On The Horizon – April 2025

We just passed the five-year mark from the first Covid-19 pandemic lockdowns. Personnel Today reflected that "So far at least, the pandemic is arguably the 21st century development that has changed the face of the workplace most dramatically". Changes listed include: "Remote working is now (mostly) acceptable", quoting the Office for National Statistics that ‘more than a quarter of workers now work in some form of hybrid working model’. Another listed change is that: "Focus on wellbeing has improved". It’s a helpful retrospective, however, the wellbeing focus was somewhat challenged by findings in our 2025 Modern Families Index (MFI), where we saw certain aspects of employer support falling away, beyond those leading employers that really ‘get’ the return on investment that comes from focusing on the employee experience. And the claim that working from home is established appears at odds with an upsurge in focus on the benefits of in-person collaboration. That said, apparently British workers are still among the most reluctant in the world to return to office.

The cost of stress

There are now of course plenty of fast-changing triggers for stress worldwide, ranging from the geopolitical to office politics. Recent research by music licensing company PPL PRS suggests work-related burnout is at “crisis point” with three-quarters (75%) of workers experiencing it in the past 12 months.

There is also growing understanding that employee mental health challenges cost businesses, when not addressed. City AM helpfully reported on new research by Walking on Earth (WONE) showing that ‘Stressed staff cost UK professional services firms more than £4m a year’. This is based on the UK and US professional services workforce – ‘typically high-paying, high-intensity environments across the finance, legal, and technology sectors’ – where 45% of employees reported being either highly stressed or feeling stressed frequently. This is a business risk due to lost working days, rising costs, and compliance failures. ‘People not showing up to work cost UK businesses nearly £1,400 per person yearly, while presenteeism is an even higher cost at over £1,900 per employee’.

City AM links those findings with the publication of Bright Horizons legal sector cut of the MFI revealing particularly elevated stress levels among working parents and carers in law firms. As HRreview further describes, in our Legal Sector MFI. ‘over a third (36%) of legal sector parents reported “high” stress, compared to 29 percent across all industries and 23 percent in other professional services… The report also found that 71 percent of legal professionals experienced childcare breakdowns that interfered with work in the past year, compared to 64 percent across all sectors.’ 

It will become increasingly important for employers to quantify these impacts in order to justify the spend on support. Deloitte’s work last year was particularly helpful in this regard. Among other findings, it urges: ‘For every £1 spent on supporting the mental health and wellbeing of their workforce, employers get (on average) about £4.70 back in increased productivity.’

Employers National Insurance increase comes in

HR News suggests a sharper focus on salary sacrifice schemes among ways of navigating increased Employer NICs having come into play on 6^th April, following last Autumn’s Budget. Certainly, we’ve seen a flurry of enquiries about Workplace Nursery Schemes with that in mind.

With the Employer NIC rate rising from 13.8% to 15%, and the threshold decreasing from £9,100 to £5,000, more low-income and part-time employees have been brought into scope. Coupled with the increased in the minimum wage, this sees steep increases in the costs of employment particularly in sectors with lower-earning workforces. Among the sectors most impacted, Sky News lists ‘Nurseries, hospitality, retail, small businesses and care.’ There has even been a petition calling for PVI (private, voluntary and independent) nurseries to be exempt given concerns that smaller providers may not be able to weather the costs. According to analysis by NDNA (the National Day Nurseries Association), the NICs increase, along with statutory minimum wage rises from April, will add an additional £2,600 per employee in England and Wales and £2,200 per employee for Scottish nurseries.

Much anticipated for many months, Neonatal Leave and Pay came into effect on 6^th April. As Personnel Today describes "Neonatal care leave is a day-one right, meaning there is no minimum length of service required to qualify” and it “means parents, adopters and their partners who are responsible for the child’s upbringing can take up to 12 weeks off as SNCL [Statutory Neonatal Care Leave], in addition to other statutory family leave like maternity or paternity leave. SNCL must be taken within 68 weeks of birth and eligibility hinges, among other things, on the baby starting neonatal care within 28 days of birth. Employees are entitled to one week of SNCL for each qualifying week during which a child receives uninterrupted neonatal care, up to the 12 weeks”.

Gender Pay Gap deadline

The annual Gender Pay Gap reporting deadlines came and went on 30^th March and 4^th April. Among those employers with 250 staff who published in time, the new data reveals a UK median hourly gender pay gap for the 2024-25 period of 8.6%. This is fractionally reduced from 8.95% a year ago. It’s more than a bureaucratic box-ticking. According to the Chartered Management Institute (CMI) and the FTSE Women Leaders “Publicly listed companies that have narrowed their gender pay gaps have seen double-digit revenue growth, according to new analysis.”

