Amy Rigby
Amy Rigby is a freelance writer who shares evidence-based advice that helps you do your best work. Since 2013, she's scaled and exited a content business and helped startups across the globe win over customers through the power of the written word. You can find more of her articles in places like Trello, GoDaddy and Foundr.
Why Paylocity software and Marlee make the perfect tech stack
For companies feeling the pressure to do more with less, Paylocity software delivers essential HR and payroll features. But pair it with Marlee's collaboration and performance features, and you'll unlock the modern tech stack your workforce needs.
Amy Rigby
60 Fun work conversation starters (Beyond ‘What do you do?’)
Tired of asking, 'What do you do?' at work? Explore 60 fresh conversation starters that ease social anxiety, spark genuine connections, and help you connect with coworkers in any setting.
Amy Rigby
Areas of improvement at work: 20⁺ ways to succeed in 2025
Ready to transform your professional performance? We've studied high performers and can pinpoint precisely the most impactful areas of improvement at work—our actionable guide will help you excel.
Amy Rigby
Career goals: Why employers want to know and how to ace your answer
“What are your career goals?”
Amy Rigby
Top 10+ employee engagement software: Compare and choose
With employee happiness plummeting to a four-year low, choosing the right engagement software is crucial. We've analyzed 2024's top platforms to help you reverse this trend. Discover our in-depth comparisons and expert insights to boost your team's engagement and productivity.
Amy Rigby
How to improve staff morale: 9 science-backed ways
Are we in the midst of an employee morale crisis? A 2020 survey of HR professionals found two in three were struggling with maintaining employee morale1, which makes sense given the current socioeconomic context.
Amy Rigby
Master these four key interpersonal communication skills
Mastering interpersonal communication is key to success in both personal and professional life. From active listening to nonverbal cues, these essential skills shape our interactions. Discover the four key interpersonal communication types and examples that will transform your relationships.
Amy Rigby
21 Conflict resolution skills & strategies you need at work
How you handle workplace tension can make or break your professional success. Like 85% of employees, you face workplace conflicts—but with the right conflict resolution skills, you can transform challenges into opportunities for growth and team excellence.
Amy Rigby
How to be more empathetic: Understand and practice compassion
Is the world suffering from an empathy deficit? Research suggests so, with empathy levels declining since 1979. But hope isn't lost. By understanding what true empathy means and practicing simple exercises, you can cultivate this vital skill and transform your relationships.
Amy Rigby
The best soft skills assessment to identify top talent
Raise your hand if you've ever hired someone, only to find out they weren't a good match for the role. Guess how much those well-intentioned but misguided decisions are costing your business? CareerBuilder gives it a price tag of nearly US$17,000 on average1 and that's just for one bad hire.
Amy Rigby
Why you're failing at developing high-performance work teams
There's tons of advice out there on developing and sustaining high-performance work teams—so why are organizations still struggling to do it? Nearly 1 in 5 new hires quit in their first week1, and the 68% who stay but aren't engaged with their work2 cost the global economy roughly $7.8 trillion a year in lost productivity.3 Yikes.
Amy Rigby
Employees crave growth: how managers can coach employees
Employees want to receive coaching so they can unlock their full potential. Yet only about 20% of managers know how to do it.1 To make matters worse, a ‘lack of career development and advancement’ is a top driver of employee turnover.2 That is something that workplace coaching could address; if only employers had access to it.
Amy Rigby
Is learning management system Moodle + F4S right for you?
If you are considering learning management system (LMS) Moodle, you have probably already invested in L&D. And given recent statistics, that's a good decision. Eighty percent of U.S. employees say professional development and training is important when considering a job offer. But only 39% say their current employer is meeting that need.1 This means that talented workers who aren't getting their learning needs met might leave your organization for one that does.
Amy Rigby
How Workday HR software and F4S enhance employee performance
It seems like there's a software solution for everything these days —which can feel overwhelming at times. If you're tired of juggling multiple tools and want to streamline operations, optimize your teams, and boost performance, switching to an all-in-one solution like Workday HR software makes a lot of sense.
Amy Rigby
How to create a positive culture in the workplace
Here's the stark reality of 2023: Half of employees are ‘quiet quitting’1 (doing the bare minimum at work) and nearly 70% of Gen Z and Millennials2 are planning to actually quit this year.
Amy Rigby
Demystifying the Pymetrics assessment: What it is & how to prepare
What does pumping a balloon full of air or hitting a key on your keyboard as fast as you can have to do with being an investment banker? According to the makers of the Pymetrics assessment, a lot. This series of neuroscience-based online games have taken the hiring world by storm, and it could be what stands between a candidate and their dream job.
