it would be great to chat with you. What does flexible working look like to you? Sign up for our eLearning programme: https://buff.ly/3UabMK5 Read the Making Employment Work Report: https://buff.ly/3Uahwn3 ~ [Hashtags] #Astriid #Employment #FlexibleWorking #InclusiveEmployment #AccessibleEmployment #UKCharity #ChronicIllness #Disability #InvisibleTalentPool #DiversityAndInclusion #DEI #Recruitment #InclusiveRecruitment #AstriidConsulting #eLearning

NEW RESOURCE: Disability Disclosure And Discrimination In The Workplace - Astriid's Guide For People With Long-Term Health Conditions! If you have a long-term health condition, you may encounter disability discrimination during your working life. From being excluded during recruitment to difficulties securing workplace adjustments and climbing the career ladder, people can face multiple barriers during their working day. This is unacceptable, and for a long time, disability has seemed like the forgotten strand of organisational commitments to diversity and inclusion. All disabled people face social barriers, but through our line of work at Astriid, we aim to support and empower people with long-term health conditions and energy limiting conditions in particular. We know from our own lived experiences that it can be especially difficult to communicate your reality when living with disabilities of this nature, and even more so to tackle discrimination while taking care of yourself and managing your symptoms. Therefore, we've created this bespoke Disability Discrimination guide. The content centres around the questions we’re most frequently asked by the community we support; questions that aren’t always easy to find answers for online. In this resource, you will find guidance on: • Your Rights As A Disabled Employee • Explaining Fluctuating And Non-Visible Disabilities • How To Disclose A Disability/ Long-Term Condition In The Workplace • Types Of Disability Discrimination • How To Tackle Disability Discrimination • Taking Care Of Yourself During Difficult Times • Where To Find Additional Support Please note that this document is not intended to be a comprehensive guide, or a substitute for legal guidance or targeted support from HR professionals. Instead, it aims to act as a starting point for anybody experiencing disability discrimination in their line of work. Many thanks to Employment Law specialist Joan Pettingill from professional services firm gunnercooke for her expert advice on the contents of this guide. Nobody should have to experience disability discrimination in their line of work. Here at Astriid we’re striving to level the playing field for people with long-term health conditions, but we hope this resource provides a helpful starting point for anybody who needs it in the meantime. Take good care of yourself, and always remember your worth – you are an asset to your organisation, and you deserve to be treated equitably. Access the free guide here: https://buff.ly/40Du8Hg ~ [Hashtags] #Astriid #Disability #DisabilityInclusion #LongTermHealthConditions #EnergyLimitingConditions #DisabilityDisclosure #DisabilityDiscrimination

Are you looking for work alongside managing a long-term health condition? Our Prime Candidate series is underway and we’re thrilled with the positive feedback from our first session on CV Writing! This collection of free workshops, in partnership between Astriid and CV Prime & HR Prime Services Ltd, are designed and delivered by leading industry experts, to support individuals with long-term health conditions who are seeking meaningful work. These sessions are packed full of the latest knowledge and guidance about the world of employment and recruitment, with no cost at all to take part in them. There’s still time to sign up for the remaining three sessions via the link in our bio! They are: Job Searching, Applying And Using LinkedIn (14/11/24). This session shows you where and how to look for jobs, how to present yourself online and in-person, and how to tailor your documents to meet essential shortlisting criteria during the application stage. Interview Skills (12/12/24). This interactive session covers how to prepare for interviews, impactful techniques for connecting with an interviewer, frequently asked questions you should be prepared to answer, and what interviewers are looking for in the current climate. Your Rights As An Employee (09/01/25). This session shares valuable information on your right to time off, accessing reasonable adjustments, entitlement to family leave, and the laws you should be aware of in order to maintain your rights and ensure you are treated equitably as an employee. You can sign up for as many as you like, as long as there is space available. Webinars will be recorded for those who cannot attend live or who need to watch in smaller chunks in order to pace themselves. The recordings will be sent out to people who have registered to attend rather than publicly available, so do ensure you’ve registered via the link in our bio! Huge thank you to The National Lottery Community Fund for supporting these sessions! ~ [Hashtags] #Astriid #EmploymentSupport #LongTermHealthConditions #EnergyLimitingConditions #Disability #DisabilityEmployment #CVWriting #JobSearching #NationalLotteryCommunityFund

