Transformation Driven by Mutual Respect: How Rupert Organizational Design is Building the 21st Century Workplace

The current turmoil in our labor markets has been anticipated by two pieces of salient research. A 2016 Society for Human Resource Management Employee Job Satisfaction and Engagement survey showed that “respectful treatment of employees at all levels” was more important than compensation, benefits and job security in building engagement.

Further, a March 2022 MIT Sloan Management Review study found disrespect to be the leading source of toxic culture among five destructive factors.

Rupert Organizational Design’s leadership has spent four decades creating systems that enable committed corporations to best serve the range of key stakeholders. CEO Paul Rupert has led in delivering the diverse and demanding initiatives that set successful clients apart. Employees experience greater satisfaction and well-being in the workplace, while managers and company leaders enjoy a more engaged and productive workforce.

Rupert Organizational Design currently focuses on three critical areas – creative flexible work systems, deep upskilling of managers and employees, and an innovative, proven phased retirement design that allows businesses to transition their aging staff and its valuable knowledge more effectively. As corporations adjust to unprecedented dynamics in the evolving workplace,  these three areas are separating winners from losers. 

Flexible Work Systems

For businesses seeking better strategies to help attract and retain demanding personnel, one area of focus has been the work schedule. In the modern workplace, employees are increasingly asking for work arrangements that fit their lives, provide opportunities to engage in meaningful work, and create a more effective work-life balance. Fitting work to l;ife has become more important than molding life around the rigid demands of work. My way or the highway is giving way to let’s chart a career path together. 

For many, the past two years have given rise to still ill-defined remote or hybrid work schedules. Other options include a compressed work week – reducing the work week from five days to four longer days, shifting full-time employees to a 32-hour per week schedule or launching phased retirement initiatives for aging employees..

ROD is not encumbered by the flexible menus of yesterday. Rather it conducts extensive employee and mansager research to fund customized solutions that maximize satisfaction and output. Using design group-based feedback from both the leadership team and the employees, they create unique schedule options that address the most pressing needs of the company.

Upskilling

For companies developing more robust workplace inclusion practices, one of the best strategies is providing skill-building opportunities for the team. Rupert Organizational Design has created a transformational regimen called the “Mutual Respect” process. This intensive process of rehabituation through live and online training empowers leadership to implement and reinforce superior interactive practices and behaviors to create a more inclusive, tolerant, and innovative work environment. 

The process includes key areas for learning, including mutual respect and inclusion standards, essential practice techniques, habit formation, and group accountability. One of the key strengths of the framework is that it not only provides accountability measures, but it is universal – when companies launch the Mutual Respect framework, staff at all levels of employment are expected to participate. This is not “quick and dirty” online brush-off, but a demanding and resource rich commitment to the creation of vital interactive and conflict resolution skills – a domain area in which our society fails consistently.

Phased Retirement

Perhaps one of the most important offerings that Rupert Organizational Design introduces to today’s labor-challenged workplaces is innovative phased retirement initiatives. While many companies enact traditional retirement programs – as Rupert describes them, treating employees as having a “sell-by date” and then discarding them like so many used up pieces of equipment –  a phased retirement plan honors and values experienced employees, allowing them to gradually leave the company while sharing their insights and knowledge with their colleagues.

Rupert Organizational Design works closely with companies to develop a respectful phased retirement system, which adds value to the company and for the employees. Within this system, the experienced employee works on a reduced schedule with a heavy emphasis on capturing vital knowledge and providing mentorship opportunities. Their methods have proven to eliminate age bias and potentially discriminatory practices, to save the company substantially in hiring and training costs, and to foster a more inclusive workplace that truly values its employees.

As industry leaders, Rupert Organizational Design has helped corporations across the country improve their work environment and empower their employees with a framework of mutual respect. As a result, companies that use these systems are finding greater success, a more productive staff, and a culture in which both the employers and the employees can grow and thrive.

To learn more about Rupert Organizational Design, visit www.rupertorgdesign.com.