Making Work Human

When was the last time you felt truly seen, valued, and appreciated at work—not just as a role or a resource, but as a **human being**? In Making Work Human: How Human-Centered Companies are Changing the Future of Work and the World, Eric Mosley and Derek Irvine argue that the future of work depends on reclaiming our humanity in the workplace. The authors—founders of Workhuman—contend that by centering people rather than profit, gratitude rather than control, and connection rather than competition, organizations can unlock innovation, retention, and lasting purpose.

They call this shift the rise of the human enterprise: workplaces built around networks of trust, belonging, recognition, and shared meaning. It’s not a feel-good fantasy—they back it with data from millions of recognition moments across leading companies like Cisco, Merck, LinkedIn, and JetBlue. In short, what’s good for people is good for business.

From Bureaucracy to Humanity

Mosley and Irvine describe the 20th century company as rigid, hierarchical, and bureaucratic—built to maximize efficiency but silence individuality. Today, that model is collapsing under the pressures of disruption, automation, and global connectivity. The authors argue that survival now depends not on structure, but on human qualities: empathy, connection, creativity, and shared purpose. They dub this shift the transition from bureaucracy to humanocracy, echoing similar calls from thinkers like Gary Hamel and Daniel Pink.

In this new era, technology is a paradox: the more our tools mimic human intelligence, the more valuable our distinctly human skills become. Leadership must therefore focus not on control, but on unleashing the human spirit at work. Work should no longer just extract value—it should generate meaning.

The Three Pillars: Thank, Talk, Celebrate

At the core of this transformation are three deceptively simple practices: THANK, TALK, and CELEBRATE. These pillars make up the foundation of a human-centered culture. THANK represents the deliberate practice of gratitude—recognizing and appreciating contributions. TALK is the art of open feedback and genuine dialogue. CELEBRATE invites people to mark milestones and life events together, reinforcing shared purpose and belonging. Together, they form a culture of positivity that strengthens relationships and builds organizational trust.

Mosley and Irvine show how these everyday human moments ripple across companies, generating hard business results: higher productivity, lower turnover, more innovation, stronger customer satisfaction, and even measurable profitability.

The Human Enterprise in Practice

Across the book’s two parts—“Humans at Work” and “Building a Human Enterprise”—the authors combine research with human stories. We meet a physician who recognizes a groundskeeper at Baystate Health and rebuilds a sense of dignity across ranks; a Merck employee who remodels her bathroom using recognition rewards and joyfully shares the story; and a LinkedIn leader who finds that frequent gratitude creates waves of performance improvement across teams. These vignettes embody what Mosley and Irvine call “human moments that matter”—when care, appreciation, and belonging transform transactional work into meaningful collaboration.

They extend this logic to every domain of business: purpose, performance management, diversity, compensation, and leadership. Data, AI, and analytics, they argue, should now serve humanity—helping us measure empathy, inclusion, gratitude, and belonging as rigorously as we track earnings per share. The authors envision a world where emotional metrics are as real as financial ones.

Why Making Work Human Matters Now

Why now? Because as employees demand authenticity, flexibility, and fairness—and as society loses trust in traditional institutions—the workplace has become the last best place to reconnect across differences. People now turn to companies for purpose, community, and ethical leadership as much as for paychecks. Mosley and Irvine argue that organizations occupy a moral frontier once reserved for churches or governments; they shape not only livelihoods but entire lives.

This isn’t just moral idealism. Research from Gallup, Harvard, and Deloitte supports their case: trust, gratitude, and belonging measurably strengthen engagement and performance. Data from millions of Workhuman interactions confirm that companies investing just 1% of payroll into authentic peer-to-peer recognition reduce turnover and increase productivity dramatically—proving that humanity has ROI.

A Call to Human Leadership

Ultimately, Making Work Human is a call to leadership courage. The authors challenge executives to trade command-and-control for vulnerability, empathy, and shared accountability. They introduce the Workhuman Charter of Workplace Rights—an aspirational standard declaring that every employee deserves respect, equality, voice, and the chance to flourish. It’s a manifesto for the Human Decade, where sustainable business success and social progress go hand in hand.

