A fundamental shift is occurring in the relationship between employers and employees, signalling the rise of a new social contract. For business leaders, adapting to this change is not optional – it’s essential for future success. The end of the traditional social contract The old social contract between employers and employees was straightforward: companies provided stable jobs, and employees offered loyalty and hard work. However, this balance shifted dramatically over the past few decades....
18 days ago • 3 min read
In many modern workplaces, the employer-employee relationship subtly mirrors a parent-child dynamic. This “infantilisation” of employees—where individuals are treated as if they lack the autonomy, maturity, or capability to make responsible decisions – stems from rigid control structures and hierarchical systems embedded in corporate cultures. While these mechanisms may have originated as a way to ensure consistency and manage risk, they now often work against both employee potential and...
18 days ago • 4 min read
Ah, Gen Z. The avocado-toast-loving, work-life-balance-demanding, TikTok-dancing generation that has been giving traditional workplaces a collective headache since they first clocked in. Just when you thought you’d figured out how to handle their “quiet quitting” and requests for mental health days, along comes their even-more-digital, hyper-aware, and socially-conscious successors: Gen Alpha. If your organisation is still reeling from the culture shock of Gen Z, buckle up, it is going to be...
18 days ago • 4 min read
The idea of a “great place to work” conjures up images for all of us, but are those images all the same? Is there really such a thing as a universally great workplace? Recently, I’ve been having many discussions with leaders and HR professionals that they are struggling to create and then maintain a thriving corporate culture. They speak about how they’ve followed the advice in articles online, implemented the latest solutions from a recent conference, aligned with their competitors benefits...
18 days ago • 4 min read
I was speaking to a potential new client the other day. A senior HR professional, part of my network, who reached out with some organisational health concerns. The usual things: decent engagement scores, yet high absenteeism; a respected quality mark, but scathing Glassdoor reviews; strong values on paper, but no leadership buy-in; a sense of cultural stagnation quietly choking progress. We unpacked the symptoms, then dug into the root causes - shifting employee expectations, the breakdown of...
20 days ago • 3 min read