In this issue we foreground firms who are taking an employee-centric approach. Some doing so successfully despite the unprecedented challenge of the pandemic and others by pivoting away from more traditional structures of work and people management. A cover interview with international insurance giant Zurich explores its people-first pandemic response whist a longform interview with a FTSE 100 firm explores what an individuated employee response to difficult business conditions looks like. There’s also insight into how Patagonia, Microsoft and Dan Price, the CEO-who-pays-everyone-the-same, make the employee experience consistent.