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Workweek Newsletter {beacon}

Hebba Youssef

Sep 11th, 2026

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In partnership with

Hi ya party people,

Gotta love the ability for a 4-day work week to still very much feel like 5, but we made it!

❤️ Also, I wanna take a quick moment to remember the lives lost on Sept 11th and everyone forever changed by it.

Okay, now onto our questions:

This week, we’re talking about how to improve a workplace when your own morale is dragging itself across the floor + what to tell staff when corporate keeps saying “we’re working on it” while payroll and benefits remain somewhere in the Bermuda Triangle.

And of course, if you have questions of your own and want a chance to be ✨featured✨ please submit them here!

🗣️ reassurance & communication

✍🏾 How do I successfully change the work environment when I myself am unhappy in that environment, and I am seeking to build a better community amongst the staff?

Context: We are federally funded and have about 100 employees under me directly, but we cover the whole state of AR.

📣 Elizabeth Suttles, HR Generalist @ White Labs, Inc.:

Culture starts with leadership, and if you are unhappy in the environment, I think the first step is identifying exactly what is making you unhappy and whether those same issues are affecting your staff. If they are coming from above you, have an honest conversation with your manager about what you are seeing and how it is impacting the team.

At the same time, with 100 employees under you, you have a lot of influence over the culture they experience every day. You may not be able to change everything happening above you, but you can create a healthier environment within your own area through communication, consistency, accountability, recognition, and genuinely listening to your employees.

Culture absolutely starts at the top, but every level of leadership either reinforces that culture or helps change it. I would start by asking your staff what they need, what is working, and what is not, then look for the things within your control that you can begin changing now.

📣 Nalini Mani, Organization Transformation Advisor:

Changing a work environment while you’re unhappy in it is one of the hardest leadership positions to be in, not because you’re incapable, but because culture work demands emotional energy, clarity, and consistency, and those are the exact things an unhealthy environment drains first. So the first truth to call out is this: you cannot build a better community if you’re carrying the weight of the current one alone. Culture shifts at your scale … 100 people, statewide operations, federally funded constraints … require distributed leadership, not heroic leadership.

The second truth is just as important: your unhappiness is data, not a liability. Leaders often think they need to hide their dissatisfaction to avoid “contaminating morale,” but in reality, your experience is a frontline indicator of what your staff is also feeling. If the environment is heavy for you, it’s heavy for them. Your perspective is not a conflict of interest it’s a compass. The work starts with three moves.

First, you stabilize yourself before you try to stabilize the system. That doesn’t mean stepping back or pretending everything is fine. It means getting clear on what specifically is making you unhappy ….misalignment, burnout, structural issues, interpersonal dynamics, unclear expectations ….and naming those things privately and honestly. You can’t change what you haven’t diagnosed.

Second, you stop trying to “fix culture” at the largest level and instead build local pockets of health. Culture doesn’t shift through sweeping initiatives; it shifts through consistent behaviors in small groups that eventually become the norm. Identify the teams, managers, or regions or whatever where trust is highest and start building community there. Those pockets become proof points that change is possible, and they give you allies who can help carry the work.

Third, you create a shared leadership model for culture. With 100 people under you, you cannot be the sole architect of community. You need a cross‑functional group not a committee that meets once a quarter, but a real coalition of staff who are respected, connected, and willing to model the behaviors you want the organization to adopt. When culture becomes a shared responsibility, your personal unhappiness stops being a barrier and becomes part of the motivation for change.

The key is this: you don’t have to feel good to lead well, but you do have to be honest about where you are. Staff don’t need a leader who is endlessly upbeat; they need a leader who is grounded, self‑aware, and willing to build something better with them rather than for them.

📣 Josiah Hernandez, People Operations & Recruiting Manager @ CW Financial Services LLC:

Like what others are saying here, your people are going to pick up on incongruence fast, so you can't hand them something you don't have enough of yourself. Figuring out what's actually driving the unhappiness, the work itself, burnout, lack of support, whatever it is, is going to change everything about how you start building community.

And I think it doesn't have to mean big culture initiatives, honestly quite the opposite. Small, consistent things tend to be more effective: check-ins that aren't just about status updates, separating the person from the job title. All that to say, figure out what's underneath it first, that's what makes the building part actually land

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✍🏾 How do you approach and reassure staff when you don't have the answers and aren't getting the answers from your corporate counterparts?

Context: Nursing home, corporate owns 80+ buildings, my building was acquired two months ago, no retention budget provided yet, no staffing budget provided yet, using agency staff as we are having trouble filling spots in house. Since being acquired, we have no time clock, no access to the Payroll system, no information on additional benefits that have been promised (401k, daily pay), no access to paystubs, federal/state/local taxes not being taken out of paychecks, health benefit cost not being taken out of paychecks. Nearly every time I ask for information about any of this, I don't get a response from the regional team or corporate team, and if I do, it's "we're working on it". Staff are unable to apply for assistance, mortages, loans, etc without their paystubs. Staff are frustrated, I'm frustrated.

📣 Terri Stutzman, Department Head at ENGAGYS LLC:

Depending on your state, voicing compliance risk and trade offs could help. 41 states require some form of paystubs, and fines get expensive. It's unlikely the new corporate owner wants turnover, as you know agency is expensive and a margin killer. Use staff complaints to put hard numbers to financial risks with your cost-per-hire and agency overhead. You need a partner to escalate to the Corporate COO who will have to explain why your SNF's margins are in decline. Do you have a Nursing Home Administrator you can partner with? The last thing you need is high performing RNs or any staff walking out the door because simple payroll requirements aren't being met.

Replacement takes forever and your building's recruitment brand is about to take a nose dive. Watch Glassdoor and Indeed reviews to boost your request for escalation and a solution. The new entity should have been ready on day 1, something odd is up. I also spent a lot of years in large SNFs and the business can be volatile. Is the new owner established and solvent? Keep your resume ready just in case.

📣 Anonymous Safe Space User:

I’d tell staff exactly what I know, and when they’ll receive the next update, even if corporate still hasn’t responded. Missing paystubs are pretty urgent payroll compliance issues, so document every single request and escalate in writing to payroll or any compliance leadership. Your credibility won’t come from having every answer; it’ll come from being honest and visibly fighting to get them.

Safe Space members can join this discussion here. Not a member yet? Apply to join here.