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People Are Not OK: And Business Can’t Pretend Anymore

• Francesca Ranieri

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People are not okay.
And if people aren’t okay—neither is your business.

This week on Your Work Friends, we slow down and say the quiet part out loud.

In just the last two weeks, we’ve watched:

  • AI leaders at Davos predict massive workforce disruption—without clarity on what comes next
  • Careers become less predictable, five-year plans feel pointless, and the safety net quietly disappear
  • Hiring shift from polished resumes to proof of skills—mid-career, mid-game
  • Political and social instability spill directly into the workplace, whether leaders acknowledge it or not

The result? A workforce carrying more uncertainty, pressure, and distrust than ever before.

In this episode, Francesca and Mel break down what all of this actually means for work—and what leaders, managers, and employees need to do now.

We cover:

  • Why “business as usual” is the riskiest move leaders can make in 2026
  • How silence from leadership erodes trust faster than bad news
  • The real human cost of AI, political instability, and chronic uncertainty at work
  • What CEOs, managers, and employees can each do this week to make work more doable
  • Why your biggest business risk isn’t competition—it’s people capacity

This isn’t alarmism. It’s realism.
And it’s a call to get congruent about what you stand for—because people will feel it either way.

If you lead people, work with people, or are people (hi), this episode is for you.

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Because you don’t get great work from people who are barely holding it together—and a lot of people are barely holding it together right now.


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Disclaimer: This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be considered professional advice. We are not responsible for any losses, damages, or liabilities that may arise from the use of this podcast. The views expressed in this podcast may not be those of the host or the management.

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Setting The Stakes: People Not Okay

SPEAKER_03

This week we're talking about people are not okay with AI, Davos, the future of jobs, and Minneapolis. It's going to change the way we look at business's responsibility to its employees and the communities they operate within because people are not okay. I'm Francesca. And I'm Mel. And we're your work friends. We break down the now and next of work. So you stay ahead. Let's get into it.

Davos, AI Timelines, Smaller Workforces

Careers Lose Predictability

From Perks To Pressure

Proof Over Polish In Hiring

SPEAKER_01

All right. Here are five themes that we were seeing in the headlines from this past week. And we'll link all of the articles in the show notes. Please go and read them. Theme number one: AI is shifting core business at lightning speed. Or is it is our main question. Davos happened last week. Jamie Diamond, what other leaders have not, the workforce will be significantly smaller in the future. Meanwhile, OpenAI's finance chief framed 2026 as the year of practical adoption, which doesn't entirely seem to me like if it's practical. Not sure how it's reducing your workforce. And Sequoia is out here saying AI is moving from talkers to doers and agents that feel like colleagues. There's a lot going on here in terms of what AI will or won't do, and people are trying to navigate that. Careers are also getting less predictable. LinkedIn CEO called Five Year Plans, a little bit foolish, and pointed to the World's Economic Forum stat that 39% of workers' skills could be obsolete by 2030. I'm going to call out the could-be. Again, these are headlines. People are seeing. They're thinking about what that means for them. Work is becoming sink or swim. The employer-employee deal has changed and workers can feel it. Perks are disappearing. Performance pressure is rising. And there's no confidence really in what's next. And to generations who've been in the workforce from quite some time. So I'm talking about Gen X folks, millennials, for example. They're essentially learning that the rules that they were told to follow no longer exist. And good luck. The safety net's gone. You need your own plan. And the overall vibe right now is every person for themselves. Theme number four, hiring is shifting to proof over polish. Skills-based hiring keeps rising. It's actually preferred now by three out of four companies because early indicators are showing it reduces missed hires by 88% and hiring costs by 74%. Recruiters are far more likely to search by skills and use skills tests for hiring now. And another headline noted that Gen Z may be the very first generation to be rid of the resume. So workers are being evaluated in new ways. And a lot of people are feeling like, hey, the rules have changed mid-game, and there's no real guidance here on how I'm supposed to pivot. Because think about Gen X, millennials, right? They have at least another 20, 25 years of their career left. And this is a massive shift in what they're used to and how they even prepare for it. And then lastly, politics, which has always been in the workplace and the employer stance, is going to matter more than ever right now. What happened in Minneapolis over the weekend isn't just a tragedy, it was preventable. And we are definitely wanting to slow down here because a life was lost and it will likely be labeled by some as not work-related. But politics is always work-related. People run your business. It's run by humans. Humans are experiencing very real, extraordinary circumstances right now outside of work. So this is no longer becoming a political debate, but a moral one. People are losing their jobs, they're losing healthcare, they're watching the most powerful figures in our country act in the most uncivil manner. And it's not new. It's just escalated. And the work connection here that we're following, because this is all systemically connected. When trust collapses in society, it's collapsing at work too. People are not going to believe leaders anymore. They stop believing in institutions. And if you're not sure if that's true or not, Gallup's latest report out on honesty and ethics ratings noted that business executives have a 44 very low rating in the honesty and ethics space. That's dropping. That's dropping. Yeah. Altogether, here's what it signals that people are not okay. And if people are not okay, neither is your business.

