If you’ve been reading Uncompliant long enough, you’ll know I believe that organizations are living systems. In the winter, this becomes harder to ignore. Energy levels drop, and the emotional, mental, and sometimes physical effort required to keep things running becomes much more` visible. And though not everyone celebrates the holidays associated with the winter season, and not every organization slows down, something changes collectively anyway. It’s as though the entire year accumulates in people’s bodies and nervous systems, and the environment they work in either adapts to that reality or their limits get exposed. That’s what makes this time of year such a useful moment to pay attention. Organizational culture doesn’t show up only when people are well-rested and operating with surplus energy. It’s when people are depleted, and patience is thinner, that core values stop being aspirational and become operational. You can see it in who is allowed to slow down and who gets stuck absorbing the overflow. It shows up in how leaders respond to visible fatigue, and whether they create space for rest or ramp up control. What the holiday season often reveals is whether an organization has been designed with recovery in mind, or whether recovery is something individuals are expected to negotiate for themselves at personal cost. Every living system relies on cycles of exertion and recovery. Outside of work, we accept this without debate. Instead of being endlessly stripped, fields are left fallow so soil can regenerate. Forests rely on dormancy, slower seasons, and even decay to replenish nutrients and make new growth possible. Bodies rebuild strength during rest, not effort, and nervous systems require downtime to recover after prolonged stress. We know that many animals instinctively conserve energy in the winter, moving between periods of intensity and long stretches of rest, migration, or hibernation so that life can continue. In many Indigenous teachings, winter is not framed as absence or inactivity, but as a vital season of stillness, reflection, and renewal; a time when life pulls inward in order to sustain itself over the long term. Work systems are no different. When organizations don’t design for rest, the cost of recovery is high. People take sick days when they’re exhausted, not ill. They become disengaged as a means of self-preservation. They straight-up leave roles, jobs, and companies they once cared about. It’s a predictable response to systems that have no mechanism to relieve pressure. And even when organizations try to make room for rest, they often do so at the individual level, without changing the pace or expectations of the system itself. Rest is allowed, likely even encouraged, but the work continues, and the pressure simply lands on whoever else is available. This is where the difference between individual rest and collective rest matters. When an entire system slows together, rest actually functions as rest. No one returns to a backlog that just kept growing while they were away. The system pauses, recalibrates, and resumes together, carrying less stress and baggage into the new year. That kind of rest is not always feasible, and it won’t look the same in every organization. But the principle still holds; systems recover best when recovery is shared, visible, and designed. Some organizations already understand this, and it shows up as building in slower periods, resisting unnecessary urgency, and normalizing collective downtime in ways that don’t penalize people for participating. In those environments, December doesn’t feel stressful or chaotic; it becomes a moment to look forward to, and there’s a sense that the system knows how to carry people through a lower-energy season without demanding that they override themselves to keep everything from collapsing. This is culture by design. Culture shaped by pace, boundaries, decision rights, and an assumption that energy isn’t endless. It’s an understanding that culture isn’t proven only during peak performance or high morale, but also when energy is low, and decisions still need to be made with care, judgment, and respect for human limits. For HR professionals, December is a moment to observe your company culture. Pay attention to what the system asks of people when they have less to give, and whether it knows how to slow down without breaking. These observations reveal whether your organization has mechanisms to release pressure or relies on people to absorb it until something inevitably gives. A lack of systemic rest shows up as burnout, attrition, disengagement…all issues the organization will eventually scratch their head at. But just as depleted soil stops yielding, work systems that ignore recovery create their own failure points. Slowing down, or even shutting down in December, shouldn’t break an organization. It’s simply a gift that reveals how well it’s designed to sustain human beings over time. As we move into the final weeks of 2025, consider whether rest lives in your organization by design. And when energy runs low, what does your system ask people to do next? **************************** This is the last post of 2025. Thank you for six amazing months of Uncompliant! I’ve had an absolute blast, and hope that you’ve found value. I want to make sure you’re getting what you need from these posts, so if you have a moment, please let me know what you’d like to see on Uncompliant in 2026: * real workplace situations, decoded * HR & workplace systems critiques & redesign * real, operational leadership guidance * tools, exercises & frameworks for managers and HR folks wanting something immediately applicable * reader-submitted, real-world HR Q&As (anonymous, of course) * interviews with HR professionals Or something not listed here. Leave your thoughts in the comments, or reply to this email to share your suggestions. And if you’re interested in collaborating on a post, I’m always open to it! The more dismantling workplace systems, the merrier ;) Jen Get full access to Uncompliant at uncompliant.substack.com/subscribe
