Welcome to your Latest HR Highlights
We are excited to share new insights and resources to help you cultivate a happier, healthier, and more financially resilient workplace.
In this edition, we focus on World Wellbeing Week, offering essential tips and tools to promote wellbeing and education. Inside, you’ll find insightful blogs, practical guides, and expert tips aimed at empowering your workforce.
Secondsight HR Highlights. April for May
Stay tuned for next months edition.
World Wellbeing Week is a global awareness initiative focused on improving health and wellbeing in the workplace and wider society. It encourages organisations, teams, and individuals to pause, reflect, and take meaningful steps towards better wellbeing.
The week brings together employers, HR teams, leaders, and wellbeing professionals to highlight the importance of physical health, mental wellbeing, connection, purpose, and sustainable ways of working.
Helping organisations recognise the wellbeing challenges people face at work
Encouraging small, realistic habits that support everyday wellbeing
Making it easier to have open conversations about mental and physical health
Turning good intentions into visible, meaningful action
A shared moment for organisations to pause, reflect, and take meaningful action on wellbeing at work.
World Wellbeing Week is not only a moment for awareness. It is a practical opportunity for workplaces to improve employee wellbeing through small actions, clearer support, and healthier ways of working. For HR teams and people managers, it creates a shared focus that helps wellbeing become visible and consistent across an organisation.
When organisations take part in World Wellbeing Week, they signal that wellbeing at work matters. That can strengthen culture, improve engagement, and support sustainable performance. The goal is not perfection. The goal is progress that employees can feel during the week and beyond it.
Week at a glance: 24 to 30 June 2026. Popular themes include movement, sleep, connection, focus, nutrition, hydration, gratitude, physical wellbeing, and mental wellbeing.
World Wellbeing Week encourages practical steps that support mental wellbeing, physical health, and daily habits that help people feel better at work and outside of work.
A focus on wellbeing helps organisations build cultures based on trust, inclusion, and psychological safety. Employees are more likely to speak up early, ask for support, and stay connected to their teams.
The week works best when it leads to visible actions. These do not need to be complex. Simple changes that remove friction and support healthier routines often have the greatest impact.
One change that improves working routines
One change that supports communication and connection
One change that makes support easier to access
When wellbeing is prioritised consistently, it can support engagement, motivation, and retention. World Wellbeing Week can act as a reset point that helps organisations set a healthier direction for the year.
World Wellbeing Week works best when it is treated as a starting point, not a one-off event. Organisations of any size can take part by focusing on practical actions that support employees before, during, and after the week.
Start by deciding what wellbeing means for your organisation right now. This could be shaped by feedback, absence trends, or common challenges teams are facing.
Choose a small number of wellbeing themes to focus on
Set realistic goals for the week
Involve HR, managers, and internal champions early
Let people know what World Wellbeing Week is and why it matters. Clear communication helps employees feel included rather than overwhelmed.
Share the purpose of the week in simple language
Encourage participation without pressure
Make activities accessible to different roles and working patterns
‘’World Wellbeing Week provides a great opportunity for organisations to highlight how important the health and wellbeing of their teams are. Without our health and wellbeing, we have nothing and giving people the tools and strategies to support their wellbeing is a fantastic way to celebrate this week. However, it’s important to remember that supporting wellbeing is not a one week thing and initiatives should be carried out throughout the year.''
Focus on actions that remove barriers to wellbeing rather than adding extra demands. Small changes often have the greatest impact.
Promote movement, rest, and connection during the workday
Encourage conversations about mental and physical health
Signpost existing support clearly
World Wellbeing Week should act as a reset, not a finish line. Use the momentum from the week to shape healthier ways of working throughout the year.
Reflect on what worked well
Gather feedback from employees
Build successful actions into everyday practice
You do not need a perfect plan to take part in World Wellbeing Week. The most important step is choosing a starting point that fits your time, resources, and organisational culture.
If you have 30 minutes
Choose one wellbeing theme and acknowledge the week internally. Even small signals show that wellbeing matters.
Select one focus such as connection, movement, or mental wellbeing
Share a short message with employees
Encourage one simple action during the week
If you have a few hours
Create light structure without overwhelming teams. A clear plan helps people engage without pressure.
