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Ideas & Insights
We would like to share some of our latest thinking about the big issues in HR. Please let us know what you think …
The HR Budget Trap: How to Spot (and Stop) Wasted Spend
Year after year, well-intentioned HR budgets leak value through hidden cracks: unused subscriptions, redundant processes, poorly structured benefits, and tech sprawl that siphons dollars without lifting performance. The result? HR spend rises even as strategic impact stalls. And according to SHRM, HR costs per employee have more than doubled between 2022 and 2025, reaching a […]
What We’re Reading: 12 by Rodd Wagner and James K. Harter
The new year is a time when many organizations will reflect on performance, engagement and leadership capability, and with this in mind it felt fitting to choose a book that goes back to the fundamentals of what actually makes people thrive at work. After reviewing several strong contenders, we landed on 12: The Elements of […]
OrgShakers Welcomes Jenn Oswald
OrgShakers is delighted to welcome Jenn Oswald to our global team of senior People & Culture experts. Jenn joins with 25 years of experience helping early‑stage and high‑growth companies establish scalable People functions. She has served as the first CPO or Head of People for eight organizations, partnering closely with founders and CEOs to build […]
Rethinking Flexibility: How Smarter Work Design Can Boost Performance
In recent years, flexibility has evolved from a ‘nice-to-have’ perk into a strategic performance enabler. With the pandemic acting as a sudden catalyst for remote and hybrid working, flexibility was forced into the fabric of companies whether they were ready for it or not. It’s now years later that many of us see that there […]
Leaving Behind the Silence That Surrounds Financial Wellbeing
As we look toward 2026, one truth has become increasingly clear: financial wellbeing is no longer a ‘nice-to-have’ …it’s a core part of good work. For too long, employers have acknowledged the connection between money and work only implicitly; now the data and lived reality are too obvious to ignore. Employees carry financial stress with […]
Marquis Who’s Who Honours David Fairhurst as a Global Leader in HR
We are very proud to see that our Founder and CEO David Fairhurst has been elected for inclusion in Marquis Who’s Who. As in all Marquis Who’s Who biographical volumes, individuals profiled are selected on the basis of current reference value. Factors such as position, noteworthy accomplishments, visibility, and prominence in a field are all […]
The New Role of Trust in the Workplace
For years, trust in the workplace has been a background hum threaded through strategy, performance, and culture work. In the last year, the dull roar seems to have morphed into a sharp, ringing sound in leadership and HR conversations. Data from the Edelman Trust Institute indicates that global employees’ trust in their organization to ‘do […]
What Should Employers Leave in 2025?
Each year, we like to ask the OrgShakers team what practices and mindsets they believe employers should be leaving behind in the year that has passed to help them begin fresh in the new year to come. As 2025 has now come to a close, we wanted to see what they believed should be left […]
What We’re Reading: A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
As we head into December, we wanted our final read of the year to feel seasonally appropriate while still delivering meaningful insights for leaders and HR professionals. And after looking at a range of options, we quickly realised: you can’t beat a classic. And so, this month, we are reading A Christmas Carol by Charles […]
Don’t Let Wisdom Walk Away: The Hidden Art of Knowledge Interviews
Every organization has been there; that moment when a key employee moves on, and suddenly we realize how much of their knowledge existed only in their head. It’s not just about losing a team member, it’s about losing the shortcuts, insights, and quiet expertise that made them such an effective member of the team. Knowledge […]
How to Make Employee Feedback Actually Useful
Feedback is one of the most powerful tools employers can utilize, as when wielded correctly, it can truly drive change in an organization. However, too often organizations will launch a big survey, collect responses, and then leave these results to gather digital dust. But that real opportunity for change lies in turning that feedback into […]
The Gift of Recognition: Creative Ways to Appreciate Your Team Over the Holidays
The holiday period is always a golden opportunity to shine a spotlight on the efforts of your people, helping to build a culture of appreciation that lasts well beyond December. Research increasingly shows that recognition is not just a nice gesture, but a real driver of better business. For example, a recent survey found that 77.9% of […]