In essence, Mosley and Irvine aren’t just describing a management trend—they’re launching a movement. They envision workplaces as “villages” that combine profit with purpose, leading companies to ask not just what they make, but what they make possible for human beings. For anyone who’s ever wondered whether kindness and capitalism can coexist, this book answers with a resounding yes—and shows exactly how.

The first key concept of the book is the transformation of organizations into human enterprises—workplaces that inspire people to give their best not because they must, but because they want to. Mosley and Irvine argue that traditional corporate structures built for control and efficiency no longer fit the rapid, unpredictable realities of modern markets. Instead, they propose enterprises that operate like living, adaptive communities grounded in empathy, trust, and purpose.

From Machines to Living Systems

In the industrial age, companies functioned like machines—rigid hierarchies designed to produce uniform results. The assembly-line logic treated humans as interchangeable cogs. In contrast, human enterprises resemble ecosystems: alive, networked, and interdependent. They thrive on diversity of thought, fluid collaboration, and emotional intelligence. As the authors emphasize, humans—not machines—are now the competitive advantage.

The architects of these new organizations, from Costco to Trader Joe’s and Wegmans, prove that caring cultures outperform transactional ones. These companies cultivate loyalty and creativity because they appeal to human motivation rather than fear or control. Employees flourish when their work environment reflects how humans naturally operate—in relationships, networks, and stories.

A Crisis of Connection

The need for human enterprises emerges against a backdrop of widespread loneliness and disconnection. Former U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy calls loneliness “twice as deadly as obesity.” The authors cite research showing that work has become the place where people most crave belonging, even more than in civic organizations or neighborhoods. As Shawn Achor (author of Big Potential) notes, success is no longer about individual brilliance but about the force of others—our capacity to connect.

Mosley and Irvine insist that the workplace must counteract modern isolation by becoming a new kind of community. Organizations that fail to create belonging will suffer disengagement, turnover, and burnout. Those that succeed will become social anchors where people rediscover meaning and connection.

The Human Enterprise Framework

Human enterprises are defined by six core practices derived from the authors’ Employee Experience Index (built with IBM):

• Trust — A culture where people feel psychologically safe and confident in leadership.
• Meaningful Work — Employees see a clear connection between their daily tasks and a higher purpose.
• Recognition and Growth — Positive feedback is frequent, specific, and genuine.
• Empowerment and Voice — People at all levels shape decisions and strategies.
• Coworker Relationships — Trust-based collaboration replaces competition.
• Work-Life Balance — Organizations respect emotional and physical well-being.

These practices not only create positive employee experiences but also drive performance. Companies in the top quartile of experience scores achieve triple the return on assets and double the sales of those in the bottom quartile. In this model, compassion is not charity—it’s strategy.

Why Humanity is the New ROI

The authors position humanity as a powerful business metric. Research shows that gratitude, inclusion, and psychological safety boost profitability and innovation. Employees who experience purpose, achievement, and vigor are far less likely to quit. Workhuman’s database of 30 million recognition moments demonstrates quantifiable links between gratitude and growth metrics—like a 50% drop in voluntary turnover for employees who received multiple recognitions yearly.

As Gary Hamel puts it, “We’ve learned to love techniques and use people.” Mosley and Irvine urge us to reverse that equation—to use technology and love people. In a world of machines that replicate efficiency, only humanity can generate enduring competitive advantage.

Purpose, meaning, and gratitude form the emotional engine of the human enterprise—three intertwined forces that breathe life into work. Mosley and Irvine devote an entire section of the book to showing how they create belonging and performance, asserting that without them, even the most profitable organizations feel empty.

Purpose: Belonging to Something Bigger

Purpose, the authors write, belongs to everyone in a company—not just the executives who write mission statements. It answers the question, “Why are we here?” Effective purpose authentically connects a company’s value to human well-being. JetBlue’s purpose, “To inspire humanity,” exemplifies how even an airline can serve a higher mission.

The authors cite research showing that employees at purpose-driven companies are more productive, stay longer, and attract like-minded customers. In Gallup’s data, organizations that link every project to a clear “why” outperform their peers. Purpose, at its best, democratizes vision—inviting everyone to own the mission.

