Making Work Human

Introduction

In today's rapidly evolving technological landscape, the future of work is becoming increasingly human. This may seem counterintuitive, given the rise of artificial intelligence and automation, but Eric Mosley's book "Making Work Human" argues that human skills and values are more important than ever in the modern workplace.

Mosley, the co-founder and CEO of Workhuman, presents a compelling case for why businesses need to prioritize human-centered approaches to work. He argues that by focusing on core human values such as gratitude, purpose, and connection, companies can boost performance, drive profits, and create more fulfilling work environments for their employees.

This book summary will explore the key ideas presented in "Making Work Human," offering insights into how businesses can create more human-centric workplaces and why doing so is crucial for success in the 21st century.

The Human Workplace: A New Paradigm

The Right to Meaningful Work

Mosley begins by asserting that humans have the right not only to choose their work but also to work in jobs that meet their essential needs. These needs include social connection, psychological safety, growth, and meaning. This perspective goes beyond the basic right to work outlined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948.

Workhuman, Mosley's company, has made it its mission to ensure that modern workplaces represent these core human values. The rationale behind this mission is twofold:

1. Making people happier in their work is simply the right thing to do.
2. Human-centered workplaces are great for business.

Adapting to a VUCA World

The modern business environment is often described using the military term VUCA: volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous. This ever-changing landscape, driven by rapidly evolving technologies, requires businesses to adapt and evolve constantly.

To remain competitive in a VUCA world, companies need to:

1. Attract and retain employees who are willing to adapt and evolve.
2. Keep employees inspired and engaged, which is increasingly challenging given that today's workforce is more socially conscious, informed, and mobile than ever before.

The Power of Human Values in the Workplace

Mosley argues that the best way for businesses to thrive in this environment is to create workplaces where employees feel recognized, valued, and appreciated as full human beings. The human workplace is built around positive values such as:

• Community
• Connectedness
• Belonging

Instead of trying to force peak performances out of employees, the human workplace inspires them to give their best effort voluntarily.

Research over the past three decades has consistently shown that employees in human-centered workplaces:

• Perform better
• Are more engaged with their work
• Stay with their employers longer

These outcomes translate to increased profits, boosted business growth, and long-term cost savings.

Success Stories

Mosley highlights several companies that have already recognized the power of positive human values in the workplace and are designing their business structures accordingly:

• Costco
• Trader Joe's
• Toyota

These companies serve as examples of how prioritizing human values can lead to business success.

The Importance of Employee Experience

The Challenge of Employee Retention

In today's job market, employees have more options than ever before when it comes to choosing their employers, work models, and pay structures. This increased freedom comes with greater responsibility and less job security for employees. As a result, employers face a unique challenge: How can they attract the best talent, inspire peak performance, and encourage long-term commitment?

Mosley's answer is simple yet profound: Make employees feel good about themselves and their work.

The Current State of Employee Satisfaction

Unfortunately, many workplaces are falling short in this area. Mosley presents some sobering statistics:

• 58% of employees never receive a thank-you from their bosses
• 68% think their company meets new ideas with skepticism and hostility
• 80% are never or rarely consulted about their personal work goals

These numbers highlight the need for a significant shift in how companies approach employee satisfaction and engagement.

From Bureaucracy to Humanocracy

Mosley cites business expert Gary Hamel's advice to transform bureaucracies into "humanocracies." This means structuring companies in a way that prioritizes employee satisfaction and well-being.

Research shows that employees are most satisfied when their work provides:

1. A sense of belonging
2. A sense of purpose
3. A sense of achievement

Six Key Features of Human Workplaces

To create an environment that fosters these positive emotions, Mosley outlines six essential workplace features:

1. Trust between employees and the company
2. Positive relationships among coworkers
3. Meaningful work
4. Recognition for contributions
5. Employee autonomy
6. Appropriate work-life balance

Real-World Applications

Mosley provides examples of how these features might manifest in the workplace:

• Celebrating personal milestones (e.g., the birth of a child) with coworkers
• Allowing employees to take time off to care for sick relatives without feeling guilty

The Business Case for Human Workplaces

The benefits of creating human-centered workplaces extend beyond employee satisfaction. Mosley presents compelling evidence that companies prioritizing employee experience see significant business advantages:

• Companies in the top 25% of employee experience report twice the return on sales compared to those in the bottom 25%
• Employees in human-centered workplaces are more engaged, perform better, and stay with their employers longer

These outcomes demonstrate that investing in human-centered workplace practices is not just good for employees—it's good for business.

The Power of Gratitude in the Workplace

The Triad of Positive Emotions

Mosley identifies three key emotions that are essential for a positive work experience:

1. Purpose
2. Meaning
3. Gratitude

While purpose and meaning are crucial, they can be challenging to manufacture artificially. Gratitude, on the other hand, is an emotion that can be actively cultivated and practiced in the workplace.

Defining Purpose and Meaning

• Purpose: The shared mission of all people in the company. For example, Google's mission statement declares that the company's purpose is "to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful."

