61 Experts Who Know How to Create More Human Workplaces
Creating a positive workplace doesn’t require a lot of money. Companies can focus on human needs as a way to create a work experience where employees want to be.
When you think of human workplaces, what comes to mind?
A trend over the past five years has been to focus on workplaces where our human needs shape how companies are run. Additionally, human needs can shape HR polices or shape how a company grows its leaders. I believe human workplaces are more desirable places to spend a third of one’s day.
Human workplaces emphasize helping the whole person thrive. A recent ad campaign for HR software company Gusto explained it well: companies can help employees enjoy life, provide assistance when life is tough. In short, human companies focus on building relationships with its workforce. They don’t commoditize time by solely looking at employees as a means to its profitability.
Human workplaces emphasize helping the whole person thrive.
Human workplaces tap into what makes the human condition positive.
- Creating an experience of belonging — employees feeling valued, wanted, and welcomed
- Implementing modern HR practices that acknowledge life’s milestones like giving employees time off to care for elderly parents or giving new fathers longer paternity leave to be with family
- Helping employees learn soft skills that improve how they build high-quality work relationships
If your company wants to implement a new human-focused workplace, here is a list of workplace experts and corporate leaders to follow. They are some of my personal favorites as well as industry thought leaders leading this change. Enjoy this enlightening journey as I did. Your teams will thrive and thank you for it.
Featured Academic Practitioners
Teresa Amabile: How life outside of work influences performance at work
Kim S. Cameron: How virtuous practices and transformational leadership shape culture
Angela Duckworth: Why grit is essential for high performing employees
Stew Friedman: How to integrate your work and personal lives in a meaningful way
Sonja Lyubomirsky: The role happiness plays in improving the human experience
Martin Seligman: How positive psychology can influence leadership actions to bring out the best in employees and generate greater results
Emma Seppala: How to integrate wellbeing, compassion, social connection, and mind-body practices to build positive workplaces
Edgar Schein: No list on workplace culture is complete without Edgar Schein. He catapulted our understanding and the important role culture plays in business and people's success. His work significantly shapes how we make sense of human workplaces.
Bob Sutton: Notorious for his no BS view on awful managers. It’s a refreshing take that is unfortunately too relevant today.
Paul Zak: The role of trust is central to positive, healthy cultures. Paul Zak has specialized in understanding what the triggers of trust are and the role of trustworthiness in great cultures.
Other great academic practitioners include Herminia Ibarra, David Burkus, Adam Grant, Brené Brown, Chip and Dan Heath.
Featured CEO/Practitioners
Bob Chapman: CEO of Barry-Wehmiller, Chapman embodies the belief that a major corporation can still be family-oriented. He’s masterful at tapping into our humanity to foster a positive culture.
Ricardo Semler: Chairman of Semco Group, Semler transformed the company by shifting the culture to be democratic and resilient.
Gary Ridge: CEO of WD-40, Ridge has helped the company culture become closer and successful through a tribal leadership mindset. Check out the link in Ridge’s name above to learn more.
Jason Fried: CEO of a software-as-a-service company, Basecamp, Fried leads the way showing entrepreneurs how to rethink the workplace and the relationship with employees.
Chip Conley: Former hotelier and Airbnb executive, Conley’s work, in part, focuses on showing leaders how to use Maslow’s hierarchy of needs to build successful companies.
Be sure to check out these CEOs who are also leading the way to more human-centered workplace cultures: Jim Haudan, Root, Inc; Aaron Hurst, Imperative; John Mackey, Whole Foods; Tony Hsieh, Zappos; Jim Clifton, Gallup; Rich Sheridan, Menlo Innovations; Kip Tindell, former CEO of Container Store; Ari Weinzweig, Zingerman’s, Eric Mosely, Globoforce, Doug Conant, former CEO of Campbell Soup.
Featured Practitioners/Consultants/Authors
Jurgen Appelo: How to strengthen the art and skill of management
Tom Rath: How to energize your work and life
Chuck Blakeman: How to rehumanize your workplace through counter-intuitive wisdom
Chris Edmonds: How to build a great culture through an Organizational Constitution
Rob Catalano: Use technology to help improve employee engagement
Frederick Laloux: A complete rethink of culture and how business and people can work together
Whitney Johnson: How to disrupt yourself to achieve greater results
Michelle McQuaid: How to leverage positive psychology to shift your culture
Jacob Morgan: How to shape the employee experience, a longer-lasting approach to culture and its many facets
Cy Wakeman: How to overcome workplace drama… a desperately needed solution in too many workplaces
These are also amazing practitioners/consultants making a difference for their clients and leaders: Joanna Barsh, Laszlo Bock, Josh Allan Dykstra, Lewis Garrad, Derek Lidow, Josh Levine, Lee Caraher, Jason Lauritsen, Tim Leberecht, Scott Mautz, Nilofer Merchant, Tony Schwartz.
If you’re interested in creating an experience of work that is positive, inspiring, motivating for employees, focus on creating a human workplace. It’s a lasting investment. It also delivers more impact than offering employees free dry cleaning, beer, or snacks.
