Psychological safety, the great negotiation, getting fired

Here are 5 things to know about work this week.

Hello, and welcome to WorkLife’s 5 things newsletter. In this weekly newsletter, we spotlight five things to know about the latest issues affecting modern workplaces.?

It’s a weekly compilation of highlights selected from WorkLife’s daily newsletter. Sign up here to get an in-depth look at how work, the workplace, and workforces are changing to meet new needs and expectations, in your inbox every weekday morning.

1. What does psychological safety really look like in the workplace?

Just 16% of HR executives say they are clear on what psychological safety actually means, according to a recent report by behavioral consultancy Behave .

Business leaders are mistaking it for “being kind or nice,” and fostering a culture of “bringing your whole selves to work,” stressed Dr Alexandra Dobra-Kiel , innovation and strategy director at Behave. Its core meaning – being comfortable with feeling discomfort at work – is being skated over. “I’m not saying it’s about the opposite – being awful to each other – but it has nothing to do with kindness. It is to do with candid honesty,” added Dobra-Kiel. “So if someone wants to speak up, and speaking up would actually contribute to twice the performance, that person should do it. So it’s that radical candor that’s truly at the heart of this concept.”

Harvard Business School professor Amy Edmondson , who has studied the concept of psychological safety for more than two decades, agrees that it has been largely misunderstood across a large number of organizations. When Edmondson shared WorkLife’s article, many people echoed the same sentiments:

• “Employees must be able to be assertive & vocal about key work-related matters. They must be able to challenge decisions and practices because they often know more about fellow employees, competitors, clients and suppliers than management. That’s how you drive innovation and growth.” – Binod Shankar
• “Any term that invokes the concept of ‘safety’ has a way of raising the stakes. It’s surprising how lightly the concept has been interpreted.” – Heather Cetrangolo
• “A number of people have misunderstood safety as ‘Josh wants everyone to feel comfortable here.’ This will help me articulate ‘safety is not about feeling comfortable. Rather, it's about expressing what you perceive without the fear of reprisal.’ – Josh Miekley ??

Why employer misunderstanding of psychological safety is hurting teams’ performance

2. 2024 will be a big year for workplace legislation

We created a roundup of what’s on the horizon this year and talked to experts to better understand why these laws matter for work life.?

• Minimum wage: Kicking the year off with a bang, almost 10 million workers in 22 states got raises on Jan. 1. A report from the Economic Policy Institute estimated that in total, workers will receive $6.95 billion in additional wages from state minimum wage increases.?
• Noncompete agreements: States like Minnesota and California have continued to enact laws this year that take aim at noncompete agreements. The state of New York has also passed legislation that would ban noncompete clauses, but the governor has yet to sign it.
• Paid family and sick leave: Workers in Colorado will have access to paid family leave in 2024, more than three years after residents voted in a ballot measure securing the benefit. In Minnesota, the state passed family leave which will go into effect in 2026. Also, we see more trauma-leave laws to help employees handle logistics and emotions of loss.
• Pay history and salary transparency: While there has been an increase in salary transparency laws that require employers to list salary bands in job descriptions, there is other salary-related legislation happening too. Effective Mar. 1, 2024, in Columbus, Ohio, an ordinance will prohibit employers with 15 or more employees from asking about or screening job applicants based on their current or prior wages, benefits, other compensation or salary histories.

Here are the biggest workplace-related legislations to pass in 2024

3. Corporate personas on TikTok, like Corporate Erin, are booming

If you’ve been on the work side of TikTok, you’ve probably come across different accounts that are poking fun at the corporate world through different skits that are all too familiar for those working 9 to 5s.?

Erin Throlopolis AKA Corporate Erin, a character played by Lisa Beasley who has nearly 300,000 followers on the app, has taken the persona of head of HR to create skits that get people fired up almost as much as their own HR managers do. In one of her most viral videos, she describes herself as “the manager for the manager of logistics from management of mcManagement” who is “here making sure all the deliverables get across.”?

And she’s not the only one creating this kind of content. There’s Natalie (Corporate Natalie) and Corporate Brian too, who are all workplace influencers. On the app, #WorkLife has 30.6 billion views, from content that ranges from day-in-the-life depictions to videos about work dramas and hilarious coworkers.?

“The content I continue to make gives people the opportunity to find pockets of humor in an oftentimes stressful corporate environment,” said Natalie Marshall, who plays Corporate Natalie.

Tik Tok Trend Watch: Why are skits about corporate work life going viral?

4. Is getting fired cause for celebration?

Becoming redundant is, naturally, a terrible experience for most people who have experienced it. But as others opt to see it, it’s cause to celebrate. Why, they figure, not mark the occasion by popping open a few bottles of Prosecco with your besties?

Charlotte Burr and Michelle Bibbington are such people, deciding to spin being let go from their jobs into a launchpad for new beginnings by throwing a “redundancy party.”

“We both worked at our previous jobs for 18 years and we had a feeling that redundancies would be happening,” Burr recalled. “When we were both made redundant, we didn’t want that time in our lives to be associated with negativity, so we decided to make the most of a bad situation and celebrate. We went to [a local resort] and threw a redundancy party with our friends to celebrate a chapter of our lives closing instead of being beaten down by the bad news.”

‘Congratulations, you’ve been fired!’ Why some think getting the ax is cause to celebrate

5. Move over ‘great resignation,’ welcome ‘the great negotiation’

There’s a new term that describes the next era of workers and their attitudes to working on their terms: “the great negotiation.”

Bradley Schurman , founder and CEO of Human Change , a workplace analytics company, coined the term in a recent LinkedIn post. “Companies will need to rethink their concept of employee loyalty now that a 9-to-5 job on its own no longer offers the kind of economic promise it once did,” he wrote.

And many others have joined in on the conversation online.

So what exactly does this younger generation of workers want to negotiate with their bosses, and how does that square with the reality of what businesses are willing to offer? We have the explainer for you.

WTF is the Great Negotiation?

Elsewhere in Digiday Media

Check out some of Digiday Media’s other stories on the future of work over the past week:

• Marketing Briefing: Pop-Tarts and Cheez-Its’ buzz prove why mascots still matter for big brands (Digiday)
• How minimum wage hikes could affect retail workers in 2024 (Modern Retail)
• Luxury Briefing: Are community-based concept stores the future of fashion retail? (Glossy)

• LISTEN: Season two of The Return, a podcast about Gen Z entering the workforce, is live with all eight episodes. Binge it wherever you get your podcasts.?

This is a weekly compilation of highlights from WorkLife’s daily newsletter. Sign up here to get WorkLife’s comprehensive work coverage in your inbox each morning.

This newsletter was curated by Cloey Callahan, senior reporter at WorkLife. Let us know what you think, or what you hope to see more of, by dropping us a note at [email protected].