Seeking Fairness at Work is a sharp, compassionate, and thoughtful exploration of what fairness really means in today’s workplace and provides leaders a five-part strategy to embed fairness deeply into workplace culture. Why was this an important book for you to write?

As a business strategist and attorney, frustrated employees have shared their feelings of helplessness and anger with me many times over the years. They were upset about the organization’s willful blindness to management behaviors that torched their dignity, confidence, and psychological safety.

When raising a serious issue about the behavior of a senior vice president with the head of human resources at a large manufacturing company, for example, an employee was essentially shooed away. “It’s worse in other departments,” they were told. In desperation, they consulted a lawyer.

That is but one example of misguided leadership behaviors I’ve witnessed over the years that damage trust and result in unintended negative consequences. No, they didn’t always trigger lawsuits. Although, many could have. But they were always costly in terms of diminished employee engagement, retention, and definitely satisfaction.

We embrace new jobs with excitement about fresh opportunities, but our enthusiasm wanes when it’s met by a workplace climate that raises our defenses instead of our game.

It’s a standoff that won’t improve until managers understand why employees respond negatively to their workplace culture and appreciate how low employee engagement, satisfaction, and retention are symptoms of a suboptimal culture, one that management controls, influences, and can change.

As a result, I wanted to write a book that challenged employer “truths” by examining those unwritten workplace norms – the invisible lines that when crossed, create organizational dysfunction.

This new perspective on employee engagement explains employees’ legitimate frustration and offers management a roadmap to previously missed opportunities that can improve their workplace culture.

How much research did you undertake for this book, and how much time did it take to put it all together?

Seeking Fairness at Work relies on evidence-based science, academic research, interviews, and real-life stories that took five years to assemble and more than forty years of living it.  

What were some ideas that were important for you to share in this book?

Too often people think of fairness as a soft, lofty ideal, that can be an Alice in Wonderland whatever someone wants it to be – an entitlement. The fact that fairness is commonly thought of as “unfair” speaks volumes about how positional power is regularly misused in relationships. And that’s the point of Seeking Fairness at Work.

Relationships are implied social contracts where fairness is reflected by acting in good faith and with fair dealing. Seeking Fairness at Work takes a granular look at those objective standards, what they mean for the employees and employers, and how certain unwritten workplace norms betray those expectations, contributing to low employee engagement, retention, and satisfaction.

What is one thing that you hope readers take away from Seeking Fairness at Work?

I’d like employees to know their expectations of fairness at work are reasonable and for managers to appreciate how fairness is not charity, it’s smart business.

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