Up to 70% of companies with flexible work schedules are planning to increase the days employees must work in the office by 2025. However, with many major companies – including Disney, Apple, Google, and Zoom – issuing ‘Return To Office’ (RTO) mandates this year, there has been a significant rise in the latest ‘quiet’ rebellion … ‘hushed hybrid’ working.

‘Hushed hybrid’ working is when, contrary to company policy, managers quietly allow some employees to work from home or work flexibly. According to a survey by Owl Labs, 70% of managers have allowed team members to work from home despite an official company policy mandating otherwise.

The rise in this trend signifies a strong disconnect between executives and middle managers that could result in unwanted ripple effects if this gap were to widen.

As first point of contact between employees and the wider organization, it’s important that middle managers feel able to communicate employee feedback to the company’s leadership. However, the rise of this trend suggests that many middle managers believe senior leaders are not prepared to listen to employee’s views on hybrid work, preferring instead to stand behind their RTO mandates.

But whilst ‘hushed hybrid’ working may provide middle managers and their teams with a convenient workaround, it is an ultimately unsustainable solution that could damage the wider culture of the organization.

For one thing, managers letting some if their team quietly work from home whilst others are required to come into the office will inevitably create tension between employees. Pair this with the element of secrecy that is rooted in ‘hushed hybrid’, and you create a recipe that could result in a workplace culture which becomes ‘toxic’.

In addition to this, ‘hushed hybrid’ also plays a role in the widening the gap between policy and practice, which should be a huge ‘red flag’ for HR as, if RTO policies are not being followed by managers, it raises alarms of what other policies are being flouted or simply ignored.

All of this risks a collapse of trust across the organization.

Instead, middle managers need to feel that they can openly and honestly communicate with their leaders to give feedback on policies that don’t seem to be working well.

We have all seen the problems with the rise of these ‘quiet’ trends since the pandemic ended, so it’s important for employers to break the cycle of these hushed practices by fostering a culture of openness and honesty so that they can enhance their workplace culture and become an employer of choice.

If you would like to discuss how we can help coach your leaders in communication, as well as foster a culture of openness in your workplace, please get in touch with us today, or book in an hour with one of our experienced HR practitioners through our confidential online consultation service OrgShakers CL!CK.

You can accomplish remarkable things in just sixty minutes.

In 1969, Neil Armstrong’s first steps and initial exploration on the moon took about an hour.

In 2020 Mo Farah set a world record by running 21,330 meters in 60 minutes. That’s an average speed of over 13 mph, which is faster than most of us can run if we sprint just 100 meters. He just maintained that pace for a whole hour – try that on your next fun run!

Alternatively, you could make yourself a delicious meal of Beef Tacos with Homemade Guacamole. Our favorite recipe takes about an hour from ‘fridge to fork.

What we see here is that while sixty minutes might not seem that long – the length of a team meeting, a workout at the gym, or an episode of your favorite podcast – it can also be incredibly productive and even transformative.

At OrgShakers, we champion The Power of the Hour … 60 minutes where leaders can brainstorm, gain expert insights, or get the unbiased feedback needed to spark something extraordinary. After all, every major breakthrough began with an idea and someone ready to listen.

That’s why we’re excited to introduce our new consulting service: OrgShakers CL!CK.

OrgShakers CL!CK offers a one-hour, private and confidential online consultation with one of our experienced HR professionals. It’s perfect for those moments when you need advice to tackle a new challenge, to test and refine your HR strategy, or simply to try out new ideas to see what resonates.

With extensive global corporate experience, our team is equipped to provide guidance on any HR-related question, whether you’re dealing with everyday tactical issues or complex strategic concerns.

If you would like to learn more about this service and book in time with one of our team members, head over to https://orgshakers.com/orgshakers-click/

As we look to 2025, enlightened organizations will be planning to invest in enhancing the capabilities of their senior leaders.

Why now?

Because across multiple areas of business, opportunities are emerging to gain significant competitive and commercial advantage – and smart companies know that seizing these opportunities means shaking things up: Appointing new leaders. Building new teams. Giving existing teams important new goals and objectives. Enabling and empowering executives to think and act differently. Strengthening working relationships across the senior leadership group.

