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The Win-Win Workplace
Book

The Win-Win Workplace

How Thriving Employees Drive Bottom-Line Success

Angela Jackson
Berrett-Koehler, 2025
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During Angela Jackson’s rise from working-class roots to becoming a head marketing executive, she never questioned her employers’ zero-sum approach to workforce management. But when she crashed her car while rushing to a business meeting, she began to rethink that status quo. In this helpful guide, Jackson draws on research into over 1,000 companies to explain how organizations can shift to a “Win-Win” workplace model that benefits everyone: By promoting employee well-being, inclusion, and skill development, companies can improve retention, engagement, productivity, and profits.

Summary

A zero-sum approach to workforce management harms businesses and workers alike.

The “Zero Sum workplace,” which has been the status quo model worldwide for decades, operates on a flawed premise: that supporting the well-being and nurturing the long-term potential of the vast majority of a company’s workforce is unimportant for its success. This approach to workforce management leads to employee burnout and disengagement. It also makes organizations less agile and innovative — hurting their bottom line. For example, according to a 2024 Gallup report, less than a quarter of US workers feel the companies they work for are looking out for their best interests. When workers don’t feel their employers care about them, they’re likely to quit — and each employee a company has to replace costs 50% to 200% of that worker’s yearly pay. For a firm with 100 employees, that can add up to more than $2 million per year.

Companies that aim to thrive in the ever-evolving future of work must shift their approach and embrace the “nine pillars of the Win-Win workplace.” Win-Win workplaces treat employees as partners in the company’s success. They value employees’ feedback and...

About the Author

Angela Jackson is the founder of consulting firm Future Forward Strategies and a Harvard University lecturer. Her work champions both workers’ well-being and companies’ financial success.

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