Leading in an Age of Employee Activism

Leaders have been encouraging employees to speak up for years — after all, a healthy organization needs people willing to point out problems and share their ideas for improvement. But having invited dialogue, many managers are now finding that they are getting more than they bargained for.

Increasingly, employees are starting challenging conversations with management: “So, what’s our policy on Black Lives Matter, gender equity, and climate change? Or human rights in our supply chain?”

Some leaders have responded by saying that their organization is apolitical; handing off some hard-to-avoid issues to a diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) program; or keeping to business as usual.

But this course is being challenged — and with it the leadership agenda. We are entering an age of employee activism that may well upend our assumptions about power within organizations. Over half of the 1,500 employees we surveyed said they usually or always speak up to influence organizational action on wider societal or environmental issues. In a 2019 survey by the global law firm Herbert Smith Freehills, over 80% of companies predicted a rise in workforce activism.1 Meanwhile, questions about an organization’s purpose and its potential impact on social inequity and other issues will become more vital concerns for future workers, according to a recent report drawing on discussions with 40 chief human resources officers of global companies.2

All of this signals a seismic challenge, because leaders are rarely equipped to respond to issues outside the traditional business management frame. Their unskilled reactions can lead to dire consequences for themselves, their organizations, and ultimately society and the environment.