And for these changes to be successfully implemented, the development of key executives is vital.

At the same time, cost management is at the forefront of the C-suite’s agenda, which is why we have created the Executive Action Series – a leadership development program which is laser-focused on the five areas that will create the greatest return on investment:

1. Customer Experience

Customers are the fuel that keeps the fire burning for organizations, and so 2025 needs to be all about driving customer experience. This means personalized marketing that delivers what someone needs when they need it, an easy setup and installation, and efficient problem resolution. The idea is that companies will be creating business strategies that promote a sense of individuality and value for each customer, making their experience unique to them and putting their specific needs at the forefront.

2. Generative AI

A recent survey from Access Partnership discovered that 93% of employers expect to use generative AI in the workplace in the next five years. While the presence of AI isn’t necessarily new, generative AI has opened up a whole new realm of possibilities for organizations, and is seemingly the harbinger for the age of working smart. But in order to optimize its uses, business leaders need to have a deep understanding of generative AI to unlock its full potential.

3. Remote and Hybrid Working

The tug-of-war between employers issuing ‘return to office’ mandates and employees wanting flexible working arrangements has been going on since lockdown ended. But aside from flexibility being a strategy for attracting talent, the digitalization of the working world has seen the barriers of place and time evaporate, allowing organizations to gain access to the best talent on a global scale. Hybrid and remote work, if managed successfully, can play a huge role in a business’ economic strategy.

4. Skills-Based Hiring

Employers have increasingly relaxed their need for qualifications in favor of skills, aptitude, and attitude. Skills-based hiring continues to gain momentum, and by identifying areas where this can be woven into business strategy, employers will catalyze social mobility and foster a more diverse workforce.

5. Resilience

An organization that can foster resilience is going to be best prepared for disruptive events that can happen at any given moment (economic downturns, cyber-attacks, global pandemics, etc.). Having the knowledge to recognize, predict, and mitigate risk will be fundamental to the health and sustainability of a business.

The Executive Action Series is divided into five modules that are spread across the corporate calendar. Each module covers the theory behind best practices, and then brings these to life through a combination of case studies, real-world scenarios, and visits to organizations where these practices can be experienced first-hand. Participants will also hear directly from world-class subject matter experts, as well as collaborating with other leaders in their organization.

Each module will help equip leaders with a variety of new tools and knowledge that will create resilience and sustainability for the future:

Module #1: Leadership Portrait

We use comprehensive diagnostics, alongside personal and team reflection, to gain actionable insights into individual leadership brand and enhance contributions to team effectiveness. We also consider how the ensuing levels of trust allow leaders to leverage differences of opinions for enhanced outcomes.

Module #2: Shaping Strategy Through Customers, Diversity & AI

Together, we examine the impact on strategy of three levers that the research above identifies as critical to current success: customer experience, workforce diversity, and generative AI. Further, we introduce world-class thought leaders to facilitate discussions about key issues that will be important to future success.

Module #3: Activating Strategy

At this stage, we explore a range of powerful tools for activating strategy through operations, including effective leadership of large-scale change and the impact of operational choices on customer experience. We also introduce the concept of the Program Acceleration Office as a best practice for optimizing a portfolio of projects.

Module #4: Winning Through Talent

Knowing that 46% of CEOs have Talent in their Top-3 immediate priorities, we explore the evolution of the workplace and the talent strategies that will help us win the war for talent. What can senior leaders do to enable the recruitment, development, and retention of the right people across the right organization?

Module #5: Sustaining and Evolving a Resilient Strategy

To sustain success, we must smooth out the peaks and troughs that are typical of ongoing change. We explore the latest methods of building strength and flexibility throughout the organization to cultivate resilience across your workforce, your culture, and your strategy, and to help weather turbulent business cycles.

To ensure skills and insights gained from the program are applied when executives return to the workplace, Program Guides will provide virtual facilitation between modules and encourage ongoing collaboration through small group peer support coaching.

