Ep. 40 – Navigating Recent Workplace Trends, with Beth Ridley

Ep. 40 – Navigating Recent Workplace Trends, with Beth Ridley

From Making Work Better: Employment Law & Workplace Challenges by The Prinz Law Firm

September 24, 2025 · 47 min · Season 3 · Episode 40

About this episode

Katie Rinkus and Beth Ridley discuss recent workplace trends and their impact on business and employee culture.

It's no secret that the American workplace is constantly changing. The last few years alone have witnessed major trends, from "job hugging" and a focus on mental health at work to Gen Z entering the labor force amidst a backlash against DEI initiatives. Such shifts have left business leaders struggling to navigate their new reality in a way that promotes business, inspires employees, and makes us all feel better about our jobs. Business attorney Katie Rinkus welcomes Beth Ridley, a workplace culture consultant and the CEO of Ridley Consulting Group, to dissect these various workplace trends, explaining their effects on businesses and employees alike. Together, they shine a light on how some leaders have responded to new trends—and it's not always for the better. Often, businesses have "over-rotated," or dramatically course-corrected in ways that have had toxic effects on company culture. In this episode, Katie and Beth explore: The new focus on productivity as opposed to a "culture of belonging" What a "belonging" looks like and why it's important at work · Over-rotation vs. a "both/and" long-term sustainable approach to change The underlying factors of the "leadership trust…

People in this episode

Guest: Beth Ridley

Topics covered

  • workplace trends
  • mental health at work
  • Gen Z in the labor force
  • DEI initiatives
  • company culture

Keywords

  • job hugging
  • productivity
  • culture of belonging

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: Navigating Recent Workplace Trends, The Leadership Trust Crisis: Why Employees Are Tuning Out—And How to Win Them Back

Places: London, Tokyo, Johannesburg, Bangkok, Milwaukee, Wisconsin

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