SPEAKER_03

Is that a really heavy stack to be carrying. And that's just January.

SPEAKER_01

That's just the last two weeks.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

The last two weeks. That and not even the first two weeks, which included an invasion of an entire country and taking their leader over.

SPEAKER_03

Here's the thing. Employees have always brought a stack of worries with them to work. It is a age-old thing. That is not new. Right. What is new here though is the amount that has been added to the stack and the speed as at which that they have been added is significant. One of the things that I find really interesting about this is in that was not anything like environmental issues or by the way, anybody's just dailiness around like caring for their kids, caring for their parents. And so it's if you're wondering if why people are not okay, it's because of these additive layers. Yeah. It's not good. It's not good. Do you think this was inevitable?

SPEAKER_01

Yes, I do. And here's why. When we talk about the connectedness here, especially CEOs of companies leading AI initiatives right now, they are in powerful seats to influence and co-create what this means for the future for everybody, what this means for sustainability, what this means for jobs. People in the US rely on their jobs for health care. They can't just get up and quit because their health care is tied to it. It's not as simple as walking away, right? So when you think about little things like that, there is a real social responsibility from CEOs and these companies around how much they're going to impact communities. That connection, you cannot ignore it. You cannot ignore the environmental impact. You cannot ignore the people impact.

SPEAKER_03

The other reason why I think this is inevitable is when you look at AI policy in the US, we regulate lunch breaks more than we regulate AI right now in the United States. Yeah. Truly. Truly. It is the Wild West in terms of regulation and it's an arms race around AI. They're taking advantage of it. And you can debate whether or not that's good or bad. It scares the shit out of me for a lot of different reasons. But it is inevitable when the Wild West, you're dealing with highly competitive executives. This was inevitable that this is going to happen. But employees are left holding the back.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. And they shouldn't be.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

And neither should the government, quite honestly. There is a response. If you're doing business, you're helping to influence policy.

unknown

Right.

SPEAKER_01

That is how our infrastructure is set up, unfortunately. So if you have lobbyists down in DC speaking on your behalf, you have a responsibility to include the people piece. How are you going to care for people? How are you going to care for the humans who help make your business thrive? That's the question for me right now.

SPEAKER_03

Look at how they've treated social media. I think we get a pretty clear answer of how they're going to treat AI.

SPEAKER_00

Are we overreacting to this smell though? Are we like overreacting, do you think? Or are we right on?

SPEAKER_01

No, I don't think we're overreacting. I don't think there's such a thing right now. I don't think we're overreacting. I'm not an alarmist. I don't like to operate that way. Neither of us are. We do thorough research. We try to look at all sides of the things. This weekend, the events in Minneapolis feel like a real turning point. In addition to AI, this is an opportunity for CEOs to stand up and protect their people. You sent me the article of 60 businesses who signed an open letter to the White House and Minnesota legislators around please bring peace to Minneapolis and Minnesota, and we want to do business here. But here's the thing: you can't pass the butt on that. Target's on that list. Do you know where else I saw Target two weeks ago? Not standing up for their employees as they got dragged out by ICE. U.S. citizen employees, by the way. So what message do you think that is sending your employees who show up every day for you?

unknown

Yeah.

Wild West Regulation And Responsibility

SPEAKER_03

One of the things about your inevitability. Yeah. This level of turbulence is the new normal. Speaking of Davos, World Economic Forum came out with their global risks report. It's global, they're looking many countries, people from civilians to government to nonprofits to public sector, private sector, et cetera. It's a very thorough report. They asked people to rank their level of turbulence. How stormy will it feel in the next two years? How stormy will it feel in 10 years? Friends, just to give you a sense, okay? Just to give everyone a sense of inevitability and overreacting on this. Short term in the next two years, people said there's about 5% of us are feeling like this is catastrophic. In the next 10 years, 17% of people feel like it is going to be catastrophic. What does that mean? It means this level of turbulence is here to stay. It is the new normal. And most likely it will get worse. And so when we're thinking about people not being okay, they're not okay now. We really need to figure out how to deal with this as businesses, as government, as human beings. One thing that wasn't even on your headline list there, Mel, was environmental impacts. We can look at global risks associated in the next 10 years. The top three are environmental. We have to figure out how to work within this.