If you would like to discuss the Executive Action Series in more detail, please get in touch with us via gordon.robinson@orgshakers.com or anya@orgshakers.com

The World Health Organization estimates that in a company of 1,000 employees, 200-300 workers will suffer from a serious mental health problem in any given year, one worker will die by suicide every ten years, and for every employee who dies by suicide, another 10-20 will make a suicide attempt.

When we look more closely at the US, it can be seen that of the high-income countries monitored annually by the Commonwealth Fund, the US has the highest suicide rate – with workplace suicides having risen by 39% since the turn of the millennium. And the UK is not far behind when it comes to cause for concern, as it is estimated that 10% of suicides each year could be work related.

In the tragic event that an employee does commit suicide, the employer has a vital role in supporting workers in the aftermath of this tragedy – a role which must be handled with a sense of care and compassion in order to properly manage the aftereffects of such a delicate situation. These are some of the things employers need to do:

• Acknowledge the Incident – it’s important for employers to speak about what has happened and provide employees with the space to process it. The loss should be acknowledged without speculation or blame, and condolences should be offered to the family, colleagues, and friends, as well as a clear assurance that the company is there to offer support to those affected.  
• Supporting and Signposting – in the immediate aftermath of the incident, it’s imperative that employers are making employees aware of the support that’s on offer internally (usually through an Employee Assistance Program) as well as offering to signpost grief counselling services to those who need it. Peer support should also be encouraged during this time, as the team will be feeling a mix of emotions, some more intensely than others, and having the support of your peers to lean on is vital.
• Allow Time for Grieving – some employees will be more affected than others by the loss of an employee through suicide, either due to how close they were with the deceased or if suicide is a particularly triggering topic for them based on past trauma. It can be a good idea for employers to provide a certain level of flexible leave for those who need time to process. In addition, employers can designate a safe, quiet space in the workplace where employees can go if they need a moment away from their work environment.
• Memorials and/or Tributes – if it’s appropriate and in line with the wishes of the family, it can be good to consider organizing a memorial service or providing a space for employees to share memories and support each other. Employers can also consider allowing employees to express their grief through tributes such as a memory board, a charitable donation, or planting a tree in memory of the employee.
• Ongoing Mental Health Monitoring – managers need to be regularly checking in with their teams to see how they are coping and reminding them of support available. It’s equally as important that managers are also given ongoing support and training so that they can handle these delicate situations to the best of their abilities.

In the aftermath of an employee suicide many employers will likely want to review and improve their workplace practices around suicide prevention – especially if the suicide was in any way work-related.

This will involve re-evaluating the workplace culture by reviewing policies and practices to ensure they support employee wellbeing and mental health, as well as reaffirming how important open and honest communication is and that all employees can always make time to talk privately to their leaders and direct reports.

It can be a good idea to conduct an incident review to get a better understanding of any work-related behaviors that might have been observed at work. HR should use these findings to prevent future tragedies by using the data to strengthen polices, procedures, and support systems.

Lastly, consider introducing mental health initiatives such as stress management programs and anti-bullying policies, as well as reviewing your current EAP provider to ensure they are offering a wide range of support for diverse issues.

If you would like to discuss this in more detail, please get in touch with me at karen.cerrato@orgshakers.com

As we continue to navigate new technologies and advancements in AI, it can be challenging for employers to keep up with the rules of the working world when the rules are always changing. That’s why this month we’re recommending Gary A. Bolles’s The Next Rules of Work: The Mindset, Skillset and Toolset to Lead Your Organization Through Uncertainty.

Gary is the Chair for the Future of Work with Singularity University and a Partner in strategy consulting firm Charette, LLC. As a globally recognized expert on the future of work, he regularly consults with C-suite leaders of global companies, labor and education leaders from Brazil to Canada, and global non-profits.

This vast amount of experience and expertise has been channelled into his latest book, which acts as a guide for employers to thrive in the modern economy where the rules of work are changing almost as fast as people can learn them.