Amy Rigby
7 best online coaching platforms for every kind of coach
Whether you’re doing life coaching, career coaching or something in between, you’ve probably run into this problem as your business grows: Keeping track of your clients and providing a personalized experience for each one is becoming increasingly difficult.
Amy Rigby
13 best life coaching software to help you deliver results
You got into life coaching because you love helping people, but between finding clients, sending invoices, scheduling sessions, and drafting contracts-you barely have the energy to do the work you love.
Amy Rigby
What is digital coaching, and does it work?
Whether you're working on your personal growth, or your team craves professional development, digital coaching is a powerful tool that you shouldn’t ignore.
Amy Rigby
Family values: 24 Examples to strengthen your family bonds
If you think the term 'family values' is too traditional and outdated, think again. Every family has core values, whether they are articulated or not. These unspoken principles manifest through everyday interactions, community engagement, and parental guidance. Clearly defining your family's core beliefs fosters healthier relationships and prepares children for success. Explore the significance of family values and discover how to identify yours.
Amy Rigby
21 workplace wellness challenges that don’t focus on weight loss
How can you promote overall wellness on your team without making it feel forced?
Amy Rigby
Compassion versus empathy: how developing your EQ can help
Empathy seems like the buzzword of the 21st century. But we’d be remiss to leave out its more action-oriented cousin: compassion. Understanding the difference between the two is worth getting into because, while both skills are valuable, the former is what actually moves us to help those in need.
Amy Rigby
Sleep and mental health: the key to boosting your wellbeing
What do sleep and mental health have to do with each other? As it turns out, a lot.
Amy Rigby
How to recover from burnout: 12 ways to beat chronic stress
Seventy-five percent of people have experienced job burnout, according to a 2020 FlexJobs survey. And that’s just scratching the surface because burnout can exist outside of the workplace, too.
Amy Rigby
"Should I hire a career coach?" and other common questions
A career is a complex thing. It takes up the bulk of our days, provides the income we need to survive and lends a sense of meaning to our lives—but for many of us, we're still not where we want to be professionally.
Amy Rigby
23 science-backed ways to combat emotional exhaustion
You can’t give what you don’t have. Emotional exhaustion depletes you of the ability to empathize with others, show compassion, cry with them or even laugh with them. This particular symptom of burnout is felt especially by professionals in demanding, people-oriented fields that are high in emotional labor, such as health care, social work, and teaching.
Amy Rigby
The power of self-acceptance — and 12 ways to build it
“How often are you kind to yourself and think you're fine as you are?”
Amy Rigby
19 best leadership books for today's most pressing problems
With the unique set of leadership challenges facing organizations today, many managers and executives are feeling the pressure to perform.
Amy Rigby
What is self-awareness and why is it important? (With examples and tips to improve yours)
How well do you really know yourself? Probably not as well as you think. According to research by Tasha Eurich, 95% of people claim to have self-awareness-but only 10 to 15% actually do.
Amy Rigby
9 leadership challenges we'll face post-pandemic (and how to overcome them)
From Covid-19 to racial injustices to economic instability—a lot has happened since March 2020.
Amy Rigby
Goal-setting strategies for success: The surprising science
Growing up as the only child to a single mom in Queens New York, Daymond John didn't feel like he had a lot of options.
Amy Rigby
12 powerful ways to support mental health in the workplace
With more than three-quarters of U.S. employees reporting that their mental health is negatively affecting their work, isn’t it time that employers prioritize mental health in the workplace?
Amy Rigby
Leadership development program: What it is and why you need one
Only 11% of organizations believe they have a strong bench to fill leadership positions, according to the Global Leadership Forecast 2021-and it’s the lowest rate global consulting firm DDI has seen in a decade.
Amy Rigby
8 intelligent tips for building rapport with anyone you meet
Whether you’re a new employee trying to make a good impression, a teacher welcoming new students for the school year or a salesperson trying to close a deal, building rapport is what makes everyday interactions like these productive and successful.
Amy Rigby
25 Companies with the best benefits: World's coolest perks
Imagine an employer paying off your student loans, offering unlimited vacation, and guaranteeing retirement income. These companies with the best benefits deliver perks worth more than just salary, and they're revolutionizing workplace culture with mind-blowing perks you won't believe exist.
