Monday. 7:16 a.m.
She has done this before, so she braces for it. Three years ago, when she had her first child, taking leave meant becoming her own project manager. Payroll needed one thing. Benefits needed another. Her manager needed a form nobody could find. Every dropped thread was hers to catch.
The second one is on the way now. She opens the portal expecting the same relay. What she finds instead is a single place to start. She can type her situation into a short form or say it to the virtual agent, whichever she prefers, with no map of departments to decode first. She says what is happening and goes to make coffee. Before the coffee is done she hears back. A case number, yes, and something the old system never sent with it. A person. A Lifecycle Advisor, who tells her they have her leave, all of it, and will walk her through and stay with her the whole way.
The difference is not that it moved faster. She is not the one holding it together anymore.
Written for the Chief People Officer, and the executive who approves or defers the investment.
The book makes the case for why employee experience is more relevant than ever, shares the art of the possible, and shows how to get there. It names what this reader is missing: a standard to demand, the economics to defend it, and the governance to protect it.
You already know which version your organization runs. What you have not had is the language to name it, the argument to take upstream, or the frameworks to build the second version. More Human gives you all three.
What you’ll discoverCare and scale, together
Why AI finally ends the old tradeoff between caring for people and serving them at scale. Concierge service stops being a perk for the executive floor.
Consumer grade is the floor
Why matching the experience people get as consumers is the floor, not the finish line, and what aiming higher actually looks like.
The language and the argument
The words to name the version of employee service your organization runs today, and the argument to take upstream to the people who fund it.
What stays human
What stays human when AI handles the volume, and the three roles you should never hand to a machine.
Sequencing the work
How to sequence the work so you stop building everything at once, and the four reasons most visions stall before the first release ships.
A case that survives finance
How to make a business case that survives finance, then make the bigger case. Capability that never existed before, not the same work done cheaper.
A roadmap led by people
How to build a roadmap that leads with what changes for an employee, and how you will know it actually happened.
Holding the line
Why work that is technically finished still waits when the team is not ready, and how to hold that line.
Proof that it landed
How to prove the promise landed in an employee’s life, not just closed on a ticket board.
Melisa Cunningham
Founder, Emplify Consulting
Melisa Cunningham has spent 25 years inside organizations and alongside customers, building, breaking and rebuilding the way companies serve their own people. She is the founder of Emplify Consulting and the creator of the methodology and readiness diagnostics at the core of this book.
She wrote it because she got tired of watching two things happen at once. Smart, capable leaders handed theory when what they needed was a blueprint. Employees treated as an afterthought while the organization optimized for process and ticket closure.
Employees deserve better. Now the tools finally exist to deliver it.
- Former VP, Global People Care at ServiceNow
- GE and GE HealthCare. Payroll and service delivery across 107 countries
- Advisory Board, NovaWorks
“Go build something more human. Someone is already waiting.”
More Human, closing line
“Quote one.”
Name, Title
“Quote two.”
Name, Title
“Quote three.”
Name, Title
Publication date, chapter previews and pre-order links to be added.
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