‘Old rules’ have long dominated modern companies – under this ethos, bosses embraced the idea of presenteeism and the basic hierarchical structure that leaders called the shots and workers obeyed. But the new way of working is shedding these old rules, and in its place the ‘Next Rules’ are emerging.

Those companies embracing these new rules are following a new mindset. Managers are not the source of all knowledge, but rather the guides who help workers achieve their goals and flow in the right direction. It’s about embracing innovation, creative thinking, and autonomy to result in a workplace that is fluid enough that it can take change in its stride whilst still growing in an upwards direction.

However, change has always been a tough pill to swallow, for employers and employees alike. But if employers are proactive about change and creating and implementing strategies to mitigate change fatigue, then those businesses can thrive under the new rules of work.

Gary’s book captures the notion of change and the mindsets that are needed to thrive from it expertly, pooling his own knowledge with psychological data and analytics to create a guide that all employers should read if they want their organization to not just survive, but thrive in a contemporary working world.

If you would like to discuss how we can help you strengthen your change management strategies, please get in touch with us today.

And in the meantime, make sure you grab a copy of The Next Rules of Work – you can purchase it here in the UK and here in the US.

You can do a lot in sixty minutes.

In 1903, Orville and Wilbur Wright marked the dawn of aviation with their FOUR successful sustained human flights. All four of these happened in the space of just one hour!

In 2022, Filippo Ganna cycled 56.8km in one hour setting a new world record. To achieve this, he sustained an average speed of over 35mph for a full 60-minutes. Try matching that at your next spinning class!

And, today, it’s estimated that Jeff Bezos will be earing around $3.5 million an hour.
(So, Jeff, if you read the whole of this article it will have taken up just $120,000 of your valuable time which I’m sure you’ll agree is great value!)

What we are seeing here is that although 60-minites may seem like a relatively short amount of time – the length of a lunch break, the time it takes to travel home, the duration of an episode of TV – it’s also possible for an hour to be highly productive … and maybe even groundbreaking.

At OrgShakers, we believe in The Power of the Hour … 60-minutes where leaders can bounce around ideas, receive expert advice, or get the objective feedback they need to start something incredible. After all, every successful business we’ve come to know started with an idea – and someone who was willing to listen.

That’s why we have launched our brand-new consulting service: OrgShakers CL!CK.

OrgShakers CL!CK is a one-hour, private and confidential online consultation with one of our seasoned HR professionals. It offers instant advice and is designed specifically for those times when you need help figuring out how to overcome a challenge, when you need advice on your HR processes, or if you simply just want a sounding board for new ideas to see what sticks.

With years of first-hand corporate experience on a global scale, our team can advise you on any HR question you may have, whether that be the day-to-day tactical challenges or a complex strategic issue.

If you would like to learn more about this service and book in time with one of our team members, head over to https://orgshakers.com/orgshakers-click/

As September rolls in, employers will come face-to-face with a critical reset period. The summer vacation period has come to an end, a new set of graduates are entering the workforce, and the fourth and final quarter of the year looms ahead.

All these new beginnings bring with them a unique set of opportunities, but in order to successfully seize them, there are some key things employers should consider when preparing for their September Reset:

