David Fairhurst

Keyboard Jamming
on
01st April 2026

Keyboard Jamming: What It’s Really Telling Employers About Work

A new term has been quietly entering the HR world: keyboard jamming. This is when employees create artificial keyboard or mouse activity to appear ‘active’ while working remotely, using tricks as simple as weighing down keys. At first glance, it’s easy to frame this as a misconduct issue. And in some high-profile cases, organizations have […]

Personality Data
on
30th March 2026

Could Personality Data Replace Traditional CV Screening?

In the midst of rapid technological change, one of the most intriguing shifts in talent acquisition is the growing interest in using personality data as part of early candidate screening…and in some cases, even before traditional résumé reviews. For decades, CVs have been the bedrock of initial hiring decisions, but with AI tools generating well‑written […]

Office Folklore
on
25th March 2026

Office Folklore: The Hidden Stories That Shape Workplace Culture

Every organization has them. The legendary onboarding disaster everyone still talks about. The story of the CEO who answered support calls on their first day. The mythical ‘all-hands meeting that changed everything’. These stories, which are often passed down informally, are what I like to call office folklore. As someone who has worked in HR […]

Calendar Culture
on
23rd March 2026

How Can Organizations Reclaim Time from Calendar Culture?

I am sure that many of us have audibly groaned when we take a peek at our calendar for the coming workdays and see it littered with colourful blocks. And whilst these seems like a staple of the job, some organizations are beginning to see the emergence of what we can a ‘calendar culture’. Calendar […]

Boredom
on
10th March 2026

Can Boredom Be Valuable in the Workplace?

Being ‘busy’ has long been a badge of honor at work. Full calendars, constant notifications, back-to-back deadlines… these were once seen as signs of a fully productive and committed team member. But in the modern work landscape, a different insight is emerging: constant busyness may actually suppress some of the very qualities businesses need most, […]

Workforce Cliff
on
09th March 2026

The Workforce Cliff is Now a Leadership Imperative

For years, workforce constraints were treated as an HR problem to solve. If talent was scarce, then the logic went that HR would fix it by refining the employer brand, accelerating recruitment, and therefore improve retention. The assumption beneath this model was that talent supply was elastic. When demand increased, labor markets would respond. But […]

Women In Tech
on
05th March 2026

Upskilling Women for the Tech Driven Workplace

We often hear talk about talent shortages, skills gaps, and future‑proofing our workforces. Yet when it comes to technology roles, one of the most persistent issues isn’t lack of talent, it’s the lack of representation in these positions, and the untapped potential that goes with it. Despite women making up roughly 47 % of the overall […]

Politeness Burnout
on
03rd March 2026

‘Politeness Burnout’: When Being Nice Comes at a Cost

One of the most under‑recognized work challenges I’ve encountered is what is sometimes described as politeness burnout. Unlike classic burnout tied to workload or deadlines, this experience stems from the ongoing emotional effort employees put into presenting positivity, masking frustration, or managing every interaction with a practiced agreeableness. The effort of regulating feelings and expressions […]

Swipe Right
on
25th February 2026

Swipe Right…on a New Job?

In case you hadn’t heard, Tinder may be the new hot spot for finding a job. The traditional model of polishing a résumé, uploading it to a job board, and waiting is being supplemented (and maybe even replaced) by some more creative digital strategies. Jobseekers, especially younger talent, are now leveraging platforms that were never […]

Cost Of Indicision
on
24th February 2026

The Cost of Indecision: Why Faster Decisions Are Becoming a Competitive Advantage

One of the most consistent patterns I see in leaders is hesitation. Not to be confused with thoughtful deliberation, as this is extremely valuable. I’m talking about prolonged indecision that slows down momentum and quietly erodes performance. In today’s business environment, speed is a key factor that contributes to how successful a new venture may […]

Surrounded By Idiots
on
11th February 2026

What We’re Reading: Surrounded by Idiots by Thomas Erikson

For this month’s reading material, we turned our attention to communication and collaboration at work, and that led us straight to Surrounded by Idiots by Thomas Erikson. After weighing up a number of popular titles on personality and behavior, Erikson’s book stood out for one prominent reason: it promises to explain why people so often […]

Apprenticeships
on
10th February 2026

Why Apprenticeships Are No Longer Just for Entry-Level

We’ve all heard the old stereotype: apprenticeships are for entry-level roles. A foot in the door for young workers with limited experience who are trying to get some experience. But that notion is rapidly becoming outdated. Thanks to the evolution of apprenticeship models and the growing diversity of industries embracing them, apprenticeships are now powerful […]

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