The next phase of Kunik: 2023 midyear update

Kunik’s North Star is forging genuine conversations and employee relationships to connect employees’ growth and purpose with organizational performance and strategy. This mission looks different in every workplace, so we treat each client distinctly and learn from their culture and challenges. We work with a diverse array of companies, so our work and solutions never get boring. 

Throughout Q2 ‘23, we’ve been lucky to work with these teams and provide them with tailored solutions. Today, let’s dive into what’s new with Kunik, what’s been energizing us, and where we’re going next. 

Continuing to understand clients from top to bottom

As always, we’re grateful for every org that trusts us with their most valuable assets: their employees. Here are two new client developments we’re excited to call out. 

Highlight #1: Kunik improves the day-to-day workplace for Forrester employees

Forrester, a leading research and advisory firm, reported show-stopping employee engagement after partnering with Kunik. Their Head of DEI credits Kunik with providing tools for real change at Forrester.  She is seeing livelier meetings, more open and vulnerable conversations, and deeper connection among co-workers. 

There are many things to love about our work at Kunik. Hearing about day-to-day, employee-level change in our partnerships is perhaps the best. 

Highlight #2: Kunik gets to know everyone, from ERGs to senior execs

For another Kunik client, we’ve teamed up on everything from managerial training, to ERG programming, to senior-level offsites focused on strategic planning and change management. 

This layered relationship illustrates how we strategically connect across every layer of an org to improve the employee experience. We learned about every level of the employee experience and successfully designed solutions to address their largest pain points, such as stress and burnout and inclusion. Those solutions have worked so well that the client has chosen to increase their scope with Kunik rather than seeking engagements with traditional management consultancies. 

What Kunik clients are loving: No more one-size-fits-all solutions

Thanks to our content partners at Verbatim, we began assembling insight-packed interviews with Kunik Experts and case studies featuring our community of users. These conversations validated our company gameplan. 

Clients report that Kunik’s tailored employee experience solutions truly make all the difference. Every client Verbatim interviewed reports that Kunik listens to them, understands them, and frees up bandwidth. Most importantly, we never approach employee pain points with one-size-fits-all solutions. 

Looking ahead, these positive client signals seem to come with people-first shifts in every industry. For example, Kunik just signed with a major sports team looking to break away from their prototypical vendors. They chose Kunik for tailor-made, thoughtful treatments that center the experiences of people in their organization. 

What works best: organic conversations paired with institutional knowledge

The Kunik team boasts collective decades in addressing people problems and larger workplace issues. That’s why we’re so good at building externally what orgs were unable to accomplish internally. We know solving those problems at scale entails two key components: 

1. Conversations with client companies for discovery and thought partnership

2. Examining client companies’ existing data and firsthand knowledge, such as anecdotal feedback, performance reviews, and employee engagement surveys

3. Developing & nurturing an network of expert practitioners with breadth and depth of expertise

Orgs love working with Kunik because we can uncover issues for them by listening to clients and their own employees to discover systemic challenges. But, they also crave help with problems they’ve already identified. Ultimately, Kunik is most impactful for teams who are ready to put in the work. 

What comes next: Kunik’s 12-month roadmap

Q2 (and 2023 as a whole) has been jam-packed with client success stories, hard lessons, and continued business growth. As for what comes next, here are three priorities for the Kunik team across the coming 12 months: 

1. Continuing company growth — We want to serve more clients to reach even more employees. Internally, that means working on our sales optimization. Externally, that means impacting more people’s lives. 

2. Leading and supporting our industry — Kunik has found its home in enhancing the employee experience e, so we want to nurture and lead it. In Q3, we’ll host the Employee Experience Leaders Round Table, inviting carefully selected experts to spread timely, vital knowledge in the space. 

3. Understanding employee retention & performance — We know today’s CEOs are hyper-focused on the development and longevity of their employees — and that’s our bread and butter. Kunik will continue to be available to them, sharing best practices (both short- and long-term) for optimizing the employee experience. 

Too many players in the employee experience sphere do a lot of talking, but not a lot of doing. That’s not us. Kunik is thrilled to host this upcoming Round Table and spotlight actionable insights for employees and stakeholders. The events will kick off as invite-only for Kunik clients and friends — and continually grow from there. 

Tracking workplace trends like AI, increasingly global teams, and more

At Kunik, we are uniquely positioned to learn about countless industries. On top of this, we triangulate three sources of knowledge: 

1. Major research centers & publications — We’re always listening to podcasts and geeking out on the latest studies from reputable research hubs. 

2. Kunik clients & their employees — We have the privilege of working with orgs of many shapes and sizes across a variety of issues. As a result, our conversations with both leaders and individual employees provide invaluable first hand perspectives. 

3. Kunik’s Expert Network — We constantly tap into our network of Kunik Experts to gauge the trends that they’re seeing, which allows us to stay in the loop and ahead of the game. 

While we’re always on the lookout for new leaders to add to the Kunik Expert Network, here are three areas we’re leaning into right now. 

1. Practical leadership & managerial knowledge — We’re adding experts with deep experience in leading teams and building trust between team members. 

2. International workplaces— We’re meeting the demand for global perspectives as more and more orgs operate with teams and  offices globally. 

3. AI’s impact on the workplace — AI-enabled tools have already dramatically altered certain lines of work. How will they impact our understanding of people, HR, and workplaces? We’re helping companies understand how to leverage it. 

Know someone with unmatched knowledge on one of these fronts? Send them our way! 

A look inside Team Kunik

The end of Q2 is a unique time: Many team members start heading out for summer vacation, and some are even getting ready to bring a baby into the world! At the same time, there is plenty of work set for Q3. Here’s what Kunik Co-Founders Liz and Josh are focusing on right now: 

• Value-add content creation — Organizing content now will help with the post-Labor Day sprint. You can find Josh compiling Kunik’s greatest insights from recent round tables. 

• Sales & closing deals — Kunik closed an unprecedented number of deals in the past few weeks. Onboarding these contracts, designing their roadmaps, sourcing the ideal experts for their Kunik Conversations, and more are seriously time-consuming — so staying on top of everything is key to ensure max ROI for clients.
  

We’re happy to look back and say Q2 affirmed what we already knew: Kunik is a game-changer for orgs striving to make work more human. 

Regardless of industry, company size, or geographic location, struggles in the workplace are near-universal. How Kunik identifies the nuances in between, adjusts for them, and purpose-builds solutions is what generates impact. 

From here, the diversity of companies we’ve signed throughout Q2 reinforces our value prop. We can work with a major sports team, a clean energy venture, a rising fintech star, and much more. Kunik fulfills a real need — and it is immensely energizing.