Happy Friday, everyone. I'm Frank Richardson, an organisational psychologist observing the workplace with curiosity and care. Each week, I share insights to help HR leaders better understand the people behind the processes and build cultures where both individuals and organisations can thrive.
This week in workplace whiplash š
A few signals from the past week that work isnāt getting simplerā¦ just more contradictory:
ā Walkouts are back on the table
Workers at CBS News staged a 24-hour walkout after contract negotiations with their union stalled, highlighting growing frustration around pay, conditions and job security in media. Itās a reminder that even in high-profile, white-collar environments, collective action is still very much alive.
šThe HR Digestāļø The rules of employment might be shifting (again)
A new joint employer rule has been sent to the White House for review, potentially reshaping how responsibility is shared between companies and contractors or franchise relationships. For organisations, it signals yet another round of uncertainty around compliance and accountability.
šHR Diveš¤ AI efficiency, layoffs, repeat
Crypto.com has laid off around 12% of its workforce, with AI integration cited as a contributing factor. The pattern is becoming familiar: investment in automation on one side, workforce reduction on the other.
šThe HR Digest
And while all of that plays out at a macro level, most of us are dealing with something much closer to homeā¦ not liking who you work with.
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I once worked for a manager who was, objectively, pretty good at her job. She was organised. Clear. Fair, even. The kind of person youād probably describe as āsolidā in a performance review.
And yetā¦ I just didnāt really like her.
We had nothing in common. Our sense of humour never quite landed. Conversations felt slightly off, like we were always half a step out of sync. There was no conflict, no big issue. Just a low-level friction that made every interaction feel a bit harder than it should have.
But the thing was, I knew I couldnāt say anything. She hadnāt done anything wrong. There was nothing to escalate, nothing to formally address. So I justā¦ got on with it.
Which is why this recent case stood out. An employee refused to work with a manager they described as āunlikeableā and was subsequently dismissed, with the Fair Work Commission finding the termination valid.
The message is pretty clear. Disliking someone isnāt a reason to opt out of working with them.
But it also ignores something we all recognise, that some working relationships are justā¦ harder.
Have you ever worked with someone who did nothing wrongā¦ but you still didnāt like working with them?
š§ The behavioural science lens
So whatās actually going on here? Why can someone do everything ārightā and still feel difficult to work with?:
We make fast calls on people, and then quietly stick to them: What psychologists call thin-slice judgements means we form impressions within seconds, and then spend the rest of our interactions reinforcing them. So if someone initially lands as awkward, blunt, or just not quite your person, even neutral behaviour starts to feel off.
We blur the person with the work more than we realise: When we donāt like someone, itās harder to evaluate their ideas objectively. Research on affect bias shows our feelings about a person can spill over into how we judge their contributions, making collaboration feel more effortful than it actually is.
We find some people easier simply because they feel familiar: The similarity-attraction effect explains why weāre more comfortable with people who share our communication style, humour, or general way of operating. When that similarity isnāt there, interactions take more effort to find a rhythm.
Effort shapes how we feel more than we realise: Through processing fluency (or cognitive ease), our brains favour interactions that are easy to interpret. When we have to work harder to read tone, timing, or intent, weāre more likely to experience the interaction as draining, and attribute that feeling to the person.
šWhat this means for leaders
Most workplaces assume that if no one is doing anything wrong, everything must be fine. But low-level friction doesnāt stay neutral, and will often shape how work gets done. Instead:
Accept that not everyone will clickā¦ and thatās not a failure: Even strong, fair, capable people wonāt work well with everyone. Thatās just part of working life. The risk is expecting teams to naturally gel, and then missing what happens when they donāt.
Pay attention to where effort drops, not just where problems show up: Youāll rarely see this called out directly. Instead, it shows up in smaller ways. Conversations get shorter. People stop going the extra step to align. Work still gets done, just with less ease and often less quality.
Donāt overcorrect by trying to āfixā the relationship: Sometimes the dynamic wonāt change, and pushing for connection can make it more awkward. What does help is being clearer about how the work happens, so people arenāt relying on chemistry to collaborate.
Name it in a way that keeps it workable: You donāt need to turn it into a big issue, but you can acknowledge when something feels off. Even a small reset on expectations or ways of working can stop that quiet friction from becoming something more entrenched.
š¬ Final thoughts
I think back to that manager sometimes, and the uncomfortable truth isā¦ she wasnāt the problem.
The problem was that working with her just took more effort than it seemed to for everyone else. And instead of recognising that for what it was, I let it shape how I showed up. I avoided where I could. Kept things shorter. Made it more transactional than it needed to be.
Which is the part we donāt talk about very often. You donāt have to like everyone you work with. But if youāre not careful, that low-level friction has a way of creeping into the work itself.
How's the depth of today's edition?
If something here speaks to you, Iād love to hear it.
Until next week,
Frank
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