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The Evolve Workplace Wellbeing Podcast

Evolve Workplace Wellbeing Team

This podcast is part of a toolkit of free, evidence-informed workplace wellbeing resources provided by the Workplace Wellbeing Research Team based at the University of East Anglia, UK. You can find the resources on www.evolveworkplacewellbeing.org The contents of the toolkit draw upon cutting edge multi-disciplinary research on workplace wellbeing, including insider insights and case studies. We want to give you the insight you need to take evidence-informed action, helping your business evolve and thrive. Every six weeks a member of our team will introduce you to a new piece of research and to someone whose life experience puts a human face on that same research topic.

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20 episodes
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Avg 29 min
English

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S1 · E29
August 13 · 32 min
Energising the support provided to workplaces by local Government: WHISPAs research
In this episode Prof. Kevin Daniels of the University of East Anglia speaks with Dr Laura Kudrna, Associate Professor in Health Research Methods and Professor Richard Lilford, Professor of Public Health, Co-Director of NIHR Midlands PSRC, both of the University of Birmingham. They talk about their current research on the topic of WHISPAs: Workplace Health and Wellbeing Initiatives that are Free at the Point of Use to Workplaces. They also detail the evidence and studies that informed the design of their forthcoming work trialling new packages of support and testing if they reduce sickness absence in participating employer organisations. Find out more about WHISPAs here: www.whispas.co.uk
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S1 · E28
June 22 · 31 min
Insight from the Trailblazer project on supporting musculoskeletal conditions
In this episode Professor Kevin Daniels of the Evolve team at the University of East Anglia speaks with Elizabeth Bachrad, Head of Programme Strategy for Business for Health. Business for Health is a Community Interest Company that focuses on the impact of business on health outcomes. Elizabeth describes findings from the process evaluation of a Trailblazer project supporting people with musculoskeletal conditions. She highlights that what makes the Trailblazer programme interesting is that it doesn't treat employment and health as separate problems. Business for Health led the process evaluation of the MSK Trailblazer programme, MSK for musculoskeletal conditions, in partnership with Unity Insights and with support from West and North London ICB and local government partners. www.businessforhealth.org
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S1 · E27
May 11 · 30 min
Overcoming the loneliness of line managers: peer learning and problem solving
In this episode of the Evolve Workplace Wellbeing Podcast, Dr Helen Fitzhugh of the University of East Anglia speaks with Dr Katie Elizabeth Green, Senior Lecturer in Leadership Development at Manchester Metropolitan University. Katie draws on her extensive research for the Good Employment Learning Lab to offer insights into the isolation line managers can feel, their wellbeing and the ripple effects of that for team wellbeing. She offers insight into the value of programmes to foster peer learning between managers. You can find out more in this report and article: Developing collective leadership in an online peer learning community - Katie Elizabeth Green, 2025 How_To_Develop_The_People_Management_Skills_of_Line_Managers_Good_Employment_Learning_Lab.pdf
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S1 · E26
March 16 · 34 min
The urgency of health and wellbeing at work action and reflections on the Mayfield Review
In this edition of the Evolve podcast, Prof Sara Connolly of the University of Leicester speaks with Dr Chris van Stolk, Executive Vice President at RAND Europe, part of the original Evolve team. Chris was recently on the advisory group to the Keep Britain Working (Mayfield) review due to his longstanding experience on research and action to improve health and wellbeing at work. In this podcast he comments on the urgent need to make progress on maintaining and getting people into employment and highlights the importance of helping young people avoid long-term exclusion from the labour market.
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S1 · E25
January 26 · 32 min
Rebuilding and reimagining context and connection at work
In this episode, Dr Helen Fitzhugh of the Evolve team speaks with Dr Laura Byrne, lecturer in Human Resource Management and Organisational Behaviour at the Leadership and Management department at Aston Business School, Aston University. She wrote a PhD thesis on whole-organisation wellbeing strategies in context and shares here useful insights on what makes these successful (or not!) Laura's refreshing and hopeful take on workplace wellbeing includes paying attention to context and the future, as well as focussing on human connection. She is also carrying out a study on the wellbeing of people professionals and if you are interested, you can sign up to take part here: https://forms.office.com/e/QW0vZWjZiq (Please note this link will only be live as long as the project is running, you may come across this podcast after the project has closed).