Outline one focus for each day of the week
Include a mix of awareness and practical actions
Support managers with simple guidance
If you want lasting impact
Use World Wellbeing Week as a reset point rather than a one-off moment.
Ask employees what was helpful
Identify one change worth keeping
Carry successful actions into everyday working practices
Here are a few meaningful ways employers can support employees during Pride Month:
Offer volunteer opportunities.
Ensure managers know how to support LGBTQ+ team members.
Review policies and benefits to ensure LGBTQ+ inclusion.
Create safe channels for feedback or reporting concerns.
Encourage respectful, inclusive workplace culture year-round.
Offer optional training on inclusion.
Host Pride events like lunch and learns, speakers, or community activities.
Here are a few meaningful ways employers can support employees during Men's Health Week:
Promote awareness around physical and mental health.
Encourage preventative health checks and screenings.
Share resources on stress, burnout, and mental wellbeing.
Host wellbeing talks, fitness activities, or workshops.
Encourage healthy work-life balance and regular breaks.
Provide access to mental health support or employee assistance programs (EAPs).
Create an open culture where men feel comfortable discussing health concerns.
Here are some ways employers can support and recognise people during Volunteers’ Week:
Give employees paid volunteer time or encourage community volunteering.
Support local charities or community projects as a team.
Encourage skills-based volunteering and professional development opportunities.
Highlight the positive impact volunteers have on communities and wellbeing.
Organise a team volunteering day.
Invite local charities to speak about their impact.
The tapered annual allowance is an important part of the UK pension tax system. It can limit how much high-earning employees can contribute to their pension each year while still receiving full tax relief.
In simple terms, the annual allowance (the maximum pension contribution eligible for tax relief) gradually reduces (or “tapers”) once income passes certain thresholds. The rules have remained consistent in recent years, and their impact continues to be significant for some senior executives, directors, and other high earners.
For HR professionals, payroll teams, and employers, having a working understanding of how tapering operates can help support informed conversations about pension benefits and total reward, while helping to reduce the risk of unexpected outcomes for employees.
A proposed £2,000 annual National Insurance-free cap on pension salary sacrifice contributions could apply from April 2029
Employer and employee National Insurance (NI) may apply above the threshold
Higher earners and their employers using salary sacrifice arrangements are likely to be most affected
Organisations should start reviewing pension, payroll and reward strategies ahead of possible implementation
However, following the Autumn Budget 2025, the Government has proposed that from April 2029 only the first £2,000 of annual employee pension contributions made through salary sacrifice will remain exempt from NI.
For employers already managing higher NI costs, the changes could have a significant impact on payroll strategy, pension engagement and wider employee benefits planning.
Read our blog to find out what employers need to know for 2029 here.
Page 4: The rise of ‘unretiring’ is driven by higher living costs and changing retirement expectations. The article highlights the reasons retirees return to work and the importance of reviewing retirement income strategies for financial security.
Page 5: Why writing life insurance policies into an appropriate trust can help protect family wealth from Inheritance Tax.
Page 8: Understanding the pension and Inheritance Tax changes in April 2027. Unused pension pots may be subject to Inheritance Tax, highlighting the importance of early estate planning, gifting, and reviewing retirement strategies.
Page 10: Maximising the new tax year with efficient ISA allowances. This feature outlines how early contributions, consistent investing, and tax-efficient strategies can enhance long-term investment growth.
Long-term investing
Taking charge of your retirement
Your health could be the key to a larger pension
We’re hosting a small in-person session with HCA Healthcare on Thursday, 11th June at London Bridge Hospital, focused on preventative healthcare, health assessments, and how employers can take a more proactive approach to supporting employee wellbeing. Spaces are limited to 20
Register here
In this session, you will gain a clearer understanding of the factors that influence financial behaviour at work, and we will focus on what employers can do using existing pay, pensions and benefits more effectively to reduce financial stress and improve outcomes.
Darren Laverty, Secondsight's Head of Business Development & Insight, will be speaking at the upcoming REBA Congress on the 18th June.
Find out more here