Bright Horizons HRD, Janine Leightley offered sound advice via HRreview on female mentoring programmes: “For working mothers in particular, the obstacles to success can feel even more substantial. According to our recent Modern Families Index 2025 report, more than half of women (53%) report carrying the mental load of parenting in their household, compared to just 27% of men. This leaves many women balancing their work and home lives, placing a strain on their mental wellbeing and workplace productivity. This is where mentorship for women is valuable”.

Meanwhile, many employers are getting ahead on the promised future legislative requirements for Ethnicity and Disability Pay Gap reporting. A Government consultation has launched seeking views ahead of the proposed Equality (Race and Disability) Bill, on how to introduce mandatory ethnicity and disability pay reporting for large employers with 250 or more employees.

Crisis of Masculinitiy / Protecting childhood

There has been heated debate as to whether Netflix’ ‘Adolescence’ series should (or should not) be screened in secondary schools. Those with reservations including wise voices Elliott Rae and Marvyn Harrison being concerned that teachers are not supported and equipped to host the debate and/or that confronting young boys with ‘anti-misogyny’ classes might provoke more than it enlightens.

At Bright Horizons, we see the importance of empowering boys and men to find the healthiest expressions of masculinity from our early years provision, through to our Speak To An Expert service which helps parents with children and teens, and our Virtual Tutoring as part of back-up care, through to our coaching for new and ongoing dads. We also routinely campaign to have more men in childcare. I fondly recall being part of the Fawcett Society Commission on Gender Stereotypes in Early Childhood, advocating for starting young with eliminating all the clumsy ways we thoughtlessly instil ideas of gender difference and rethinking these to bring greater openness and developmental freedom for all children.

Former England Men’s Football manager Gareth Southgate made a typically gentle yet trenchant contribution to the discussion in delivering the 46th Richard Dimbleby Lecture at the University of London, hitting out at ‘toxic’ online influencers ‘damaging boys and young men’

Meanwhile, a different strand of the need to protect childhood was highlighted by our US colleagues drawing on their 2025 Modern Family Index. This indicated that ‘ “children are fluent in technology before they can read. In our modern and highly-connected world, technology can be both an asset and a danger—especially for children. Kids today don’t know a world without smartphones, and according to research from the Modern Family Index (MFI), commissioned by Bright Horizons (NYSE:BFAM) and conducted by The Harris Poll, 60% of parents say their children started using technology before they could read. Nearly three-quarters (73%) even admit their children could use a "detox" from technology, including 68% of parents with children under six years of age."

"Screens are essentially unavoidable today, but families should be cautious and deliberate about introducing children to screen-based activities in the early years. This can be hard to hear and feel impractical, but the more guardrails you put in place early, the less you’ll have to do retroactively," said Rachel Robertson, Chief Academic Officer at Bright Horizons, a leading provider of high-quality early childhood education and care.’

Awards & Recognition

Continuing a tradition of listing awards garnered by Bright Horizons colleagues, in the last month, we heard that our colleagues who magnificently handle enquiries, including Back-Up Care bookings, are finalists across several categories of the UK National Contact Centre Awards 2025. Our engaging Internal Comms team has also been shortlisted in two categories of the Internal Communications and Engagement Awards 2025. We have also just been accredited as Disability Confident Level 2 employer.

Our clients frequently win awards and it was particularly exciting to see one of our NHS partners, Chelsea and Westminster NHS Foundation Trust, shortlisted for the Employee Benefits Awards 2025 Best Benefits to Support Work-Life Balance.

One of the most uplifting news releases was the Bright Horizons Foundation Bright Spaces Impact Report 2025, just released. Bright Spaces are trauma-informed environments, designed to support recovery and resilience for children and their families, located in domestic abuse refuges, police child protection suites, prison visiting areas, hospitals, hospices and homeless accommodation. The 2025 partner survey revealed that across our more than 100 Bright Spaces across the UK, 100% of our partners are very satisfied, and 96% say their Bright Space has a ‘major impact’ on children and families. For example, Hertfordshire Constabulary says: “Children in police protection now have a suitable, calming environment where they can feel safe, with clean clothing, hygiene items, toys, a television, weighted blankets and items to help make them feel better and safe”.