• Meaning: The connection between a company's purpose and an employee's personal goals and values. Mosley notes that meaningful work is increasingly important to employees, with 28% of tech workers saying they wouldn't work for a company unless they knew its work had a meaningful social impact.

The Importance of Gratitude

Mosley argues that gratitude is the backbone of a human workplace for several reasons:

1. It reinforces shared purpose and individual meaning
2. It makes people happier and more productive (supported by approximately 11,000 studies)
3. Public expressions of gratitude highlight positive behaviors for all employees to aspire to
4. Moments of gratitude can help build a database of human interactions within a company, providing valuable insights into how work is being done

Practicing Gratitude in the Workplace

Gratitude can be expressed in various ways, from simple public acknowledgments to more complex peer-to-peer reward systems. Mosley's company, Workhuman, bases its culture on three pillars of gratitude:

1. Thank: Expressing authentic appreciation for someone's work
2. Talk: Communicating openly through various channels (email, social media, in-person)
3. Celebrate: Sharing the joy of personal or professional achievements

The Role of Technology in Fostering Gratitude

Mosley introduces the concept of "Human Applications," which are company-wide networking apps that allow employees to give each other feedback, rewards, and support. These tools, combined with deep analytics, can provide valuable insights into company dynamics and help improve organizational structures.

Social Recognition: A Tool for Gratitude

The Power of Social Recognition

Mosley emphasizes the importance of social recognition in creating a human-centered workplace. Social recognition occurs when people acknowledge and reward each other for their work. This can be facilitated through platforms that allow managers and employees to express gratitude for displays of hard work, special effort, or kindness.

The Current State of Recognition

Despite the proven benefits of recognition, many workplaces fall short in this area. Mosley cites a 2017 workplace report that found:

• Only 3 out of 10 employees had received praise for doing a good job during the previous week
• If companies increased this to 6 out of 10 employees, they could see:
  • A 24% improvement in work quality
  • A 27% reduction in absenteeism

Characteristics of Effective Gratitude Expression

Mosley outlines several key elements of successful gratitude expression in the workplace:

1. Social: Everyone in the company should be included in celebrating their coworkers' efforts
2. Direct, precise, and sincere: Gratitude should be expressed as soon as possible after the achievement it rewards
3. Specific: Instead of a generic "Thank you for all your hard work," messages should authentically explain why the person's effort was important to both coworkers and the company
4. Tangible: In the workplace, gratitude should be accompanied by concrete rewards

The Unlimited Potential of Gratitude

Mosley emphasizes that there is no limit to expressing gratitude. However, he cautions that meaningful expressions of gratitude require more than just sending a prewritten e-card, especially in a professional setting.

Designing Effective Reward Systems

The Limitations of Traditional Bonus Systems

Mosley critiques the traditional system of annual bonuses, arguing that it fails to provide sustained motivation and engagement. He presents research showing that the motivational boost from a work bonus typically wears off after just three to four weeks.

Key Features of Effective Reward Systems

Mosley proposes that the best reward systems should be:

1. Social: Rewards should be shared and celebrated with coworkers
2. High-frequency: Smaller, more frequent bonuses can provide regular motivational boosts
3. Flexible: Rewards should be customizable to meet individual employee preferences

The Power of Micro-Bonuses

Mosley argues that the size of a reward is less important than its frequency and the authenticity of the accompanying gratitude. He suggests that micro-bonuses of $100, $200, or $500 can be effective even for high-earning employees when accompanied by sincere appreciation.

Non-Cash Rewards

Interestingly, Mosley presents evidence that non-cash rewards can be even more effective than monetary bonuses:

• A study showed that $500 in non-cash recognition decreased turnover by 58%, compared to $500 in cash
• Rewards in the form of goods and services have proven more effective than cash bonuses

Flexible Reward Structures

Mosley advocates for giving employees more choice in how they receive their rewards:

• Point systems allow employees to choose between frequent small gifts or saving up for larger rewards
• Some companies, like Unilever, have restructured their entire compensation plans to allow employees to design personalized mixes of fixed pay and variable benefits/bonuses

Reimagining Performance Reviews

The Shortcomings of Traditional Performance Reviews

Mosley critiques the traditional annual performance review model, which typically focuses on an employee's past work and mistakes. He argues that this approach is ineffective and demotivating, as:

• It occurs too infrequently
• It emphasizes past failures rather than future growth
• It often feels like a "beatdown" to employees

The Human Approach to Performance Reviews

Mosley proposes a more human-centered approach to performance assessments:

1. Frequency: Reviews should happen much more often than once a year
2. Format: They can include whole work teams or occur in one-on-one conversations
3. Focus: The emphasis should be on future goals rather than past failures
4. Feedback ratio: There should be a "golden ratio" of at least five positive comments for every negative one

Managers as Coaches

In this new paradigm, Mosley suggests that managers need to rethink their leadership roles:

• They should see themselves as coaches rather than commanders
• Their primary job is to help employees grow, learn, and perform at their best
• Like coaches, they should understand each employee's strengths and weaknesses and meet them where they are

The Three C's of Performance Management

Mosley introduces the "Three C's" approach to guide employees:

1. Continue: Quick check-ins throughout a project to ensure employees are on track
2. Consider: Collaborating with employees to identify areas for process improvement or direction changes
3. Celebrate: Showing appreciation for completed work

This approach aims to create a more supportive, growth-oriented environment for employees.

