The kombucha tap has closed.

Every time I talk to business owners lately, they tell me the same thing; 2023 sucked. The tech economy sank, the general economy sank, and layoffs caused a mass migration of talent to the open market. When I worked in-house for tech companies (about 2010 through 2017), we’d regularly field engagement survey complaints like “the fridge ran out of Perrier” or “we don’t carry the exact kind of cream cheese I like”. Now, the days of kombucha on tap are over.

While I don’t agree with most of it (our research shows quite a high ROI on employee engagement, for example), I enjoyed reading this thinkpiece by Jessica Zwaan on the economy, career advice, and generally adjusting how we think about work in a lean, post-layoff world. According to Jessica (who is very smart), HR departments (and employees) should drop the idea of things like happiness and engagement and focus entirely on their ROI. As someone whose own career is based on designing good places to work, these changes in attitude have certainly been interesting to watch. While during feast times everyone has to compete to be an amazing employer, those who don’t truly value it tend to let it drop first in a famine. What happens next? A flurry of distracting, painful and expensive employee relations issues. Phoning it in. Slower output. And, in the end, a lowered bottom line.

It’s never bad career advice to understand the things your organization cares about (money, glory, metrics, whatever) and how you fit into that, but employers need to remember that their relationship with their team is a two way street. If you fail to appreciate and empower them when it rains, they’ll take another route when it shines.

Stay bright,

Nora

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Bright Reads

• Be careful with your software; AI hiring tools have caused (automated) violations of the Americans with Disabilities act. (The Hill)

• Why are so many people getting high at work now? (Dazed)

• If you’re in a job that exposes you to others trauma (a social worker, a first responder, or sometimes even HR), you should learn about secondary traumatic stress and how to cope with it. This is aimed at workplace investigators, but has useful info for anyone.

• I saw the original X thread about a crappy “hiring hack” that amounts to just stealing your interviewee’s ideas, and couldn’t agree more with Suzanne’s take. In business and life, your reputation is worth more than a bit of “free” consulting. If you take advantage of people, it’ll only come back to bite you. (PS: Case studies are fine, but make them hypothetical and pay people for their time!)

• Build Your Culture Like a Product — Lessons from Asana’s Head of People (First Round Review)

• Working at a nonprofit and trying to figure out HR? Last call to join us on April 25 in partnership with our friends at Laridae for this free webinar on all things People and Nonprofit!

Coming Up

• Earth day is April 22

• Passover is April 22-30

• Palm Sunday is April 28

• May 1 is Beltane

• May is Pacific Islander Heritage Month and Mental Health Month

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