International [Lip Service] Day

Spoiler alert: if you have to shout that your workplace is fair, it's probably not

I'm not a fan of celebrating demographic groups for one day only.

The way I see it, these corporate PR opportunities mainly benefit toxic bosses. They get to masquerade as empathic leaders and wax lyrical about their company striving for a more equitable workplace, while doing nothing tangible to make that a reality.

I often observe that companies already behaving equitably don’t have a lot to say.

Like them, my philosophy is more: don't be a dick, all of the time. Radical, right?

If you want everyone in your team to be treated fairly, stop talking and take ownership.

Don't hire people based on “culture fit” (i.e. they look, talk and think like you), their family status, or how “confident” they appear; hire people based on their competence to perform a role according to a job specification. Fairness is boringly straightforward.

Don’t keep pay secret “in case people get jealous”, or some other bullshit excuse; structure your compensation and make it transparent, internally and on job postings.

Don't promote people based on “gut feel” (read: how much they flatter your delicate ego); promote people based on – shock horror – an objective documented process.

And don’t display people as a token [insert demographic] trophy to pretend your workplace is fair; treat your whole team with respect and reward them on their merits.

Here’s ten smooth operators driving real, values-based change in the world of work:

1. Milly Barker – The Operating Table

   Breaking startups down and showing you how to build for success

2. Charlee Venable – Mission to Scale
   Strategic insights for building high-performing teams and scalable operations

3. Neda Sahebelm – The Minority Misfit
   For the tech misfits who aspire to do things differently

4. Emily Lincoln-Gordon – Just the Right Amount, Actually
   Thoughts loosely related to work, womanhood, life, etc.

5. Fiona Chorlton-Voong – The Portfolio Collective
   Revolutionising the way the world works as a fractional

6. Aušrinė Keršanskaitė & Charlene Chen – Operations Nation
   Community-powered knowledge hub for operations leaders

7. Alice Ivanoff-Boardman – Kokoon
   Daily training and coaching to make early-career employees productive—faster

8. Milly Tamati – Generalist World
   Learn how to build an actually-interesting, generalist career

9. Alice ter Haar – Badass Unicorn
   Emboldening your team to take their inner you-nicorn by the horn

10. Penny Penati – Ops And Ends
    Turning your chaos into calm through the lens of an experienced operator

That’s actually eleven, I just realised – consider it a free bonus!