• Re-engaging Your Workforce – September is a pivotal time to re-engage employees who may have been in and out of the office during the summer months (either from vacations or reduced summer working hours). Employers should, therefore, focus on reinvigorating their teams by setting clear and motivating goals for the remainder of the year, as well as offering new projects to inspire creativity and innovative thinking, ensuring a smooth transition back to maximum levels of productivity.
• Wellbeing and Mental Health – it is very common for many people to feel ‘down’ or to start to get the ‘winter blues’ as we enter into the colder, darker months. This can be more serious for those individuals who suffer with Seasonal Affective Disorder, so it is important for employers to revitalize their focus on mental health and wellness as we say goodbye to sunny skies for another six months. This can be achieved by providing access to mental health resources, reminding employees of the Employee Assistance Program available to them, and introducing wellness initiatives such as mindfulness sessions or fitness challenges. It may also be worth investing in some daylight lamps for the office when it starts to get really dark to help mimic the happy glow of sunlight!
• Planning for Q4 – September is the gateway month to the final quarter of the year, so employers should use this month to start preparing for this by reviewing performance metrics to identify areas that need improvement, finalizing budgets to ensure that resources are allocated effectively, and setting goals that will drive the organization towards achieving its annual targets.
• Seasonal Workforce Management – for industries that experience seasonal spikes in demand, such as retail or hospitality, September is the time to start planning for increased staffing needs. This includes hiring temporary workers, adjusting work schedules, and ensuring adequate training is taking place.
• Compliance Review – September is a perfect time to review existing policies and training – especially with the likely influx of new staff that are freshly graduated. Equally, as the new Labour government in the UK have many plans to enact new employment laws, it’s worth reviewing whether any of these changes will be going into effect in the near future so that employers remain compliant and on top of any changes that may affect them.
• Preparing for Year-End – although it may seem early, September is the best time to start preparing for year-end activities, including performance reviews, holiday planning (company parties, holiday schedules, bonuses/gifts, etc), and year-end financial reporting. This early preparation helps to ensure a smoother and more organized process as the year draws to a close.

Resetting for September may feel challenging, but if employers prepare correctly, they will be able to seize a number of opportunities to re-engage staff and solidify their plans for the remainder of the year ahead. If you would like to discuss how we can help support your organization on their journey into Q4, please get in touch with us today!

Most of us are guilty of having a gossip now and then. And there is no more potent breeding ground for gossiping than that of a workplace – after all, conversations are bound to occur over lunch breaks, in the corridor, or passing the water cooler.

However, is having a workplace that loves a gossip a sign of a healthy work environment, or a toxic one?

One study of 1,400 participants found that those perceived to be ‘office gossips’ were viewed in a negative light when compared to their non-gossiping colleagues.

However, another study determined that gossip enabled people to influence each other, form similar opinions, and build robust social bonds – as well as promoting cooperation amongst groups without the need for formal intervention.

What we’re seeing is that even though gossip is proven to be a tool for social cohesion in the workplace, its connotations can have negative effects on one’s reputation. After all, when we think about how ‘gossiping’ has been presented in popular media, it never tends to be in a favorable light (think shows like Gossip Girl or the endless litany of celebrity gossip columns).

But when it comes to employers being unsure whether or not to be concerned about office gossip, context plays a key role in whether it is acting as a force for good or not. Gossiping can actually be categorized into three different types:

• Positive Gossip – this is when people speak positively about others in their absence and share uplifting stories, leading to the building of trust and the strengthening of social bonds.
• Neutral Gossip – this is when someone talks about someone else purely to share information, and will often constitute mundane topics without any passing of positive or negative judgement.
• Negative Gossip – this is when someone is spreading rumors, criticisms, or unfavorable information about others that damages reputations and relationships.

When employees are engaging in positive or neutral gossip, this tends to lead to increased cohesion and camaraderie, which ultimately helps to strengthen the way that team members communicate and work together.

However, if employers begin to catch wind of negative gossiping taking place, this may be a cause for concern, as it can have a detrimental effect on their workplace culture, and can even lead to bullying allegations depending on the extent of what is being said. This can result in a workplace being dubbed ‘toxic’ and ‘unwelcoming’, which can damage the overall reputation of the organization. It is therefore important for leaders and managers to ensure that they are promoting a culture where the building of interpersonal bonds is encouraged but also aligns with the values of the company, highlighting that gossiping negatively is not something that is condoned.

If you would like to discuss how we can help you build a positive workplace culture that emboldens your reputation, please get in touch with us today.

‘Work from anywhere’ searches have risen by 145% in the UK, with recent research from MoneySuperMarket discovering that roughly six million Brits plan to use their flexibility to work abroad without telling their employer.

This rising trend has been dubbed the ‘workation’, a combination of ‘work’ and ‘vacation’ that is defined as taking a break from the work environment but not the work itself. Whilst these two things have typically been seen to be incompatible, the workation’s rising popularity seems to challenge this notion, as employees – especially the younger generations – are looking to find innovative ways to have the best of both worlds with their flexible working arrangements.