Managing a long-term health condition is a full-time job in itself. Not everybody with a condition of this nature can work, but many people who want to find meaningful employment struggle to secure paid opportunities that are sustainable alongside managing their health condition. To a non-disabled person, the many challenges faced by those of us with long-term illnesses may not be immediately visible or obvious. However, survey findings by Astriid's Making Employment Work report revealed some of the most prevalent health-related barriers to work. In order, they are: - Fatigue and limited energy - Fluctuating capacity to work - Cognitive fatigue (also called brain fog) - Payback (symptoms deteriorating following exertion) - Pain - Dizziness - Sensory sensitivity - Nausea - Continence issues - Mental distress These challenges can be life-altering, but truly flexible working can help to accommodate them and make the workplace more accessible. The most inclusive employers are those who are aware and informed about these barriers, and are willing to work with talented individuals to find adjustments that allow that person to thrive and give their best to their job. Your organisation may have had disability equality training in the past, but did it cover the unique challenges of long-term health conditions and Energy Limiting Conditions? As of now, not many of them do… despite the fact that 1 in 3 disabled people in the UK fall into this category. Here at Astriid, we’re here to help. At a time when long-term and post-viral conditions are on the rise and more people than ever are left economically inactive due to their disability, we’re here to help you develop creative and inclusive solutions that everybody can benefit from. Whether you hope to learn more about flexible working practice or inclusive recruitment, or have a unique challenge we can help you with, our training will help you to become an employer of choice for disabled talent. Find out more about what we can offer on our website and sign-up today! Find out more about Astriid Training: https://buff.ly/3zVGVtY Read our Making Employment Work report: https://buff.ly/3Uahwn3 ~ [Hashtags] #Astriid #AstriidCharity #FlexibleWorking #InclusiveEmployment #ChronicIllness #Disability #InvisibleTalentPool #InclusiveRecruitment #AstriidConsulting #DisabilityEquality #BarriersToWork #HealthRelatedBarriers

Do you know how to talk about long-term health conditions in the workplace? Using inclusive language is essential for supporting disabled people in your workforce, and Astriid's Inclusive Language Training, informed by lived experience, exists to help you keep up-to-date with best practice. Delivered in webinar format by award-winning communication consultant Pippa Stacey, this session helps you to facilitate confident conversations around disability, long-term health conditions, and energy-limiting conditions - areas that are often omitted from broader disability equality training. Each session covers: - The importance of using inclusive language and how to take the lead from and respect the preferences of individuals - Key definitions and terminology around disability, long-term conditions, and energy-limiting conditions, and the important differences between them - Acceptable and unacceptable words and phrases, and understanding the ‘why’ behind each one - Terminology and definitions around using mobility aids and accommodating access needs, including dynamic disabilities and ambulatory wheelchair users - An introduction to ableism and how it underpins some of the harmful narratives around long-term conditions - How our language use can debunk unhelpful or inaccurate stereotypes and take a more empowering stance instead Created by experts by experience in long-term health conditions, Astriid focusses on impactful and person-led solutions to breaking down barriers in the workplace. Book an Inclusive Language Training session today to help your organisation become a frontrunner in this area, and be part of the movement to make the world of work more accepting and accommodating for all. We look forward to seeing you there! Find out more here: https://buff.ly/3BJhZq6 Featured Image Credits: Workstyle Revolution

Our first Prime Candidate workshop with CV Prime & HR Prime Services Ltd, focussing on CV Writing, begins tomorrow! Find out more via the post below and sign up for free here: https://lnkd.in/eMy5dEUg We can't wait to see you there!

Astriid's research identified that over 75% of people with long-term health conditions seek out job advertisements and opportunities that specifically mention flexibility over working hours or location, including hybrid working. Is your organisation equipped to accommodate this request and embrace this untapped talent pool? The Equality and Human Rights Commission has recently released new guidance for employers on supporting disabled workers with hybrid working, including legal obligations and examples of questions that can facilitate confident conversations. And if you're ready to dive deeper into flexible working practice and removing barriers to employment for this growing population, Astriid's bespoke eLearning on Supporting People With Long-Term Conditions At Work is available now too! Our interactive session enables you to: - Understand how long-term and energy-limiting conditions impact a person’s working life - Identify different types of flexible working practice and their potential for removing barriers to work - Implement effective and personalised support so that individuals with long-term conditions can thrive - Correctly apply legal duties to make and improve reasonable adjustments available to employees  - Improve lines of communication between line managers and employees to prevent masking and burnout If you’re ready to embrace the rapidly growing talent pool of people with long-term conditions in your workforce, get in touch now to register your place! Find out more about our eLearning Course: https://lnkd.in/eZXHyKXk Read the new guidance on hybrid working for disabled employees: https://lnkd.in/eBVKYTmv ~ [Hashtags] #Astriid #FlexibleWorking #InclusiveRecruitment #InclusiveEmployment #LongTermConditions #Disability #DiversityAndInclusion #EnergyLimitingCondition #EnergyLimitingConditions #HybridWorking #HybridEmployment

