Patti Perez - The Drama-Free Workplace: How You Can Prevent Unconscious Bias, Sexual Harassment, Ethics Lapses, and Inspire a Healthy Culture

This book is smart, practical, funny, and revolutionary. Patti has combined decades of expertise, a fresh voice, and cutting-edge academic research to create an indispensable guide.

Alexandra Bodnar,
Deputy General Counsel, Volt Information Sciences, Inc.

My work involves advising corporate leaders, including directors, on issues related to ethics, compliance, and corporate governance. In The Drama-Free Workplace, Patti Perez identifies root causes of lapses in these areas and offers real-life, actionable solutions that will help any company not only achieve compliance, but also achieve corporate health. This book should be on your reading list if your job involves any of these areas.

Angelica Espinosa,
Vice President, Compliance and
Governance and Corporate Secretary, Sempra Energy

Pattis ability to weave academic research findings with practical experience and real-life examples is the perfect blend for anyone who wants to better understand why issues such as sexual harassment and bias still plague our workplaces. The Drama-Free Workplace is an authentic, no-holds-barred collection of Pattis 25 + years of experience providing real-world solutions to these important business challenges.

Carla Boren,
General Counsel and Head of Human Resources, Otonomy, Inc.

This book could not have come at a better time. HR professionals have continually struggled with the critical question posed in this book: Can we really eliminate drama at work? The emergence of the #MeToo movement has elevated the need for real life practical solutions that can be adopted in the workplace. Patti offers many business-savvy solutions throughout the book that are grounded in legal knowledge and experience. Her ability to eliminate legalese, pose solutions in easy-to-understand English, and go beyond compliance will serve as a valuable reference guide for HR practitioners, and ultimately contribute to making the workplace healthier, more productive, and more profitable.

Debora Burke,
Vice President, Human Resources, General Dynamics NASSCO

The Drama-Free Workplace is packed with keen insights about what causes workplace conflict. More important, its filled with practical solutions for how to resolve drama, how to increase employee trust and engagement, and how to create and maintain a healthy and productive workplace culture. This is a must-read for any business leader who intuitively understands the link between the lack of drama and business success, but needs tools to implement a plan to address it. The result will surely be an increase in your business value.

Pete Leddy, PhD,
Board Member, Chief People Officer

Tension, anxiety, and conflict at work all fuel what is known today as drama in the workplace, causing loss of income, productivity, and profit to all involved parties. Finally, help is available.

Highly respected attorney and consultant Patti Perez has written an easy-to-read manual offering step-by-step instructions for addressing the issues, diagnosing the problem, and implementing a resolution.

Ms. Perez offers, in everyday language, a guide to climbing the workplace-culture pyramid to achieve goals for improving and enhancing a satisfying work environment. Her Roadmap for Creating and Maintaining a Drama-Free Culture offers simplified checklists for conducting investigations and creating workplace policy.

This real-world guidebook belongs on the shelves of enlightened supervisors, managers and business leaders everywhere.

Donna M. Dell,
Former Labor Commissioner for the State of California

The Drama-Free Workplace is a much-needed solution to the people challenges that keep executives up at night. Whether you define drama as ethics lapses, harassment, unconscious bias, resistance to change, or lack of accountability, Patti Perez tackles these issues and more head on. Better yet, her roadmap solutions for creating and maintaining a drama-free culture are practical and relevant, no matter what industry, company size, or geography you find yourself in. Make this mandatory reading for your leadership team and in your MBA classes!

Paul Falcone,
HR executive and bestselling author, 101 Tough
Conversations to Have with Employees and 101 Sample Write-Ups
for Documenting Employee Performance Problems

This is a first-of-its-kind bookit leverages Pattis deep expertise and gives leaders and HR practitioners a robust toolkit to help them build their own authentic, drama-free workplace. When were faced with tough workplace situations, its great to have a toolkit of sound, proven methodologies to rely on to help us navigate the situations and emerge with a return to harmony in the workplace. This is a must-read for all HR practitioners Ill be issuing this out to my team!

Tonya Cross,
Senior Vice President, Human Capital, Lytx

The Drama-Free Workplace is a forward-thinking manual on how to foster the workplace of the future. Pattis thought leadership and years of in-depth workplace problem-solving experience are brilliantly woven together in a manner that provides readers with the practical tools to generate a healthy workplace culture. Leaders focused on moving beyond compliance and toward talent growth and workplace success should include Pattis book in their library.

Mishell Parreno Taylor,
Shareholder, Littler Mendelson

The Drama-Free Workplace is sure to become a text that will be read by HR professionals, employment attorneys, executive coaches, and really anyone in the modern workplace who wants to do their part to reduce unnecessary conflict. As a lawyer who has seen the drama up close, both as in-house advisor and as outside counsel dealing with the aftermath, I welcome this type of direction for my clients. Too often, companies fail to prevent or address drama because their focus is not genuinely rooted in making the workplace better for all but is instead focused on avoiding lawsuits. Pattis methodical explanation of the root causes of drama, combined with her no-nonsense, practical solutions make The Drama-Free Workplace an easy read that users can go back to repeatedly for ideas and guidance.

Nestor Barrero,
Senior Counsel, Costangy, Brooks, Smith & Prophete, LLP.
Formerly Vice PresidentEmployment Law, NBC/Universal

Patti Perez understands the American workplace. She is a seasoned employment lawyer, an investigator of countless workplace harassment claims, and is a woman who can easily slide into the shoes of the lowest-level non-manager or the CEO. In The Drama-Free Workplace, Patti taps into her deep understanding of the law and people, and uses plain language and real-life tales of workplace woe to deliver an analysis of where workplaces go wrong. She provides bold yet practical prescriptions for creating a workplace that is goal-focused, fun, productive, and, yes, drama-free. Spoiler alert: skittishly striving for mere legal compliance wont cut it; you need to define, create, and maintain an actual culture. Ill be sending copies of The Drama-Free Workplace to clients and friends.

Mike Cramer,
Employment Law Shareholder, Ogletree Deakins, Chicago

For many companies, glossy brochures market a culture of inclusivity, fairness, and respect. However, for many of those same companies, all that fancy marketing masks a drama-filled, toxic culture that is anything but inclusive, fair, and respectful. But toxic workplaces can be fixed, and even better, they can be avoided altogether. Relying on the basic tenants of authenticity and trust, Patti Perez applies commonsense principals, solid research, and years of experience to demonstrate how drama in the workplace can effectively be managed out of existence.