Imagine showing up for work and being unable to reach your desk. Or comfortably use the bathroom. Or even concentrate, because the environment wasn’t built for you.

Despite US compliance regulations around accessibility, many disabled people face barriers when they work in an office. That’s why tax and advisory firm PwC began working with design experts in 2017 to be more disability inclusive. Since then, the company has started designing all future offices with accessibility for all at the core.

Inclusive design explained. Accommodations for disabled employees are required under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). But some, including Danise Levine, an architect and assistant director at the Center for Inclusive Design and Environmental Access (IDEA) at the University of Buffalo, New York, believe simply complying with the ADA doesn’t guarantee an inclusive workplace.

Inclusive design (sometimes referred to as universal design) means that spaces are created for everyone. “You’re not specifically designing for anybody in particular, you’re really designing for everyone in particular. The whole goal is to have it be flexible and accommodate people regardless of their ability or disability,” Levine said.

Keep reading here.—KP

Too many teams are struggling with high levels of stress and burnout. According to research from Harvard Business Review, the top causes of this stress are overwork and manager/team behavior.

To help your teams avoid stress and all its consequences—like burnout, disengagement, and attrition—Calm Business is hosting an interactive webinar that uncovers how you can create a culture of work-life balance. You’ll learn how to:

• use transformational leadership to create a safe space for team members
• define and outline what a successful work-life balance would look like for your team
• develop tools to help you build a work culture that promotes balance

A healthy work-life balance starts with leaders who are ready to reimagine the modern workplace landscape.

Learn how you can transform your company culture at the Calm Business webinar.

Fall isn’t just for changing leaves. Many HR leaders are turning over new leaves themselves, as they move on to new roles. So, let’s dive right in.

David’s Bridal. Andrea Dauphinee, who’s been with the retailer since 2018, was recently promoted to CHRO. She has nearly 30 years of HR experience, and has climbed quickly at David’s Bridal, with three promotions in just over five years.

Grammarly. The grammar software business recently named Heather Gille as its new chief people officer. Gille transitioned to the tech world in 2019, with stints leading people operations at Glu Mobile (now part of Electronic Arts) and Certinia, a financial software company. She also spent more than 13 years moving up the ranks at Gap, where she began in merchandise planning, and left as a manager in talent acquisition.

Kaiser Permanente. Greg Holmes was promoted to SVP and CHRO in late September, six years after rejoining the company. Holmes has already been busy in his new role; he was part of the historic pay negotiations with the hospital system’s worker union earlier this month, after 75,000 workers went on strike, Cal Matters reported.

Keep reading here.—KP

Here’s this week’s edition of our Coworking series. Each week, we chat 1:1 with an HR Brew reader. Want to be featured in an upcoming edition? Click here to introduce yourself.

Jennifer Baumgarten left New York State’s largest healthcare organization after 15 years in HR, internal comms, and change management in 2021 to take on a new challenge: create, update, and overhaul HR policies and processes “from soup to nuts” for not one but two manufacturers (separate companies with the same owner) making orthotics and prosthetic device in the Northeast.

“It was very mom-and-pop…But I have an entrepreneurial attitude where I told my leader, ‘What is the priority? Do we have a budget?’…and he sets me free,” she said, “I like having the ability to take something and just run with it.”

Baumgarten and her HR team of one direct report have tackled everything from transferring payroll from having to phone-in time cards to ADP, building the team and employee engagement, to streamlining vendors.

What’s the best change you’ve made at work?

One of the most impactful changes I’ve initiated during my career was as a change management manager. In a previous role, I was part of a team of eight that supported a large organization with approximately 70,000 employees. Our primary focus was to facilitate collaboration across various departments for new initiatives. One project that stands out is the development of a comprehensive career framework. This framework aimed to provide clear job role definitions and responsibilities while also outlining potential career paths for growth. This endeavor impacted around 40,000 individuals within the organization.

Keep reading here.—AD

Today’s top HR reads.

Stat: Average commute times are on the rise (again), increasing from 25.6 minutes in 2021 to 26.4 minutes in 2022, though still shorter than 27.6 minutes in 2019. (the New York Times)

Quote: “Our spaces are open and there will be no change to the way we operate.”—A WeWork spokesperson, after the coworking behemoth filed for bankruptcy on Monday (the Washington Post)

Read: A rise in remote work opportunities and ongoing labor shortages have contributed to a boost in adults with disabilities landing work. (the Wall Street Journal)

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