Meaning: Making It Personal

Meaning differs from purpose. While purpose is shared, meaning is personal. It answers, “Why does this matter to me?” A hospital may have a mission “to provide compassionate care,” but an emergency nurse finds meaning in saving lives under pressure, a recruiter in hiring empathetic caregivers, and a janitor in keeping spaces safe. According to Workhuman’s Employee Experience Index, meaningful work contributes 27% to the overall positive workplace experience—more than any other factor.

Gratitude: The Great Connector

Gratitude, the authors claim, is the force that fuses purpose and meaning. It builds the web of connection among people, creating trust and reinforcing shared values. Research from Berkeley and Shawn Achor’s studies confirm that gratitude isn’t just a mood—it’s a biological and organizational performance enhancer. It lowers stress hormones, increases resilience, and even correlates with lower turnover and better health outcomes.

Through stories and data, Mosley and Irvine show gratitude’s power in action: from Merck’s global recognition platform, Inspire, where employees thank one another across languages and continents, to LinkedIn’s Bravo! system, where every note of appreciation deepens collaboration. Gratitude changes both giver and receiver—it makes the receiver feel valued and the giver more open and positive. It’s contagious, too, creating a virtuous cycle of goodwill that moves through entire organizations.

From Idea to Action: Thank, Talk, Celebrate

The authors distill these emotions into actionable behaviors: THANK (express appreciation), TALK (share meaning through discussion), and CELEBRATE (affirm collective purpose through ritual). Together, they form a repeatable practice anyone can use to weave purpose, meaning, and gratitude into the everyday fabric of work life.

In a world obsessed with efficiency, Making Work Human insists that emotion is not an expense—it’s the energy source that powers organizations toward both prosperity and significance.

If purpose and gratitude are the soul of a human enterprise, social recognition is its heartbeat. Mosley and Irvine redefine recognition—from a perfunctory ‘employee of the month’ program to a system that democratizes appreciation and records humanity in action. They call this social recognition: peer-to-peer acknowledgments that are frequent, public, and aligned with company values.

Why Recognition Matters

Gallup reports that only 3 in 10 workers receive recognition weekly—yet moving that number to 6 in 10 could raise productivity by 27%. Regular gratitude creates “positivity networks” that enhance trust and cooperation. Recognition moments improve engagement, reduce absenteeism, and increase customer satisfaction. Each act of acknowledgment becomes a neuron in the company’s collective brain, wiring the culture for positivity.

Recognition as Data

Workhuman’s recognition platforms have captured over 30 million such moments—an unprecedented dataset revealing how appreciation shapes performance. Using AI and natural language processing, organizations can visualize their “gratitude networks” and identify super-connectors: those hidden influencers who strengthen collaboration without formal authority. These patterns turn soft ideas like kindness into measurable strategy.

Recognition Builds Community

Social recognition also builds workplace community from the ground up. People trust peers more than executives, so peer-to-peer appreciation carries extra power. It humanizes hierarchies, breaks silos, and reinforces inclusion. At Merck, for example, a recognition message from an executive to a factory worker created waves of morale across levels and regions. Gratitude, they found, is the language of equality.

Recognition’s ROI

Frequent small rewards outperform rare large bonuses. Experiments at LinkedIn and Eaton show that employees receiving just 3–5 recognitions a year have turnover rates half those of unrecognized peers. Organizations that invest just 1% of payroll in recognition see engagement and retention rates soar. Recognition literally pays for itself by reducing attrition costs and sustaining trust.

Mosley and Irvine’s lesson: Gratitude isn’t a soft perk—it’s hard strategy. By celebrating people frequently and sincerely, you generate data, trust, and performance in the same breath.

Traditional performance management treats people like spreadsheets—reducing complex growth to numbers and ratings. The authors expose this as dehumanizing, arguing that annual reviews do more harm than good. They propose continuous performance development: a model rooted in real-time conversation, coaching, and recognition.

Continuous Conversation

In a human enterprise, performance is an ongoing dialogue, not an annual verdict. Frequent check-ins and feedback loops replace ratings. GE, Deloitte, and CAE have implemented this system, where managers ask: “What should I keep doing? What should I change?” This shifts focus from judgment to growth, echoing Peter Cappelli and Anna Tavis’s argument that feedback should build future capability, not punish past behavior.

