Over the course of two decades working for and with nonprofits and small businesses, Rachel Kacenjar found it “astounding” that many mission-driven organizations don’t have HR policies or resources—and those that do, don’t center them around equity.

“There’s such a huge gap and a huge need for equity-centered and values-aligned HR and operations practices,” she told HR Brew.

So Kacenjar, managing director at Work In Progress Consulting, an HR, finance, and operations consulting firm for small businesses and nonprofits, teamed up with Bryce Celotto, founder and head of strategy at Swarm Strategy. Established in the summer of 2020, Celotto’s DE&I consultancy designs inclusion strategies and trainings for companies, making him the perfect person to work with Kacenjar to create the Anti-Racist HR Guidebook, which provides a framework for HR at a time when many companies are looking to address racial equity.

“One of the things I found really quickly when I started working with more corporate clients…was that a lot of organizational leaders had great intentions around racial justice, but didn’t necessarily have the historical understanding for why and how systemic racism is baked into so much of the policies and practices in workplaces,” Celotto told HR Brew. “I have these lived experiences as a Black, queer, trans person. I have this background in education, facilitation, and being a trainer. I have this unusually unique understanding of systems of oppression from a historical perspective…How can I use that to make this better?”

The pair assembled a team of more than a dozen collaborators to help shape and write the handbook, which outlines an anti-racist framework for workplace policies along with a step-by-step guide for HR pros to write their own. Keep reading here.—AD

HR pros are often spinning multiple plates. They can be tasked with recruiting, onboarding, culture, training, and more. Add Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) compliance to the mix, and a plate might come crashing down.

Disabled employees may be afraid to self-identify as disabled or request reasonable accommodation needs at work. Meanwhile, the HR professionals who work with them may not know how to create a request process or determine, from an ADA standpoint, when an accommodation is warranted.

But Disclo, an Atlanta-based software startup, is trying to help HR professionals navigate this tricky territory—now with the help of millions in funding.

Technology that helps. Disclo announced $5 million in seed funding on February 1, led by General Catalyst, with the startup now totalling $6.6 million in funding overall. The company was founded last year by Hannah Olson and Kai Keane; Olson, who serves as CEO, has a chronic illness and had difficulty requesting accommodations when she entered the workforce. She and Keane created Disclo to help other disabled workers avoid the uncomfortable conversations that otherwise prevent people from asking for accommodations.

How it works. Disclo’s software streamlines ADA accommodation requests and allows HR leaders to request and manage health disclosures, without revealing employees’ specific disabilities. The founders claim that Disclo is the first software to provide a technology-enabled, private path for accommodations, protecting employee privacy while keeping HR HIPAA-compliant. Through the Disclo platform, employers can manage all accommodation requests, check the status of documents, and conduct pulse surveys. Keep reading here.—KP

Could understanding neuroscience be the key to solving employee engagement problems?

Some of you may have just snorted. Sure, understanding neuroscience could be the key to solving nearly all problems, but it might seem about as attainable as learning how to unicycle on a tightrope while juggling. (Actually, that might be easier—HR professionals are known for their ability to multitask...)

Friederike Fabritius, neuroscientist and author of the bestselling book The Brain-Friendly Workplace: Why Talented People Quit and How to Get Them to Stay, assured us that understanding the brain is not as intimidating as it sounds. In our recent conversation, she explained how a worker’s brain chemistry can influence their behaviors and preferences, and how HR may be able to use that information to create effective employee experience programs.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Why did you decide to write this book?

In business, I always look at the diversity trainings and initiatives to increase diversity, and I always feel very strongly that there’s one crucial piece missing—what I call “neurosignature diversity.”

We don’t talk enough about the fact that we need different brains in the workplace. We need different personalities.

What is a neurosignature?

Your neurosignature is your unique activity pattern in your brain. No brain is the same as another brain—it’s similar to fingerprints…There are four chemicals that influence our brain: dopamine, serotonin, testosterone, and estrogen. Everybody has all four of them…They influence how you think, how you act, [and] how you feel. Keep reading here.—SV

What book should HR pros read next? Click here to let us know.

Today’s top HR reads.

Stat: 51% of US employees named work–life balance as the most important part of company culture. (Forbes)

Quote: “We’re beginning to restore the dignity of work. For example…30 million workers have to sign noncompete agreements for the jobs they take, so a cashier at a burger place can’t walk across town and take the same job at another burger place and make a few bucks more…but not anymore.”—President Biden during Tuesday’s State of the Union, on the FTC’s new rule banning noncompetes (the White House)

Read: Loosening some pandemic-related and Trump-era immigration restrictions has helped address the ongoing worker shortage, but only to an extent. (the New York Times)