Sometimes, Linkedin can surprise you.
Among the usual litany of self-congratulatory nonsense and inane press releases are some pretty cool people.
Late last year, I found one.
It was an honest call for help.
The incredible Nicky Palamarczuk (Head of Socia & Influence at VCCP) was looking for people to support her ‘Back to Work After…’ initiative and series of events.
Social media doing what it does best – helping people with similar interests find each other.
Nicky was looking for people to share their experiences of miscarriage for the latest of her evening of talks.
I’m lucky, this didn’t happen to us, but I’ve seen several people I care deeply for go through it, time after time.
It’s brutal.
This felt like something we should get behind.
It was a chance to do some good.
Our job was to provide an introduction. To help contextualise the speaker’s personal stories with evidence from the broader public.
It also gave us a chance to show just what we can do with social data.
We did the research – which we’ve shared here – and joined some amazing speakers at a packed event.
It’s amazing what happens when brave people step up and share what’s happened to them and how they found a path through it.
We shared the report (a lot!) and I was moved by the response.
It seemed to touch a nerve.
At a rough guess, I reckon about 1/3rd of the people I sent it to (in the hundreds) took time out to say thank you and that they were going to share it with their HR teams.
It’s since been picked up by Campaign.
They’ve reported on how a number of creative agencies have been inspired by the report and event and are facing these issues head-on, changing their policies to be more empathetic and supportive.
It’s rare the feedback loop in research is so quick.
In a matter of weeks, using social, we’ve understood what it feels like to go back to work after a miscarriage.
We’ve shared the journey, we’ve understood their challenges and seen what they need.
There are some simple steps we can all take right now to make this awful experience more humane.
And it’s happening.
HR policies across the land are being changed for the better.
You can do this too. Get the report here. It’s free. If it moves you, share it with your colleagues in HR.
There are people in your organisation who will be incredibly glad you did.