Amy Rigby
How to deal with gaslighting at work (and examples in 2024)
No one can get under your skin quite like a gaslighter. Their behavior is sneaky and maddening. And when it happens in a professional context, it’s tough to respond in a way that doesn’t undermine your credibility or jeopardize your career.
Amy Rigby
12 emotional regulation skills to calm inner chaos
Have you ever said something out of anger, only to regret it later? Ever reach out to someone toxic because you were feeling lonely? How about scarf down a box of cookies when you were sad (giving yourself a stomach ache on top of it all)?
Amy Rigby
Victim mentality: 8 signs & how to overcome it
"What's the point in trying when I never win?"
Amy Rigby
How to find your passion (and create a life you love)
Haven’t found your passion yet? You’re not alone. Only 13% of U.S. workers are passionate about their job, according to a 2017 Deloitte survey.
Amy Rigby
How to set healthy boundaries and have better relationships
Healthy boundaries protect your mental health, foster nurturing relationships, reduce stress and eliminate resentment.
Amy Rigby
10 sneaky signs you have low self-esteem (and how to cure it)
Low self-esteem: what it is, how to spot it, and how to be more confident.
Amy Rigby
How top companies attract and retain talent in the Great Resignation
How can you attract and retain talent in a world where much of the workforce is eager to quit?
Amy Rigby
Bad leadership is driving away your best talent. How to fix it
Bad leadership plagues organizations at every level, harming team morale and increasing employee turnover. So how can you identify bad leadership? And more importantly, what can you do about it?
Amy Rigby
Letting go of perfectionism and the harm it inflicts
Perfectionism is often seen as an admirable trait, but for anyone who lives with it, you know it can be crippling, preventing you from enjoying what you do or pursuing what you want.
Amy Rigby
How to build self-discipline—even if your willpower is weak
Self-discipline is a requirement for achieving any long-term goal.
Amy Rigby
How to harness the benefits of positive thinking without going overboard
The benefits of positive thinking are plentiful—as long as you don’t take it too far
Amy Rigby
Toxic positivity: Why “good vibes only” is destroying mental health
Toxic positivity encourages emotional suppression, which is linked to poor health outcomes.
Amy Rigby
Emotional well-being: It matters more than you think
If negative emotions hijack your daily life, and you’re struggling to feel positive, it’s time to tend to your emotional well-being.
Amy Rigby
How to be organized at work: A 7-step process to calm the chaos
Learning how to be organized at work can skyrocket your productivity and performance. When you’re disorganized, your desk and mind are cluttered, causing you to miss deadlines, waste time trying to find things and feel frazzled almost constantly.
Amy Rigby
How to stop being passive-aggressive: 8 strategies for 2024
Struggling with a passive-aggressive manner? It's a pattern where expressing anger directly feels impossible, leading to turmoil in relationships. But change is possible. Discover key traits and triggers behind passive-aggression and unlock effective communication strategies for a happier life.
Amy Rigby
Resilience training: Your secret weapon in difficult times
When life knocks you down, resilience training gives you the skills to get back up and grow from adversity. By learning things such as how to manage stress levels, reframe thoughts and practice gratitude, you can build your capacity for hardships.
Amy Rigby
How to spot high performers (and why they need coaching too)
Your high performers are the powerhouses of your organization. They’re able to handle any task in their wheelhouse with precision and passion, and you can always rely on them to deliver results. As such, they need to be taken care of and not be taken for granted simply because they’re so consistent.
Amy Rigby
The 3 types of stress affecting everyone in 2021 (with 9 tips on how to cope)
In 2021, Americans are stressed more than ever, reporting higher stress levels than in the early days of the pandemic.
Amy Rigby
How to handle jealousy in a healthy way
Experiencing a tinge of jealousy is something we're all familiar with. Maybe a coworker landed that coveted job you'd been hoping for, a friend bought a new car, or your partner has been been paying someone else a little too much attention. They don’t call it the green-eyed monster for nothing – jealousy is never a pleasant feeling, and it's all too easy for it to work its way into your life and your headspace.
Amy Rigby
How to deal with social anxiety: 8 coaches and therapists sound off
You want to meet new people, but you dread walking into a room full of strangers. You want to connect with your friends, but your hands get clammy when you think of picking up the phone to call them. You want people to get to know you, but your heart pounds as you think of all the ways they may be silently judging you.
Amy Rigby
Authentic leadership: Definition, examples and how to develop it
There’s a lot of talk about leadership styles and which one is the “best.” But what if style isn’t nearly as important as being true to yourself and your values?