However, when we conducted our own poll asking if employers would be happy for their staff to work abroad without them knowing, 70% responded that they are happy for their staff to take a workation as long as they inform them. So, whilst the majority of employers also seem to be in favor of the workation, employees should communicate their movements to keep their employers in the loop of where they will be working from – especially if the time zone changes significantly.

It’s no wonder that we are seeing this trend emerge, as digital nomad visas have come into play in countries such as Italy, Spain, Dubai, and Thailand, to name a few. These visas aim to attract foreign employees who want to continue to work for their company whilst living elsewhere, eliminating any compliancy risks being breached by employers or employees (however, this would have to be revised if the employee decided to permanently move residences abroad).

While the workation therefore offers ample opportunity for employees to revolutionize their work-life balance into a comfortable blend of the two, there are a few things that employers need to consider to ensure that the workation remains a force for good:

• Workation Boundaries – it’s important for employers who are happy for their employees to take workations to not confuse these with employees taking vacations. Workations highlight that remote working employees are able to work whilst also being away, but this doesn’t mean that when an employee does take paid time off that they become accessible or contactable. Having those clear boundaries in place is essential for the workation to be a driving force for work-life balance and wellbeing support, as a workation is still work!
• Introduce ‘Core Hours’ – workations may see employees working in countries where the time zones can differ by more than an hour either way. If this is the case, consider creating a policy which introduces core working hours for all employees to be available no matter the time zone. This will ensure that there is always crossover but also means that those on workations do not have to work outside of typical working hours.
• Rise of Workaholism – employers need to be mindful that employees do still take time away from work purely to rest and relax. With the workation becoming popular, some employees may slip into the habit of not wanting to take time off and fall behind on their workload now that they can take a workation. But employers have a duty to encourage time off work in order for employees to recharge and ward off burnout.

Overall, the workation is shaping up to be a popular benefit that employers with remote workers can consider offering to attract and retain top talent. This is without mentioning all the additional benefits it has to offer around fostering creativity, improving mental health by working from sunny countries, and potentially strengthening the interpersonal bonds between colleagues if your company operates on a global scale. However, it’s important for employers to ensure that the workation doesn’t replace vacation, and to monitor the permanence of a workation so that there are no legal or tax implications that may have to be considered.

If you would like to discuss how we can help your organization design policies around offering workations, please get in touch with us today.

Having a digital avatar is no new feat. With the likes of Bitmojis, personalised emoticons, and The Sims games, the concept of creating a virtual lookalike hasn’t come out of thin air.

But with the world of work becoming increasingly digital, especially in the wake of hybrid and remote working, this begs the question just what role a digital avatar of oneself might play.

For one thing, we know that the metaverse boasts for its users to create their own avatars which they can control using virtual reality technology. The idea is for employees to be able to attend a digital office, surrounded by other digital versions of their colleagues, whilst still working from the comfort of home. Whilst the metaverse has since lost some of its traction, discussions around the possibilities of having AI-powered avatars have continued to gain momentum.

Most notably, founder and chief executive of Zoom, Eric Yuan, believes that in as little as five years’ time, employees could be sending their AI avatars to Zoom meetings in place of themselves.

This is based on the idea that employees would have their own ‘large language model (LLM)’, which essentially uses the underlying services of AI tools like ChatGPT to train the model on their individual speech and behaviour patterns which would allow the avatars to generate accurate and personalised responses to queries and requests.

This may sound like the plot of a futuristic sci-fi movie, but the concept of having AI mimic us isn’t as foreign as you might think. After all, Gmail has an inbuilt AI tool which can summarise and suggest replies to emails based on previous conversation points and common phrasing that the user uses.

However, despite the fact that LLMs can do passable impressions of people, there is no evidence to suggest that they can actually do useful work on behalf of someone. Not to mention the fact that if an AI version of an employee is doing their job for them, at what point does the human employee behind the avatar no longer become useful? Should an employer pay someone when their virtual counterpart is doing the brunt of the work?

On top of this, having an avatar attend meetings runs the risk of completely losing any possibility of fostering friendships and connections at work.

