Empresa Psychology Newsletter

September 2025

Prioritising HR Wellbeing

HR professionals are often the people who are tasked with taking care of everyone else's wellbeing - as a clinical psychologist, I can empathise! They often find themselves stuck in the middle of conflicts, challenged to support struggling employees with limited resources, or tasked to carry out business priorities that may not fit with their values relating to employee wellbeing. 

At Empresa Psychology, we want to put HR wellbeing first! This month we are really excited to be delivering a webinar to the CPO Forum of Founders Keepers -  an exclusive community designed for Chief People Officers navigating the challenges and opportunities of modern leadership.

Attendees will learn:

💡How to work effectively with challenging personality traits whilst protecting their own wellbeing.

Spotlight On: Suicide Prevention

On the 10th September it is World Suicide Prevention Day. High stress professions often see high rates of individuals tragically taking their own life. But there are things we can do to prevent this. 

And yes, overworking does contribute to suicide risk. Research suggests a very high percentage of suicides by lawyers are attributed to job stress. Lawyers are also reported to experience around 3x more suicidal ideation (thoughts) than the general population. Another extremely high risk profession is construction, which holds the unfortunate title for highest suicide rates in the UK (4x the national average). 

Here are some practical tips that you can use immediately to create a culture in which suicide risk is reduced:

1. Build psychological safety. If leaders and managers are fostering a culture in which people feel they can be honest and speak up, they are far more likely to find out if someone is struggling. As a leader, a great first step is to model that asking for help is a sign of strength and that vulnerability is not weakness.
2. Get the structural factors right. Align job demands with realistic staffing and timelines; clarify roles; promote meaningful work; involve staff in decisions; enable social connection. All these elements are associated with better mental health in employees. 
3. Roll-out meaningful training that reduces stigma and upskills managers to notice early warning signs. We offer workshops for leaders that support them to develop skills around effective communication and emotional intelligence (as part of our framework for Compassionate Leadership training and building Psychological Safety). As well as workshops for your teams to support them to better understand their mental health and feel comfortable speaking up. 

On this World Suicide Prevention Day, let’s commit to proactive, compassionate workplace cultures, so no one feels they must face their struggles alone.

Wellbeing In The News:

💡 Financial News London reports that over 50% of finance and professional services workers have experienced or witnessed coercive behaviour, including bullying, intimidation, and ego-driven leadership. They call for more psychologically safe workplaces to counteract this. 

💡The Times published this article highlighting that 4/10 Gen Z employees feel lonely working from home. This cohort began their careers during the pandemic, and are very keen for more social interaction. This information comes via Bupa who report a 100% increase in mental-health related claims in this age group. Be proactive about supporting wellbeing now to save money on absenteeism and staff turnover later down the line!

💡 The Guardian have reported on the rapid rise in popularity of the four day working week. Many companies are sceptical but the results speak for themselves: "After a 27-month trial, [South Cambridgeshire District] council said it had recorded faster planning applications, housing repairs and benefits processing. In addition, it said it had improved staff motivation, reduced turnover and made an annual saving of nearly £400,000 by filling vacancies permanently rather than relying on expensive agency workers." If your company wants to remain competitive and stay ahead with staff retention, this is one bandwagon to jump on soon!

Straight From The Source:

Curious about what other companies are doing to boost the efficacy of their wellbeing interventions? Here are our most popular workshop topics from the last few months:

🌟 Compassionate Leadership - the companies we're talking to understand that psychological safety underpins a good workplace culture, and that investing in leadership training pays huge dividends across all aspects of workplace wellbeing. 

🌟 Stress Management - the way we package this is always tailored to the needs of your team. Are people sceptical that taking care of their psychological wellbeing is worthwhile? No problem! We'll pitch the content in a fluff-free way to help them learn practical tools that have tangible benefits for their performance. 

🌟 Understanding Vicarious Trauma - from lawyers to creative industries, vicarious trauma impacts so many professionals. Knowing how to spot the signs and what to do to prevent it, is an essential part of any wellbeing strategy. 

🌟 Navigating the Unknown - Coping with Uncertainty - many professions involve a level of job insecurity. Barristers; construction workers; creative professionals, to name a few. Our brains hate uncertainty, but luckily we have evidence-based strategies to help your staff cope better with it!

📩 Get in touch today if you're interested in any of these business-critical topics.