Amy Rigby
How to find happiness at work (and why science says it matters)
You will spend roughly 83,000 hours of your life working. That is, if you put in the typical 40 hours a week and retire after 40 years of employment. If so much of your time is spent on the job—shouldn’t you feel happiness at work?
Amy Rigby
What causes a lack of motivation at work (And how to overcome it)
Why is motivation so hard to find these days? In Mental Health America's 2019 Mind the Workplace report, 58% of employees reported a lack of motivation at work.
Amy Rigby
Women of color in the workplace: why representation matters
Women are half of the workforce and hold more college degrees than men, but they remain underrepresented and underpaid at every level—with women of color struggling the most.
Amy Rigby
How to improve communication at work (without awkwardness)
Almost half of employees don’t regularly speak their minds at work.
Amy Rigby
Assertiveness Training: What it is, plus 7 tips to get you started
You said "yes" to yet another responsibility at work that you don't have time for. You let your friend borrow money, even though she never pays you back. You didn't tell the waiter that they got your order wrong, so you ended up with a meal you didn't even like. If things like this keep happening to you, you might wonder if you'd benefit from assertiveness training.
Amy Rigby
How to Lead a Team (A Guide for New Leaders)
As a leader, you may feel like the weight of your team rests on your shoulders. Their failures and achievements feel like your own, and perhaps you wonder if you’re doing the best you can to nurture their growth and help them succeed.
Amy Rigby
10 skills you need to thrive in the gig economy
If you’ve ever called a Lyft, had Postmates bring food to your door, or ordered a logo on Fiverr—you’ve participated in the gig economy.
Amy Rigby
24 fun team building activities for remote or hybrid teams
Let's be real: team building activities get a really bad rap.
Amy Rigby
How to deal with burnout at work
Research shows that burnout at work is on the rise, with 42% of people saying they feel occupational burnout. This particularly affects women and workers under 30.1
Amy Rigby
Team management: The ultimate guide to managing calmly for happy, productive teams
Calm team management should be an all-the-time thing, not just during a crisis.On November 8, 2018, project management software Basecamp went down for almost five hours—the company’s largest outage in a decade. But instead of losing their heads, co-founders Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson saw it as a “stress test” of the very thing they promote in their book, It Doesn’t Have to Be Crazy at Work, and had been practicing all along: calm work.
Amy Rigby
Employee relations impact on engagement and staff retention
With the current financial climate resulting in budget cuts, organizations can't afford to neglect employee relations. Creating a positive workplace culture can result in happy employees. And satisfied workers perform better and show more employee loyalty.
Amy Rigby
What is racism in the workplace and how does it show up?
Let’s talk about racism in the workplace.
Amy Rigby
Key leadership communication skills and how to improve them
Why do employees quit? Is it because tasks and responsibilities don’t live up to their expectations? Because they’re surrounded by gossipy or unsupportive coworkers? Or is it because the coffee in the break room is really that bad?
Amy Rigby
What to do when you feel overwhelmed at work
Meeting requests keep piling up, push notifications constantly flash across your screen and despite the extra hours you’ve been putting in—it feels like you’re not making a dent in your projects. If this sounds familiar, it’s no wonder you’re feeling overwhelmed at work.
Amy Rigby
Unappreciated at work? Here’s what you can do about it
You put in extra effort, always help your colleagues and produce excellent results for your company—but no one even notices. Being undervalued hurts.
Amy Rigby
10 types of nonverbal communication (that build rapport)
Have you ever fretted over a draft of an email or a text message and asked a friend to review it before you hit “send”? My guess is that most of us have found ourselves in that situation a few times. Now, have you ever asked a friend to review your hand gestures, posture or voice intonation? Probably not.
Amy Rigby
What are the 3 types of goals?
From New Year’s resolutions to sales commissions to performance bonuses, goals are intertwined in so many parts of society. Setting goals is easy; it’s achieving them that’s challenging.
Amy Rigby
How to be more considerate in work and life
Imagine you’re sitting at the library and notice a stranger struggling with the printer. One passerby looks at him, snickers and then continues to walk away. Another person, however, stops what they’re doing and helps him fix the paper jam. Which person will you like more?
Amy Rigby
Teamwork vs collaboration: 3 important skills to improve both
So, you've doled out perks like flexible work, home office stipends and more PTO, yet you're still struggling with employee performance and retention? This makes sense. BambooHR research from September 2023 revealed that employee happiness is lower than it ever was during the COVID-19 pandemic.1
Amy Rigby
Shut down a passive aggressive coworker with 5 steps (2024)
The snarky tone of voice, the backbiting, the avoidance—dealing with a passive-aggressive coworker can be exhausting. Not only are the signs of their displeasure subtle, but it’s also nearly impossible to get them to admit that something is wrong.