SPEAKER_01

17% after the events this week. It feels like a the events of January. That feels actually pretty low.

SPEAKER_03

I can't believe it.

SPEAKER_01

We're not even out of January.

SPEAKER_00

What would that number be if they were to re-survey everybody? When did that survey go out?

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, and it's gonna depend on who you are, what you believe, where you sit. 100%. Yeah. 100%. It's an interesting thing to think about. Is there an upside here?

Minneapolis As Turning Point For CEOs

SPEAKER_01

The upside to me right now is watching communities really come together for each other. Like real communities really coming together, trying to protect one another, getting to know your neighbors, activating what you can, doing what you can. Everyone's doing their best right now. And so to me, that's an upside. Because when I think about our country as united, that's what unity looks like. But we shouldn't be having to do this on our own.

unknown

Agree. Agree.

SPEAKER_01

How about you?

SPEAKER_03

I love that. The idea of being there for other people is a really beautiful thing. Going back to the Mr. Rogers look for the helpers, right? And it's touching as hell. And I'm wondering, knowing that this is going to get more turbulent when we think about AI coming into the job market and the amount of disruption that's going to cause. Even if it's just your job changing, you're not even losing your job. It is a significant disruption. A lot of people equate it to a V-shaped disruption, meaning it's going to get worse before it gets better, right? We are in that first decline of that V, friends. We are not on the other side of it. We are going down. So we have to get used to this. One of the upsides for me is potentially it's going to force businesses to share the upside more. It's going to force all of us to get very clear about what our values are, what we're willing to stand by, and what we're not.

Turbulence Becomes The Baseline

SPEAKER_01

Say the quiet part out loud. Going back to people aren't okay, aren't okay. Um, we're a work podcast. We try to talk about what's happening now, what you can expect in the future, how we address this together, whether you're a C suite decision maker, team leader, individual employee. That's what we're trying to do here. What this means for business in my mind is you need to get really clear about what you stand for and start speaking out about it. Not only for your business, but for the people who operate within it because they're not doing okay. And you do have a responsibility for creating a culture and an environment where people can show up. So if you're listening right now and your instinct is to say, we're not touching that, I just want to push you a little bit here. You don't get to opt out of the reality of your employees and still expect full human performance on a Monday. Not saying anything or making a very calculated blanket statement in my mind doesn't show that you care about people. It's gaslighting your people. And your biggest business risk in 2026 isn't going to be about competition anymore. It's going to be the capacity of your people to operate. Francesca, we talked about this just last week with culture under pressure. You can't scale your strategy on a workforce that is operating in chronic uncertainty and a chronic trust deficit. So if you're thinking we can't fix everything, you're right. But you can absolutely stop making work harder than it needs to be, and you can show your employees what you truly stand for because they dedicate 90,000 plus hours of their lives to help your business thrive. That's the bare minimum. That's my quiet part out loud. What's your quiet part out loud?

Community As A Real Upside

SPEAKER_03

That employees will feel it in their body and they will remember it. There are many stories of people that have led teams through hell and back, and that team comes out stronger. Those leaders are immortalized. And it's not because they ignored something or they gave a platitude about something. You literally have to nail this head on and be transparent about what people can expect from you and what they can't. So they have some semblance of honesty and truth. That right now, truth is huge. When I think about the work we do about employee value proposition and brand, a brand is a promise. If you tell your people that you are X, Y, and Z and you are not living up to it, if you as an organization are saying that you care about regulation and law and all of this other stuff, and you are not looking at where things are getting clearly violated, those things don't match. And so that mismatch is what creates tension for people. If you the more you can be that place of truth and honesty for people by literally being who you said you were, that's it. It's not that hard. But you have to be congruent.

Share The Upside And State Values

SPEAKER_01

The mantra for 2026, get real. People just need to focus on their work. If that's your immediate reaction, the consequence of that is people are gonna stop trusting what you say because you're not saying anything real. They're gonna read your silence as we don't care, and we're protecting the top, or you're just on your own, kid. That's the message you're sending. And they're gonna check out. You might not pay this bill immediately, but the bill will come down the road. You're gonna pay the bill for that. Instead, here's what you can do make a visible trust deposit with your people this week and prove that you mean it. So again, you don't have to be everything to everyone, but you do need to recognize the power that you have over your employees' lives, and you have to be human about it. So, at a minimum, recognize what people are carrying and set expectations that don't punish them right now for being human and make it safe for them to share and speak up about their concerns and their worries. And if you really want to prove you mean it, tap into your CEO spine because that's the point when you have power. Not speaking up right now shows you're okay with what's happening, whether you feel that way or not. It just shows complicity and actions that you take are going to determine how the future of business runs in this country. Because today it's people's rights, tomorrow it's yours. If Jamie Diamond is getting threatened, what do you think that means for you when you don't speak up about it?