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S1 · E24
Dec 9, 2025 · 24 min
Unpacking how entrepreneurs maintain wellbeing under pressure
In this podcast, Prof Kevin Daniels of the University of East Anglia talks with Dr Juliane Opel of the University of Kassel in Germany. They discuss the paradox of high satisfaction amongst entrepreneurs who face working conditions (stress, instability etc.) that are know to lower satisfaction in other types of employment. Juliane draws on her current postdoctoral and previous PhD work, outlining different ways in which entrepreneurs reach a point of satisfaction in face of overwhelming odds.
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S1 · E23
Oct 14, 2025 · 26 min
Job crafting for people with health conditions and disabilities
In this edition of our Evolve podcast, Dr Helen Fitzhugh of the University of East Anglia speaks with Professor Adam Whitworth, Professor of Employment Policy, Scottish Centre for Employment Research at Strathclyde Business School. The conversation covers Adam's research on policies that support people to move into or maintain good quality, well-matched paid work, particularly people with health conditions, disabilities or complex disadvantages. Adam is leading the WISHES project - potentially the largest ever trial of job crafting. More information can be found here for employers interested in finding out more about the trial: Employers – WISHES: Workplace Intervention for Sustainable Health and Employment Support
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S1 · E22
Aug 25, 2025 · 23 min
Making work meaningful - simple ways to bring purpose to jobs
In this edition of the Evolve Workplace Wellbeing Podcast, Professor Sara Connolly from the University of Leicester speaks with Professor Ying Zhou from the University of Surrey, where she is Director of the Future of Work Research Centre. Her research is focused on job quality, occupation and employee wellbeing and in this podcast she shares findings from her latest work on the Skills and Employment Survey, focusing on meaning and purpose at work. She explains that when people are able to use their skills at work, take initiative and count on supportive managers, they are far more likely to think their work is meaningful.
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S1 · E21
Jul 14, 2025 · 29 min
The changing location of work and how it influences workplace wellbeing
In this podcast Dr Helen Fitzhugh of the Evolve team speaks with Prof Alan Felstead, Emeritus Professor of the Welsh Institute of Social and Economic Research Methods and Data (WISERD) at Cardiff University. Alan offers insight into the changing location of work (remote, hybrid and more) and job quality. He draws on personal stories and almost 40 years of research in this area, as well as recently published research from the Skills and Employment Survey: a nationally representative sample surveys of individuals in employment aged 20-65 years old. You can find the How Good is my Job quiz here: How Good Is Your Job | Take the Quiz Read Alan's work at: https://wiserd.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/8.-Is-the-Office-Dying.pdf Is job quality better or worse? Insights from quiz data collected before and after the pandemic https://routledge.pub/RemoteWorking
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S1 · E20
Jun 3, 2025 · 30 min
Fostering a culture of trust and proactivity for wellbeing in SMEs
In this edition of the Evolve Workplace Wellbeing podcast, Dr Helen Fitzhugh from the University of East Anglia is in conversation with Nigel Lloyd, a Senior Research Fellow within the National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) funded Public Health Intervention Responsiveness Studies Team (PHIRST) at the University of Hertfordshire. Nigel has been working on a project exploring take up of local authority support for SMEs on the topic of wellbeing and shares findings from that work. He kindly invited Helen to find parallels in Evolve's own work to enrich the discussion so the podcast session covers quite a lot of ground! The PHIRST website with project outputs is here: https://phirst.nihr.ac.uk/evaluations/an-evaluation-of-workplace-health-and-wellbeing-support-in-walsall-small-and-medium-sized-enterprises-smes/
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S1 · E19
May 6, 2025 · 15 min
The Evolve toolkit: the story so far...
In this shorter podcast to mark Evolve's third anniversary, Prof Sara Connolly turns the tables on regular Evolve Podcast host Dr Helen Fitzhugh, getting her to answer our usual questions: we find out what led her to the team and what she is working on for Evolve's next steps. May 2025 (only) office hours with Dr Helen Fitzhugh: Book time with Helen Fitzhugh (NBS - Staff) 22nd May 2025 - Register for Evolve third anniversary showcase online: https://forms.office.com/e/0ZLN5T7RMa The normal length and style of podcast will return in a couple of weeks.
