Read to the end for big news for carers, why New York mums are being given $1,000 a month — no-strings-attached — and the new Bob Meow-ly.
Morning team,
You might have noticed someone online chat over the last week about a BBC Panorama documentary that has sparked widespread debate and anger. The documentary “exposes” private clinics which undercover reporter Rory Carson said are offering powerful drugs to treat attention ADHD after a questionable online assessment.
ADHD diagnoses are on the rise but campaigners say the programme glosses over the increase to make them seem the result of profiteering private clinics rather than an increase in real understanding of the condition. It's a “misleading and harmful” portrayal of ADHD that will deter people from seeking the assessment they need, said one.
ADHD is a type of neurodiversity and is considered a disability but little attention is given by society at large — let alone employers — to how it can be accommodated at work.
Radio 5 Live presenter Connie McLaughlin, found out she had ADHD while live on air, as her interviewee’s experiences resonated startlingly with her own. McLaughlin wrote about the discovery in last week’s Big Issue, that the disorder is “almost insatiable and very hard to control”, she genuinely doesn’t think she’d be able to do her job without it.
For many, ADHD seems to be a blessing and a curse, but having a job that accommodates it or celebrates its traits seems to be the golden ticket.
If you think you might have ADHD, or know someone who has talked about it, ADHD UK has a great welfare pack to help people with ADHD have conversations about the support they need at work. ADHDAdultUK is a registered charity which can offer support to people diagnosed later in life as well.
Lastly, two pieces of personal - or is it professional? - news to share with you this week. Working On It has been shortlisted for best newsletter launch at the Publisher Newsletter Awards along with our sister newsletter, Survival Guide. Exciting times ahead.
Final piece of news: I’m going on holiday for two weeks, so we’ll be putting the newsletter on pause for a fortnight. Try not to miss me and send suggestions for hiking in Andorra to the email address below. Adéu!
Got a work-related story I should know about? Drop me an email at evie.breese@bigissue.com or tweet at @Evie_Breese
What you need to know about work this week:
Milk, cheese and eggs. The rate of inflation eased in April to 8.7%, dropping to single digits for the first time since September last year, according to new ONS figures. Food prices, however, have continued to surge.
Fair care. Voluntary carers have been granted the right to take up to a week of unpaid leave off each year, under the soon-to-be passed Carer's Leave Bill. Under the law, carers won’t need to provide evidence when requesting the leave and be protected from losing their job over it. It just needs King Charlie’s stamp of approval before it becomes law.
Unhealthy work. Working in the gig economy is officially bad for your health, according to a new study from the University of Aberdeen. They found that people who worked for performance-related pay are at a higher risk of chronic stress, heart disease and mental ill health, reported by Aberdeen Live.
(M)Bacc me up. Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham wants to introduce a Manchester-specific qualification for the city’s young people who want to learn technical subjects instead of going to university. He hopes the proposed “MBacc” (Greater Manchester Baccalaureate) would “maximise [students’] chances of getting a good job”.
Quality service. A law to make withholding tips from staff unlawful has been passed, protecting the tips of more than two million workers from greedy bosses. Here’s what you need to know.
"Witch-hunt". The chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, Kishwer Falkner, is being investigated over allegations of transphobic comments, as well as staff complaints she oversaw a "toxic environment" which meant one in four employees resigned. I'd recommend watching the Channel 4 News clip for more details, or read about the investigation in the i. (£)
Cutting costs. Asda has been accused by union GMB of threatening to “fire and rehire” 7,000 employees in a pay dispute so that the supermarket can pay them less for night shifts and cut location-based pay supplements. Adam Mawardi has the story for the Telegraph.
Cya later! How to deal with a colleague leaving? It’s nearly always an awkward one to handle, but the team at ITV's Good Morning Britain have shown one of the weirdest ways of doing it after Philip Schofield swiftly and mysteriously departed the show after 20 years. This, from Scott Bryan at the Guardian, is a great employment story, indulge me.
Strike watch
Further strikes are expected on London Underground as members of the RMT vote to extend their mandate for strike action. That is, unless Transport for London can come to an agreement over pay with the union.
Railways union the RMT has announced another strike date for Friday June 2, linking together four days of industrial action with trains drivers union Aslef.
Tube strikes on the Elizabeth Line have been called off by the TSSA after winning a revised pay proposal which it will now put to union members.
The National Education Union (NEU) has threatened further strike action in July, giving the government until mid-June to resolve the pay dispute.
Workers at homelessness charity St Mungo’s will go on strike for a month, starting on 30 May, after workers rejected a new pay offer averaging 2.25% for a frontline worker, according to union Unite.
New mothers in New York are being given $1,000 a month, no strings attached, for the first 18 months of their baby’s life (then $500 a month for another 18 months), in an attempt to address economic inequality and racial disparities. And now The Bridge Project is looking to make the pilot permanent, sparking debate over whether public dollars should be used to pay a universal basic income (UBI).
Here in the UK, care leavers in Wales are also receiving no-strings-attached cash from the Welsh government as a “safety blanket” for their journey into adulthood. As different initiatives try out UBI for different demographics, are we getting closer to UBI for all?
Sarah Holder spoke to some of the New York mums taking part in the project for Bloomberg.
Working culture
Has “eat the rich” gone mainstream? American shows and films including Succession, The White Lotus, Triangle of Sadness and The Menu show audiences can’t get enough of taking a stab at the grotesque nature of extreme wealth.
It’s the middle classes that tend to be the people making and watching these shows, explains Mark Storey, an associate professor in American literature and culture at the University of Warwick, “and they’re the ones whose living standards are getting worse… They’re finding they’re aligned with working class people, whereas they used to try to aspire to the upper-classes.”
Know someone who will love this newsletter? Share our sign-up article with your social networks. And why not check out Survival Guide, our newsletter on the cost of living crisis from my colleague Isabella McRae.
In the diary
Thursday 25 May. Figures around young people not in education, employment or training (NEET) to be published by the ONS.
Tuesday 30 May. Workers at homelessness charity St Mungo’s will go on strike for a month, ending on 26 June.
Wednesday 31 May. Train drivers strike with Aslef go on strike again, affecting rail services at 15 companies.
Thursday 1 June. Aslef train drivers resume an overtime ban for 24 hours. And volunteering week begins, ending on June 7, as an annual celebration of the volunteers who contribute to their communities.
Friday 2 June. RMT members will take national strike action which will cause disruption to trains across the country.
Saturday 3 June. Train drivers with Aslef go on strike, coinciding with the FA Cup final when many football fans will be travelling to London to see two Manchester teams play at Wembley.
Wednesday 7 June. BBC journalists in England will strike for 48 hours in protest of job cuts.
Wednesday 14 June. Junior doctors to stage 72-hour walkout.
Does your cat/dog/garden fox/animal you saw on holiday participate in the daily grind? Nominate them today by sending me a photo to: evie.breese@bigissue.com
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