Chris Low serves as graphic design platform Canva’s head of vibe. You read that right: head of vibe. Canva takes the employee experience so seriously it employs a nearly 70-person vibe team, which Low oversees.

Low’s been in charge of vibes since 2016. He’s relying on his decades of experience in the hospitality industry to create “moments” at work for the company’s more than 3,500 employees across eight campuses and a number of coworking spaces globally.

Low got his start washing dishes in a noodle restaurant. He “touched every part of the hospitality industry,” eventually becoming a partner at his restaurant, Orto Trading Co, in the Surry Hills section of Sydney, Australia, near Canva’s campus.

“All I knew of [the] tech industry was the Facebook movie,” he said. “But I learned that Canva was incredibly aligned to my values and could allow me to do some of the most exciting, best work of my life, and haven’t looked back.”

Canva’s execs would often patronize Orto, he said. Named for the Italian word for kitchen-garden (the one closest to the house growing the food a family eats), the restaurant focused on comforting, family-style service and “paddock to plate” produce.

When Canva’s co-founders Melanie Perkins and Cliff Obrecht learned Low was planning to sell Orto, he said, they asked him to “bring the vibe” of the restaurant to Canva as its first head of vibe.

Vibes at Canva. Employees feel the vibe right when they walk through the door, according to Low. Looking up from the entrance is a “massive commercial kitchen and a big space that looks much more like a restaurant to most people than any workplace.”

This is because the act of breaking bread is “sacred” at Canva.

Keep reading here.—AD

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With the worst of the Covid-19 pandemic seemingly in the rearview, Americans have returned to many activities that seemed unthinkable when cases were surging: Stadium shows, blockbuster movie screenings, and European vacations are all back on this summer.

But remote work has stuck around, with many employees still spending at least a few days working from home rather than an office. In the first half of 2023, US workers spent about 28% of their paid working days at home, according to WFH Research—down from a pandemic peak of 61.5%, but still a six-fold increase from pre-pandemic 2020. The scholars who lead WFH Research, which draws upon responses from a monthly Survey of Working Arrangements and Attitudes, believe the shift will be permanent.

Still, leaders of some big firms are making clear they want workers back in the office at least some of the time. In its Q2 outlook, the commercial real estate services firm JLL estimated that 1.5 million office-based US employees have had new attendance policies take effect so far this year, and another 1 million will face mandates between now and the end of 2023.

In the future, it looks like many HR departments will land on a “structured hybrid” model—requiring employees to be in the office a few days a week, but allowing for some flexibility, according to experts. They added that the shift will have implications for talent: Smaller firms are likely to use increased flexibility as a lever to poach competition, experts told HR Brew.

Keep reading here.—CV

Whether you’re crankier than usual, avoiding turning on the oven, or extending your grocery shopping just to soak up some free AC, the summer heat is getting to all of us.

Europe is being hit hard, and the northern part of the region is predicted to see some of the biggest relative increase in heat exposure in the world. People who work outdoors are bearing the brunt of the changes as their governments try to adapt.

Where in the world? In Italy, where around 18,000 people died from heat-related causes last summer, the government will send some construction and agriculture workers home under a provision in its furlough rules that says Italian companies may apply to put their employees on temporary layoffs, according to Reuters. In Greece, Acropolis workers voted to strike to protest working conditions caused by 113-degree Fahrenheit temperatures, reported Forbes. In France, labor laws protect workers from unsafe working conditions, including mandating a water provision for construction workers, and Spain is currently working on heat legislation for outdoor workers.

“Mitigating the effects of exposure to heat is what is required and this will depend on the individual and the workplace. It is a health and safety matter where assessment is key,” Martin Williams, head of employment at UK law firm Mayo Wynne Baxter, told the Independent.

Satellite view. In the US, 36 workers died from heat exposure in 2021, the lowest number since 2017, according to the BLS. And President Biden has announced more protections for outdoor workers amid the hottest days of the year.

Keep reading here.—KP

Today’s top HR reads.

Stat: Some 41% of workers say employee monitoring makes them less productive. (Glassdoor)

Quote: “Construction workers literally risk their lives working all day in blazing heat, and in some places [they] don’t even have the right to take a water break. That is outrageous…We should be protecting workers from hazardous conditions, and we will.”—President Biden, on the need to protect workers exposed to extreme heat (SHRM)

Read: New research suggests that “agreeable” employees may bring about better team performance than their more competitive counterparts. (CNBC)