Whilst AI technology enables employees to work smarter and optimize their skills, are AI avatars one step too far in this technological evolution?

In recent days, the UK has experienced the worst civil unrest in more than a decade.

After the fatal stabbing of three young girls at a dance class in the UK seaside town of Southport, the spread of misinformation around the perpetrator of this crime, as well as far-right and anti-immigration rhetoric, has sparked a series of riots, looting, and violent attacks against people of colour.

After the arrest of a 17-year-old boy for the murders in Southport, social media posts began to falsely speculate that the suspect was a Muslim asylum seeker who arrived in the UK in 2023. However, it has since been confirmed that this information is false, and that the suspect was born in the UK to Rwandan parents. But these harmful rumours have led to violent rioting and race-related crime skyrocketing (on Wednesday 7^th August, there were plans for more than 100 gatherings of rioters), with many people finding themselves scared to leave their homes for fear of being attacked or discriminated against due to their race, ethnicity, or faith.

Sadly, the UK is not alone in experiencing racially motivated incidents of this kind, and when they do occur, many employers will have team members who feel angry and scared. Therefore, it’s so important for leaders, managers, and HR professionals to be providing the right support during this time:

• Flexible Working – reiterate to staff members that their safety is of the utmost importance to the company, and should they feel more comfortable doing so, they can work from home or any other place they feel safe. It is also worth considering flexibility around hours being worked, as some may feel more comfortable working earlier in the day, as many riots have been scheduled and taken place in the evening.
• Mental Health Support – the rising violence all across the country is going to have a damaging effect on the mental health of those who feel targeted, exacerbating feelings of anxiety, depression, and stress. Employers should remind their teams of the tools they have available for mental health support, whether this be external signposting or through an in-house Employee Assistance Program.
• Reporting a Crime – if an employee were to fall victim to a crime, especially when travelling to and from work, explain the process that they can go through to report this crime if they wish to and assist where necessary. For many people, it can be incredibly daunting to admit that they are a victim and have to report abuse, and so those employers who can support staff during that process will be instrumental to making them feel safe.

It is an atrocious thing when people feel unsafe where they live, and so it is crucial for employers to be doing everything they can to support the physical and mental wellbeing of those staff members affected.

If you would like to discuss these support strategies in further detail, please get in touch with me directly at therese@orgshakers.com

During our Inspiring Inclusion Webinar, panellist Kelli Hammersmith read an excerpt of David Brooks’s How to Know a Person: The Art of Seeing Others Deeply and Being Deeply Seen. This inspired us to choose David’s book as this month’s reading recommendation.

David is an Opinion columnist for The New York Times, as well as being the author of several books. With his specialism being centred around political, social, and cultural trends, he has poured his years of expertise into this fantastic book, which explores the true and unkempt value of understanding people on a deeper level. As he himself observes, “The older I get, the more I come to the certainty that there is one skill at the centre of any healthy family, company, classroom, community or nation: the ability to see each other, to know other people, to make them feel valued, heard and understood.”

However, despite the importance of this skill, many of us can often fall short in truly understanding and valuing one another. The book is therefore driven by a series of questions which David endeavours to supply the answers to: what kind of attention should one cast on others? What conversations are vital to truly knowing a person? Which aspects of a person’s history deserve attention?

The answers to these questions are all drawn from various research from the fields of psychology and neuroscience, as well as the worlds of theatre, history, and education – interwoven with David’s own personal experiences and trademark sense of curiosity. This allows the book to act as a helpful and practical guide to fostering deeper connections at home, at work, and throughout our lives.

It is for this reason why we believe that this book is a must read for HR professionals and leaders alike. Our roles require us to understand the fundamentals of being human – it’s in the name! – and David expertly conveys not just how to ensure you are seeing and valuing the people around you, but also why it’s so important to be doing so.

If you would like to discuss how we can help coach your leaders to better understand the art of seeing their employees deeply, please get in touch with us today.

And in the meantime, make sure you grab a copy of How to Know a Person – you can purchase it here in the UK and here in the US.