The Employee Handbook

A monthly newsletter about current challenges and conversations for values-driven HR professionals

Enhancing Workplace Belonging

If you could tell your executive team one thing, what would it be? Maybe it’s that the office seltzer selection is subpar, or perhaps that the team collaboration might be missing some finesse.?

Jacqueline Fearer, who leads culture and engagement at global information-management company Iron Mountain, posed this question and collected more than 10,000 responses. The responses spanned from significant to minor, yet each one provided executives with insights on ways to enhance belonging.?

Fearer and other executive panelists spoke about harnessing the power of workplace community at our October virtual conference. Asking for feedback was a game-changer for Fearer. Here are a few more tips shared during the session.??

Communication Matters?

Communicating exclusively via Slack or email, no matter how many emojis you can fit into a message, results in losing people’s tone of voice. Ditch the constant messaging and pick up the phone every once in a while, or find opportunities to gather in person.?

Invest in Employee Resource Groups

Employee resource groups (ERGs) provide a space for shared experiences, perspectives, and interests. This environment helps employees feel connected to others within the organization and even the organization itself.?

Technology Is Your Friend

“AI can analyze how physical space–like conference rooms, collaborative spaces, and breakout rooms–is used, and offer insights and guide office design and layout, ensuring space fosters interaction, collaboration, and community,” panelist Sheila Jagannathan of the World Bank said.?

Ultimately, “Sometimes it’s those little things that really matter. Because everything else seems so huge and vast, immense and strategic,” said Fearer. So make sure you keep your seltzer stash stocked.?You can read more about this session here.??

Supporting Working Parents

Belonging in the workplace means everyone is looked after. A Glassdoor survey brought forth a concerning finding: 34% of working parents harbor fears of being left behind professionally. What makes this especially striking is that 80.1% of American families have at least one employed member. So, how can we make sure working parents feel supported??

We brought together a group of leaders to chat about this very topic. Pro tip: support needs to go far beyond parental leave. Here’s some advice:?

• Establish healthy work/life boundaries.
• Advocate for a family-friendly work culture: not only should you have programs in place, but people should be using them.?
• Adapt to the evolving expectations of younger generations. Just because past generations struggled doesn’t mean everyone else has to.?

Working parents, do you feel supported in your organization? To learn more about making a confident comeback, read the recap or watch the recording and share it with colleagues.?

Happy Anniversary to Us!

This week we hosted our last live conference of the year at the Rubell Museum in Miami. Not only was it a successful day filled with thought leadership from executives at Visa, Royal Caribbean Group, and many more, but it was also our 50th live event ever!

We’re grateful for this community of over 72,000 that we’ve built from coast to coast, and we hope that you’ll join us next year. Click here to see when we’re coming to a city near you.

Join us!

Here are some other opportunities to connect:?

We’re hosting a half-day virtual conference on Dec. 13 about “The Arc of Change for People and Culture in 2024.” Leaders like Peter Cappelli of the Wharton School and Javed Khan of Cisco will be discussing workplace trends to look out for in 2024.?

Here’s the agenda. Your exclusive, complimentary VIP pass is waiting for you here.?

We also have a calendar of virtual events lined up for next year. We’ll be meeting to discuss topics like DEI, the future of benefits, and energizing your workforce.

Too busy for a half-day event? We also have a wide selection of 60-minute webinars here. Those cover trending topics from menopause benefits to meaningful transformation in work and life.?

See you there!