Speak Up Or Lose Your People

SPEAKER_03

Okay. Let's say you're not the CEO and you lead a team. You're the person your people feel the world through at work. Not the CEO, it's you. It's the team leader, it's the manager. And we know that you're going through it too. I think this is one of the hardest jobs in the US is being that manager level because you're hard. Yes. The misread is thinking your job is to keep it upbeat or to stay focused, or if you didn't get anything from corporate comms, you shouldn't say anything. I'll tell you right now, that just leaves people alone with the weight of it all. Carry this together. Show your humanity. You're a whole person outside of the title. The consequence of that misread or of not saying anything, or at least acknowledging it, is that people feel invisible, like they have to swallow their reality to just be good at work or to show up to play. People stop telling the truth. They go into that self-protection mode. You get compliance instead of commitment, quiet resentment instead of a real conversation. And the work gets sloppier because everyone's just bracing for impact. The Monday move here that we're recommending is that you give your talent one moment this week where they don't have to pretend, you don't have to make it huge or a whole team meeting by any means, but name what's true. Then make one small adjustment that proves you meant it. Pause one non essential ask, reset a deadline, clarify the one thing that actually matters. Bring your people together and say, I know you're carrying more than work right now, you don't need to perform. Fine for me. Let's just be clear on what matters this week, what can wait, and what you need from me to get through it. And that can be in a team meeting, that can be an email, just to recognize the stack that everyone's carrying right now is huge. Mel and I have both done this multiple times over the last decades of our career. And you literally feel people's shoulders going down like they can exhale when you do this. And it takes you two minutes at the most. And especially if you mean it, great. But it's a huge, it's a huge move.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, here's the deal. If you don't mean it, don't do it. Because that will show too.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. Yes. Absolutely.

Make A Trust Deposit This Week

SPEAKER_01

Great. All right. If you're an employee, do not struggle on your own here. Do not sit in your silo. Don't keep your head down. Don't think, I don't want to be a problem. Now's the time to put that aside. Take care of yourself. Take care of yourself. Because what happens when you do that? And you and I both have done this in our careers. We've watched other people we care about do this. And it's no, protect your peace right now. What do you need? Communicate it. I know not everyone has great leaders that they can go to and do this. So if you do have somebody that you can go to them and let them know, I'm really struggling. I want to deliver what is absolutely priority for this week. If you need the space or if you need the day, I really need the time. Take it. Do what you need to do, but communicate that. Lean on, again, community. We are called your work friends for a reason. We all have our work friends who are your work friends. Lean on them. That's your community within the organization. Don't sit alone in any of this. Reach out and let people know what you need. Man.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, and if none of that works, you can always do what I do is watch reruns of Fraser. Just kidding. No, but it's interesting. We all have these defaults we go to, right? But you gotta do what you need to do. You really do.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, do what you need. If that means bedrotting and watching YouTube videos, like by all means, do what brings you joy right now because little joys matter right now.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Little joys matter. Lean into that.

Practical Manager Moves

SPEAKER_03

All right. The bottom line. We've talked about this a lot, but the reality is you don't get great work from people who are barely holding it together. And that's a lot of people right now. And real talk from your work friends, the opportunity is to be the kind of workplace that notices the weight and makes work doable anyway. We've given you some examples of how to do that today. Clear priorities, fewer surprises, real support, truth. The risk is you keep squeezing, you keep shrinking, and one day you look up and wonder why nobody takes initiative or trusts leadership or wants to stay.

SPEAKER_01

Or wants to work there.

SPEAKER_03

The silence is what's so odd. When you're looking around and you're thinking, is anyone else seeing this? Is anyone else out there? We're just going back to work, business as usual. When the plates have absolutely shifted, the cognitive dissonance of that, that's worse.

SPEAKER_01

Yes. Bottom line, acknowledge that people are not okay because they're not. And show people what you stand for, not just through your words, but through your actions. This is an action week. So get out there and take action. If you haven't been listening for a while or you're catching up, or you're new here, we launched a newsletter. If you want one meety insight-driven email a month where we share work, frameworks that you can implement for yourself, for your team, for your org, sign up for our newsletter over on your workfriends.com. And you can listen to the pod every Tuesday. We drop new episodes. So check it out, subscribe, leave us your feedback, and reach out to us at friend at your workfriends.com. Bye, friends!

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Francesca Ranieri

Co-host
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Mel Plett

Co-host