Looking for work alongside managing a long-term health condition? We’re delighted to announce our Prime Candidate series, our collection of free workshops developed by Astriid and CV Prime/ HR Prime Services Ltd! These webinars are designed by leading industry experts to support individuals with long-term health conditions who are seeking work. They're packed full of the latest knowledge and guidance in the world of employment and recruitment, and there is no cost at all to take part. Thank you to The National Lottery Community Fund for your support! The sessions will be as follows… CV Writing (10/10/24). Tips and advice on writing a standout CV, including how to highlight your most desirable skills. Our experts will also share insights into how CVs are assessed, by people and systems, during the recruitment process. Job Searching, Applying And Using LinkedIn (14/11/24). Where to look for jobs in the current market, how to present yourself, and how to tailor documents to meet essential shortlisting criteria during the application stage. Interview Skills (12/12/24). How to prepare for interviews, impactful techniques for connecting with an interviewer, and frequently asked questions you should be prepared to answer. Your Rights As An Employee (09/01/25). Valuable information the laws you should be aware of to ensure you are treated equitably as an employee. You can sign up for however many you like, and each webinar will be recorded for those who cannot attend live. Recordings will be sent out to people who have registered to attend rather than publicly available, so do ensure you’ve signed up to take part. Joining instructions and Zoom links will be sent directly to you by CV Prime & HR Prime closer to the time of the session. Hope to see you there! ~ Astriid is a UK-based charity helping to make the world of work more inclusive for people with long-term health conditions. We provide support and guidance to individuals seeking inclusive employment opportunities, and deliver bespoke training to employers to help them make their workplace practice more inclusive. HR Prime is an HR and management training consultancy, providing the full scope of HR support to small businesses. Based in Essex, all services are offered in person and remotely, so clients are all over the UK. HR Prime pride themselves on their personable, tailored, and professional approach, helping businesses and individuals to understand how good HR practices can support business success. CV Prime is a CV writing and job search support company, working with individuals at all stages in their career to support with CV writing, documentation, interview skills coaching and job search support. Outplacement support is also provided to companies. Tracey is a member of the British Association of CV Writers (BACVW). Sign up for the session(s) you'd like to take part in here: https://lnkd.in/eMy5dEUg

King's College London College London is conducting research into how flexible job design might help people with fluctuating disabilities who are seeking work. Here’s what we know so far about their findings… Previous research shows that people with #EnergyLimitingConditions typically need three dimensions of flexibility in combination: 1. Worktime flexibility to spread out working hours across the week(s), to accommodate fluctuating symptoms and variable capacity for work.
 2. Reduced hours to accommodate energy impairment, pacing, and/or treatment regimes.
 3. Working from home to remove the exertion of travel and over-stimulating environments, giving people increased autonomy to manage their medical needs. FlexPlus jobs are roles that involve more than one dimension of flexibility and go further than common understandings of flexible working. Organisational barriers prevent employers from creating FlexPlus roles. These include: 1. Many businesses seem to be redrawing their flexible working policies to prescribe which kinds of flexible working are “reasonable” and which are not. 2. Employers may carve out a FlexPlus role for an existing employee, but disabled people seeking to re-enter the jobs market are almost entirely excluded from these opportunities. 3. Negotiating reduced hours during the hiring process is typically seen as problematic by employers. This poses a barrier for jobseekers who can (and want) to work but need significantly reduced working hours. None of the employers interviewed felt confident that their organisation would currently be able to offer FlexPlus jobs to disabled jobseekers. They called for research evidence, case studies and toolkits to enable them to embed FlexPlus ways of working within job design. What do you think? Would you like to see FlexPlus jobs become more readily available? ‘Can flexible job design improve employment outcomes for people with fluctuating disabilities?’ is an ongoing research study by Catherine Hale, Professor Ben Geiger, Professor Kim Hoque, Professor Ira Madan and Roberta Kirosingh. Find out more on the King's College London website! Read Catherine Hale's blog post: https://lnkd.in/eWeDG4ig Read Astriid's summary post: https://lnkd.in/e25cBkmK ~ #FlexPlusJobs #InclusiveEmployment #EnergyLimitingConditions #DEI

Do you live in Wales? Do you have a long-term health condition? Please take part in our short survey to help inform our work! The survey is made up of just nine short questions, and your insights will help inform our future work. To get started, just follow the link here: https://lnkd.in/dmxH7-GS Thank you very much in advance for your time and energy! ~ [Hashtags] #Astriid #AstriidCharity #FlexibleWorking #InclusiveEmployment #AccessibleEmployment #ChronicIllness #Disability #InvisibleTalentPool #EnergyLimitingCondition #EnergyLimitingConditions #Wales #DisabilityWales