Amy Rigby
Should you trade team building for ‘team bonding’?
Let’s face it: nobody likes being forced into an awkward team building session. You know, the one where everyone is made to dance like a trained monkey, or you’re handcuffed together, or some other thing designed to “bond” a group of coworkers, yet just ends up mildly embarrassing everyone involved and confirming why aliens don’t want to contact Earth.
Amy Rigby
How to say no at work when you’re a people pleaser
26% of employees have said, “Yes, I can take more work,” even though they couldn’t.
Amy Rigby
How to create a sense of urgency—without the stress!
Maybe one of these situations (or something similar) has happened to you: The grocery store clerk takes her sweet time to scan each item as she chats with a customer, unaware of the growing line of shoppers at her register. You get stuck behind a car going 5 miles below the speed limit as you’re running late to work. The dentist tells you that, even though your tooth is aching, he can’t fit you into the schedule for another two weeks.
Amy Rigby
Why is leadership important? The crucial ways leaders shape a company
57% of employees have left an organization because of a manager.
Amy Rigby
How to lead when you're not in charge (and why you might have to)
Can you lead when you're not in charge? Is it possible to command respect when you have no authority? Can you be a leader without being the boss?
Amy Rigby
How to stop self sabotage from wrecking your dreams
There’s a promotion you really want, but you wait so long to apply that you miss the deadline.
Amy Rigby
Conquer the thought, “I don’t know what to do with my life”
“I don’t know what to do with my life” is a thought I’ve had many times, usually at the cusp of some big transformation in my professional or personal life.
Amy Rigby
The ultimate onboarding process — here's what 7 teams have in common
A good onboarding process isn't just 'nice to have' — it can boost new hire retention by 82%.Being a new hire can feel a lot like being the new kid in school. You’re thrown into a fresh group of peers, without knowing anyone, and you often find yourself in that dreaded mid-day moment of, “Oh gosh, who will I eat lunch with?!”
Amy Rigby
Is the coaching leadership style the “best”? What the research says
If you’ve ever been on a sports team or watched a sporting event, you’ve seen the power of coaches. They always seem to know what to say when a player is about to give up, can deliver a rousing pep talk that spurs their team to victory and possess the skill to take an athlete’s talent to the next level.
Amy Rigby
Managing difficult employees: 8 genius steps to deal with disruptive people
At some point in your career as a manager, you will have the unpleasant experience of managing difficult employees. And while it’s frustrating for anyone, thankfully, it’s not without recourse.
Amy Rigby
How to improve interpersonal skills (with examples)
Whether you work in engineering, marketing, HR or customer service—interpersonal skills are integral to your success. And you better believe that recruiters will be checking for them on your resume and asking about them in job interviews.
Amy Rigby
9 mindfulness exercises and how they benefit your wellbeing
You've probably heard of mindfulness.
Amy Rigby
"What motivates you?" How to answer this critical interview question
No matter how well you prepare, the common interview question, “What motivates you?” can be daunting. But, what if you had a better understanding of the interviewer's motivation behind asking this?
Amy Rigby
8 Types of Decision Making Styles (and How They Shape Your Workplace)
Understanding decision making styles can help you make decisions and convince others easily.
Amy Rigby
High turnover rate: how it destroys teams (and what to do about it)
A high turnover rate is devastating for companies and their teams.
Amy Rigby
Effective communication at work: The four elements and techniques to improve it
Effective communication in the ever-changing, dynamic workplace
Amy Rigby
Resilience: How to build yours and become crisis-proof (plus a Resilience Assessment)
Resilience isn't just a personal matter, it matters for work too.
Amy Rigby
These 4 motivation theories will help you boost team morale
These 4 major motivation theories can help boost team performance
Amy Rigby
Is your defeatist attitude keeping you down? Here's how to stop self defeating thoughts
What is a defeatist attitude?
Amy Rigby
6 real-life examples proving psychological safety is crucial
If you’re reading this, you may have noticed that finding concrete, real examples of psychological safety is hard.
Amy Rigby
11 (positive) things that will happen in the future of work
If you’re reading this, chances are you’re curious about all this “future of work” hype. Maybe you’re not entirely sure what it is (no one can be one hundred percent sure!), or perhaps you’ve just watched The Terminator and you’re wondering when you have to surrender yourself to our new cyborg overlords.
Amy Rigby