Embracing Diversity and Inclusion

The Power of Unconscious Bias

Mosley begins this section with a powerful anecdote about gender bias in symphonic orchestras. He explains how blind auditions, initially introduced to combat gender discrimination, still favored male musicians due to subtle cues like the sound of footsteps. This example illustrates the pervasive nature of unconscious bias and the need for deliberate efforts to overcome it.

The Importance of Diversity and Inclusion

Mosley argues that diversity and inclusion are non-negotiable attributes of a human workplace. He outlines three stages in addressing workplace discrimination:

1. Diversifying the workforce
2. Making all employees feel included
3. Uncovering and addressing unconscious biases

He cites Vernā Myers, VP of Inclusion Strategy at Netflix, who describes the difference between diversity and inclusion: "Diversity is being invited to the party; inclusion is being asked to dance."

The Business Case for Diversity

Beyond the moral imperative, Mosley presents compelling business reasons for prioritizing diversity and inclusion:

• Ethnically diverse companies are 35% more likely to outperform their competitors
• Diversity has been shown to increase employee performance, retention, decision-making, and innovation

Monitoring and Correcting Bias

Mosley acknowledges that even well-intentioned social recognition platforms and reward systems can inadvertently amplify privilege and perpetuate exclusion. He suggests using advanced data analysis and artificial intelligence to monitor and correct for these biases. For example:

• Natural language processing can analyze the wording managers use to thank male and female employees, flagging any differences that may reinforce stereotypes

Creating an Inclusive Workplace

Mosley emphasizes that in a truly human workplace, everyone should be part of the puzzle and included equally. This means actively working to create an environment where all employees, regardless of their background or characteristics, feel valued and empowered to contribute their best work.

The Role of Technology in Human Workplaces

Human Applications

Throughout the book, Mosley introduces the concept of "Human Applications" - technology tools designed to support and enhance human interactions in the workplace. These applications serve several purposes:

1. Facilitating social recognition and gratitude expression
2. Enabling peer-to-peer reward systems
3. Collecting data on workplace interactions and employee sentiment
4. Providing insights to improve company culture and structure

Data-Driven Insights

Mosley emphasizes the importance of using data analytics to gain a deeper understanding of workplace dynamics. By analyzing patterns in social recognition, rewards, and employee feedback, companies can:

• Identify high-performing teams and individuals
• Uncover areas where employees may be struggling or disengaged
• Detect potential biases in recognition or rewards
• Make data-informed decisions about workplace policies and practices

Balancing Technology and Human Touch

While Mosley is a strong advocate for leveraging technology in creating human workplaces, he also stresses the importance of maintaining a balance. Technology should enhance, not replace, genuine human connections and interactions.

Implementing Human-Centered Practices

Starting Small

Mosley encourages readers to begin implementing human-centered practices in their workplaces, even if they can't overhaul their entire company culture overnight. He suggests starting with small, meaningful actions such as:

• Writing sincere, thoughtful thank-you notes to colleagues
• Implementing a simple peer recognition system
• Encouraging managers to have more frequent, growth-oriented conversations with their team members

Cultivating a Culture of Gratitude

One of the key takeaways from "Making Work Human" is the power of gratitude in transforming workplace culture. Mosley advises readers to actively cultivate a culture of gratitude by:

• Leading by example in expressing appreciation
• Creating opportunities for employees to recognize each other's contributions
• Celebrating both personal and professional milestones

Continuous Improvement

Mosley emphasizes that creating a human workplace is an ongoing process, not a one-time initiative. He encourages readers to:

• Regularly solicit feedback from employees about workplace practices
• Stay informed about new research and best practices in human-centered work
• Be willing to experiment with different approaches and learn from both successes and failures

Conclusion

"Making Work Human" presents a compelling vision for the future of work - one that prioritizes human values, connections, and potential. Eric Mosley argues convincingly that by creating workplaces that allow people to thrive, learn, and feel safe, companies can not only improve employee satisfaction but also boost performance, productivity, and innovation.

Key takeaways from the book include:

1. The importance of gratitude and social recognition in the workplace
2. The need for more frequent, growth-oriented performance conversations
3. The value of flexible, personalized reward systems
4. The critical role of diversity and inclusion in creating truly human workplaces
5. The potential of technology to enhance human connections and provide valuable insights

As we navigate an increasingly technology-driven world, Mosley's message serves as a crucial reminder: at its core, work is fundamentally a human endeavor. By reconnecting our workplaces to core human values and needs, we can create environments where both individuals and businesses can flourish.

The ideas presented in "Making Work Human" offer a roadmap for leaders, managers, and employees at all levels to contribute to more fulfilling, productive, and successful workplaces. As we move into the future, embracing these human-centered approaches may well be the key to thriving in an ever-changing business landscape.