❤️ Best of 2024 Round-Up

#42. And a reminder to give yourself some grace.

Author

Jill Felska
December 31, 2024 • Estimated Reading Time: 8 minutes

Hello and Happy New Year's Eve!

I don't know about you, but these last few weeks have been a gigantic battle with motivation in my world. This newsletter was originally scheduled to go out last Thursday...which then became Friday. Then Monday. And then, well...today.

While this end of year struggle didn't surprise me, something else did.

Yesterday morning, I realized that my normally scheduled stream of self-critical internal commentary had been replaced with grace. Somehow, the grace I've always been so quick to give others, suddenly felt easy to also give myself.

As a life long perfectionist and people pleaser, this is big deal.

How I made this shift is a reflection that will be left to the new year, when my brain emerges from a well deserved nap. That said, I wanted to share it with you on the small chance it sparks you to give yourself some of the same as we wrap up the year. 

To a gentler, more grace-filled 2025,

Jill

P.S. It is not lost on me that the remainder of this newsletter has to do with accomplishments and highlights from this year. I very much thought of scrapping it, but I couldn't (and wouldn't) do that to my incredible team who carefully curated so many gems from the past 12-months. Whether you dive in now or return to it in January, I hope you find the nugget or resource that helps perfectly kickstart your new year! P.P.S. We've got a special surprise for booklovers (a term that very much encompasses the entire WTWT team) at the end of today's issue. Enjoy! 📚

We have a lot to be proud of - thanks to you!

2024 was an exciting year for Want To Work There! We started off the year asking what topics you were most interested in diving into. Then we listened, collaborated, learned and grew from so many incredible interactions with those in our community. It is our mission to provide you with practical, actionable advice for building a better workplace and we work hard to fulfill that promise. We are so proud of so many things we’ve done this year, so for this issue we’ve collected our most-viewed content, in case you missed it or want to revisit it.

Have a topic you’d like support with in 2025? Hit reply and let us know! 

2024 in Numbers

45%

The amount our newsletter community grew this year! There are now 632 of you who are passionately working to build better workplaces. ❤️ 

22

Newsletters we published this year on topics like Return to Office policies, the Art of the Stay Interview, and even some Salty Opinions and Strong Voices. 

324

The number of managers who participated in one of the 36 Training for the Modern Manager cohorts led by a Want To Work There facilitator. This doesn't include the hundreds more who completed the program internally, without our additional facilitation support! I could not be more elated with the growth of this program this year, knowing that we’re helping so many folks be more effective in their roles. 🤗 

The increase in joy my loveable pup Theo brought to everyone with his closing thoughts in each newsletter. And yes, it's a super scientific and absolutely accurate number to report.

Top 3 Newsletter Issues

Some topics really caught your attention this year! Here are the three newsletter issues that had the most views:

1. Is everyone having the BUSIEST summer?! In August we rounded up some of our favorite time-saving resources so you can enjoy your OOO time. We outlined skills like delegation, tools like Loom, and recommendations for getting expert support through services like a virtual assistant and non-traditional executive coaching.

2. Feedback Paralysis Why is giving feedback so hard - especially for those of us in the Millenial generation? In an effort to not be as stern as our Boomer predecessors, we may end up feeling more like a “Momager” than a Manager. In this issue from September, we provided some actionable tips and exercises to help you become more confident executing this vital skill, plus some tough love (it’s okay to not always be liked!).

3. Call me your Q2 hype queen Instead of finishing up a project and immediately moving on to the next, we encouraged you to take a little time to appreciate all that you’ve accomplished! In April we made a list of of everything we pumped out in Q1 at WTWT and - wow - it ended up being an absolute treasure trove of resources! Dive in to find templates we made for you on topics like stay interviews and conducting layoffs, guides others created like how to be neuro-inclusive, plus book recommendations, LinkedIn creators we love to follow, and so much more.

What You Can Expect in 2025:

More diverse perspectives from other People Ops leaders. We love collaborating with experts - and love it even more when we can bring their expertise to you! We don’t want to give too much away, but stay tuned for some exciting new voices and perspectives in the new year.

More of the practical, actionable resources you’ve come to know & trust. We’ll stay true to our mission and continue creating resources that help you build companies that evoke the statement, "I want to work there!" Think facilitation guides, email templates, manager development resources and much more!

More quality content on relevant, trendy, and timeless People Ops topics. We’ve been hard at work over the past months improving our processes and workflows to help us consistently give you what you need to do your job better - and we have so much more in store for 2025.Speaking of which, we want to make sure we write about topics for which you could really use some insight. What’s top of mind for you in 2025? Reply to this email and let us know!

Things We're Loving Right Now

Instead of doing a round-up of HR-related resources, we’re opting to add a bit of fun into your end-of-year craziness. We asked a handful of WTWT team members to share their favorite read of 2024 and got some great genre-spanning results. Your new favorite book might be in this list!

Blood, Ink, Sister, Scribe, Emma Törz ”A beautiful, magical read that reminded me how the stories we tell and know collectively shape and connect us."- Jill 

All Rhodes Lead Here, Mariana Zapata ”The kind of romance book that will make you giggle. A grumpy game warden and a happy go-lucky divorcee become neighbors in the mountains. I’ve read it twice this year.”- Kenzie

The Revolution of Work: F*ck the Patriarchy and the Workplace it Built, Anessa Fike "This book is ideal for those HR professionals and business leaders who know "something's wrong" and that they "want to do better" but can't identify what exactly. (Also, I got to write one of the recos printed in the book, so yay!)”- Dani

Why Fish Don't Exist, Lulu Miller “A captivating blend of memoir and biography about love and growth and pain and anger and redemption and regret and forgiveness and all the real emotions that real people feel. LOVED it!”- Debbie

Slow Dance, Rainbow Rowell “A beautiful love story between two complicated people.”- Podge

Betty, Tiffany McDaniel “An ode to the author's mother, Betty is the story of a Native American girl in a small town and her life laced with tragedy, love, and family. I have never highlighted so much....but also ALLL the trigger warnings.”- Julia

Nightbitch, Rachel Yoder “A magical realism story about a stay at home mom who occasionally turns into a dog. Witty, visceral, funny and a fast read that validates all the biggest and hardest to place feelings of early parenthood.”- Emma

Raw Dog: The Naked Truth About Hot Dogs, Jamie Loftus “An excellent telling of the best hot dogs in the U.S., with social commentary and personal memoir all mixed in. The author is sharp and witty – listen to the audiobook, she reads it, and it is fantastic!”- Wendy

Book Lovers, Emily Henry "A big city book agent’s life comes wildly close to the plot of a Hallmark Christmas movie in this novel with witty writing, quirky side characters, a little spicy rom-com, and lot of heart.”- Kari