Vol 4., Issue 4: What Do Companies Mean When They Say 'People First'?

They Put 'People First.' Now What?

"If it's on a mug, it's definitely true. If it's on a shirt, it's probably true. If it's on the back of a car, it's probably not true." - Jon Heller*

*Jon Heller did a lot for me, but I think the best thing he made me do was leave a meeting and look up the word stochastic

I’m a mug aficionado, and not just because what’s written on them is allegedly definitely true. I like mugs because in general, they’re a statement about you*. It’s an easy way to express your personality, your viewpoints, whatever. They make great gifts because everyone loves a mug. Frankly, not loving mugs says more about you than the giver or the mug.

*Currently drinking coffee out of my WNYX Newsradio mug - 585 on your AM dial

As I’ve been working through long term business planning and strategy development for JPEG, I’ve been thinking through a lot of my own experience. What I liked about the companies that I worked for and, just as importantly, what I believe I’d do differently or improve upon*. One of the things that kept popping up, kept rolling around my head is how companies really do generally speaking want their employees to believe they’re treating them well. That they are a “people first” organization.

*I think it’s important to note that right and wrong isn’t a great construct here. Certainly, there are things that are ethically, legally, morally wrong, etc. But all businesses need to execute certain corporate things - HR, benefits, culture, etc. This is about what I believe is optimal, not judging someone else’s notion of the same

But how true is that exactly? In the spirit of the consensus trance and using our critical thinking faculties to question the status quo, let’s dive into this a bit. I did a little research* on the topic of corporations and people first.

*Google has completely enshittified its search experience. I don’t need your AI. I don’t want your shopping links. I don’t care about your ad revenue from sponsored links. When I type in “how tall is Sabrina Carpenter,”** I should be able to get the answer much more quickly than I do

**5 feet 0 inches

Here’s what I found:

At its best, “people first” suggests an organization that prioritizes the needs, well-being, and experiences of employees, customers, and society at large. Right? Sounds awesome. Sign me up. In reality, it often functions like the pretend eyeglasses* that I used to wear right after I graduated college: something you slap on for appearances, not the reality of what’s actually happening.

*This is even less cool now that I actually probably need glasses

Here’s a fun stat from a Gallup poll in 2023: 70% of employees don’t believe their leaders take meaningful action on culture and engagement, even when culture is touted as a top priority. That’s a serious disconnect — and it’s not terribly surprising if we’re being honest with ourselves.

Most companies are “people first … until it costs money.” Until a budget cut, a revenue miss, or a shareholder call requires “tough decisions.” Suddenly, people-first becomes profit-first — and people are somewhere between 34th (order more paper clips for the office no one goes to) and 36th (renewing the intern program).

I read on a site called layoffs.fyi* in early 2024 alone, more than 260,000 tech workers lost their jobs, often just months after their employers posted record profits. Alphabet laid off thousands in January 2024 — the same week it announced $20 billion in quarterly profits.

*I’d never heard of this website, but the person who decided on the URL deserves a Nobel Prize

$20 BILLION.

Not $19 billion profit — which, and don’t hold me to this because I’m not great at math, is still a large amount of money — and $1 billion invested back into the employees through higher wages, a pension, whatever. So what does “people first” even mean when, during an earnings call, the people doing the work are treated like expendable assets that can be shed from the balance sheet to make it look better for Wall Street?

If you want to know whether a company is truly people first, don’t look at what they say. Look at how they behave when the behavior isn’t easy.

• Do they do quiet lay offs to protect their market value or in fear of an adjustment — or do they support employee exits with dignity and transparency?

• Do they seek user consent — or just build better ways to extract value from consumer data?

• Do they see employees as culture contributors — or human capital cost centers?

And automation is going to make it worse not better. Companies say they’re people first, but then they implement AI tools that replace customer service reps, warehouse workers, and even art directors and copywriters and editors — with little planning for how to re-skill, redeploy, or support the humans displaced.

Another proof point: a 2023 PwC survey found that 39% of CEOs believe AI will reduce headcount in their companies by 2026 (yay!), but only 17% have a formal plan to retrain affected workers (boo!). So again, “people first” — but only after SkyNet has weighed in.*

*I, for one, welcome our new robot overlords

And all of this is even more infuriating because we know it’s possible to do both: be a profit generating organization and treat people like, well, people. Take a company like Patagonia. They pretty famously prioritize employee well-being — offering on-site child care, flexible work arrangements, and clear environmental values. They’ve tied their business goals to human goals in a pretty authentic way. It can be done.

Let’s get positive here and talk about change. Why do so many get it wrong?

Because “people first” is easy to say and hard to do. It sounds great in PR. It checks a box. It placates any investors worried about poor brand affinity. But unless it’s connected any system of accountability — metrics, policies, incentives, whatever — it’s just noise.

There’s also a tendency to conflate “perks” with “culture.” Free lunch, nap pods or summer Fridays are not people-first strategies. They're great perks, but they only go so far. Legit people-first behavior looks like:

• Making mental health support accessible — not just performative

• Designing inclusive hiring and discrete, actionable promotion pipelines

• Investing in upskilling before automating roles away and putting people on the street

People like me — born in the 1970s, working for nearly 30 years already, willing to deal with difficult workplace culture to collect a check — are not going to be here forever. The people replacing us have different values. Companies that respect those values, that invest in their people in a real way — those are companies that people will want to work for, will recruit and retain the best talent and will ultimately be successful.

Because if the answers to the questions around corporate behavior don’t reflect real investment in people, then they can talk until they’re blue in the face. it means nothing.

In an era of high expectations, you either answer the bell or you get knocked the F out. Customers and employees are smarter, more skeptical, and less loyal to brands that can’t back up their big talk.

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Many years ago, I co-authored a book called “Underrated: The Yankee Pot Roast Guide to Awesome, Underappreciated Stuff”. One of the essays in that book (published in 2007) rated Val Kilmer’s comedic acting as underrated, citing Real Genius, Top Secret and the criminally underrated Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang.

So a fast moment to pour a little out for a guy who could have been one of the great comedic actors of all time, but instead settled for being simply a great actor and of course, Iceman. RIP.

That’s all for this week. Until next time, friends.