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S1 · E18
Mar 11, 2025 · 30 min
Issues in workplace wellbeing – continuity and change
In this episode, Dr Helen Fitzhugh of the University of East Anglia speaks with Michael Whitmore, Research Leader at RAND Europe, specialising in health, work and wellbeing. RAND Europe is a not-for-profit research organization and Michael's team were involved in the programme of research that led us to establish the Evolve Workplace Wellbeing toolkit. Michael talks about the issues in workplace wellbeing he has seen recur during his years of experience in this area - but also highlights the new challenges to come as the world of work continues to change.
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S1 · E17
Jan 27, 2025 · 31 min
Line management matters - so ease the squeeze
In this episode of our regular Evolve podcast, Professor Sara Connolly of the University of Leicester speaks with Dr Zofia Bajorek - Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for Employment Studies - about the importance of line management. Zofia talks about her recently released book on line management and how it was inspired not only by all the projects of her professional working life but also as a tribute to the exemplary line management of her co-author Stephen Bevan, who died in 2024.
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S1 · E16
Dec 2, 2024 · 32 min
Skills for resilience - for individuals and organisations
In this podcast, Professor Kevin Daniels speaks with Chris Tamdjidi, MD and business development director of Awaris, a multinational company that aims to strengthen the mental, emotional, and collaborative capabilities of people in companies. Kevin and Chris discuss how to cultivate resilient habits at individual and organisational level, drawing on insight drawn together in Chris' book: The Resilient Culture: How collective resilience leads to business success.
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S1 · E15
Oct 28, 2024 · 29 min
Curiosity and vulnerability: real world research for equity and inclusion
In this episode of the Evolve Workplace Wellbeing podcast, Dr Helen Fitzhugh of the University of East Anglia speaks with Dr Balissa Greene, an occupational psychologist working in Accenture’s Leadership and Culture practice. Balissa has a strong track record of driving impactful change in diversity, inclusion and wellbeing across the public and private sectors. In this conversation, Balissa shares her insights on how to do 'real world' impactful research and how to overcome resistance to projects that are necessary.
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S1 · E14
Sep 23, 2024 · 29 min
The four day working week
In this podcast, Dr Helen Fitzhugh speaks with Professor Daiga Kamerāde (University of Salford) and Professor Brendan Burchell (University of Cambridge) about their research on the four day working week and other types of working time reduction. Daiga and Brendan share insight into the research trial carried out recently at South Cambridgeshire District Council which showed how the council was able to maintain or improve performance, according to many of its key performance indicators, during the four day week trial.
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S1 · E13
Aug 12, 2024 · 32 min
The health and wellbeing of high risk workers
In this edition of the Evolve Workplace Wellbeing podcast, Professor Kevin Daniels speaks with Professor Paula Brough from Griffith University in Brisbane, Australia. She is the Director of the Research Centre for Work, Organisation and Wellbeing (WOW) and an expert on the topic of occupational stress and coping. Here, she discusses her work on tackling stress and burnout in high risk occupations - those occupations where challenge and even danger are an integral part of the nature of the job.
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S1 · E12
Jul 1, 2024 · 29 min
Insights on relationship-building for wellbeing in small businesses
In this edition of the Evolve Workplace Wellbeing Podcast, Dr Helen Fitzhugh of the University of East Anglia speaks with Lisa Chamberlain, a doctoral candidate at the University of Liverpool working in the field of Human Resource Management research. Lisa's previous experience as a Sergeant in the US army and an HR manager in a small Liverpool business led her to PhD research on job quality in small businesses for hairdressers. Engaging and insightful throughout, Lisa shares examples of relationship-building that will be of interest to any HR manager.
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S1 · E11
May 20, 2024 · 33 min
The importance of psychological flexibility
In this edition of the Evolve Workplace Wellbeing podcast, Helen Fitzhugh speaks with Rachael Skews, Chartered Psychologist, coach and founder of Cognus Consulting on the topic of psychological flexibility at work and its relationship with wellbeing and performance.
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S1 · E10
Mar 11, 2024 · 32 min
What is needed for better return to work?
In this edition of our regular podcast, Professor Kevin Daniels speaks to Dr Sema Etuknwa about her extensive work on improving return to work practices. Sema gives insights into good return to work from her Innovate UK part-funded knowledge transfer partnership between the University of Huddersfield and Swiss Re. She describes the toolkit she has been developing to support better communication between all the return to work stakeholders involved in each worker's absence and return journey.
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