The Manager as Coach

Managers become coaches, not controllers. They provide context, empathy, and support. Coaching develops trust, encourages self-reflection, and aligns personal goals with organizational purpose. Employees who check in weekly with their managers are twice as likely to trust them and five times less likely to disengage.

Crowdsourced Pay

For compensation, the authors champion crowdsourced pay—allocating 1% of payroll for employees to award peers for exceptional work. This “one penny in every payroll dollar” transforms compensation into a communal expression of appreciation, breaking free from bias and hierarchy. Data shows that spreading rewards throughout the year sustains motivation longer than annual bonuses.

Equity and Transparency

Fair pay isn’t just moral—it’s essential to trust. The authors link inequitable pay to disengagement and bias. Unilever’s Peter Newhouse revolutionized compensation by letting employees design their own reward mix. Others, like Cisco, treat benefits as expressions of culture rather than costs. Equity becomes the ultimate recognition: proof that people are truly valued.

Performance and pay, Mosley and Irvine conclude, must evolve from command-and-control systems to human-centered ecosystems—where recognition, feedback, and fairness fuel both morale and measurable success.

Diversity and inclusion, once treated as moral imperatives, have become central to innovation and sustainability. Mosley and Irvine trace their evolution through three phases—from compliance, to retention, to awareness of unconscious bias. They argue that real inclusion begins when people feel they belong—when their differences are seen, valued, and celebrated.

Phase 3: Awareness, Acceptance, Action

Inclusion today means more than diversity metrics; it requires deep psychological work. Using the metaphor of “blind orchestra auditions,” the authors show how invisible biases distort even our best intentions. Awareness uncovers hidden bias, acceptance acknowledges its impact, and action rewires behavior. Social recognition data offers a revolutionary way to spot such biases across organizations—in who gets thanked, promoted, or praised.

Belonging Through Connection

Everyone wants to be “seen for who they are,” Brené Brown reminds readers. Gratitude and inclusion intersect here: recognition moments signal visibility and respect. Workhuman’s research shows that frequent recognition correlates directly with stronger feelings of belonging and inclusion. When recognition is widespread, bias declines and engagement rises.

Differences as Assets

The authors encourage leaders to view difference as a strategic advantage, citing McKinsey’s findings that diverse leadership teams outperform peers by up to 35%. They highlight voices like Amy Cappellanti-Wolf of Symantec, who shows how diversity of thought fuels creativity. Inclusion isn’t about “not seeing difference”—it’s about seeing it clearly and valuing it fully.

Ultimately, belonging is not a policy but a feeling. And the surest way to build it? Thank. Talk. Celebrate.

In its closing chapters, Making Work Human gathers the voices of modern thinkers—from Simon Sinek to Brené Brown—to define a new model of leadership grounded in courage, connection, and purpose. The authors call it leading humans—a practice that plays the infinite game rather than chasing finite wins.

The Infinite Game

Simon Sinek describes leadership as “an infinite game,” focused not on beating competitors but on improving lives. Leaders succeed when their people can say, “I am who I am today because of you.” In this philosophy, HR becomes the ultimate human discipline—responsible for nurturing environments where people flourish. The measure of leadership shifts from quarterly returns to enduring trust and impact.

Leading with Love and Courage

Gary Hamel highlights Southwest Airlines, where love, not fear, binds people. He contrasts this human strength with the tragedy of bureaucratic coldness. Brené Brown calls for “strong backs, soft fronts, and wild hearts,” urging leaders to normalize vulnerability as the foundation of creativity. “No vulnerability, no innovation, no trust,” she warns.

Nataly Kogan adds gratitude to the toolkit: a neurological antidote to stress that strengthens resilience and optimism. Amy Cuddy contributes body wisdom—presence and authenticity as nonverbal trust builders. These diverse voices converge on one truth: leadership is human behavior, not organizational position.

A Call to Action

The book concludes with the Workhuman Charter of Workplace Rights and its certification program, inviting organizations to pledge measurable commitments to human rights at work—from inclusion and equality to dignity and emotional safety. It echoes the UN’s 1948 declaration of human rights but updates it for the 21st-century workplace.

To lead humans, Mosley and Irvine conclude, is to build companies that act as moral communities—places where profit and purpose co-create a better world. The infinite game of leadership is, at heart, about leaving humanity stronger than you found it.