When trust is fragile, burnout is high, and disengagement is costly, HR leaders need a smarter way forward. This book shows you how to use employee listening and the Employee Experience Flywheel™ to focus your efforts, take action, and create an employee experience that drives real business results.
When the employee experience improves, people feel more supported, more engaged, and better equipped to do their best work. The result? The customer experience improves too — and over time, that leads to stronger business results. This book helps HR leaders make that connection practical.
The Employee Experience Flywheel™ is the core framework inside this book. It helps HR leaders start with employee listening, identify where the biggest opportunities exist, and focus on the right strategic levers to improve the employee experience in ways that drive real business impact.
Too many people are showing up to work already drained. They are overloaded, under-supported, and quietly losing trust in the systems, leaders, and culture around them. By the time most organizations see the signs, the fallout is already showing up in morale, retention, and performance.
People want to believe their workplace cares, listens, and follows through. When that trust breaks down, everything feels harder.
Culture is not built in a values statement alone. It is shaped every day through your leadership, communication, recognition, and support.
Another slogan, pizza party, or perk will not repair what is broken. Teams need practical changes that improve how work actually feels day to day.
It helps you spot what is not working, focus where it matters most, and make changes people can actually feel.
Think of this as a choose-your-own-adventure playbook for HR leaders — helping you use employee listening to identify where to focus and what to do next.
Clear direction to help you identify what matters most and what to do next.
Ready-to-use AI prompts to help you think faster, plan smarter, and move the work forward.
For every focus area, you’ll get a clear 30-day plan to help you put ideas into practice and show ROI.
Thoughtful questions to help HR leaders pause, reflect, and act with intention.
Each section includes an easy action you can put into practice right away.
Learn how to track the right metrics, show ROI, and connect employee experience to customer experience and better business outcomes.
This book is for the HR leaders who know work can be better — and are ready to do something about it.
“After years in the talent universe, I know firsthand that the hardest thing to rebuild in any organization isn't process or structure. It's trust, and in today's climate of burnout, layoffs, and constant change, it has never been more essential; Mary Baird gets that, and this book gives people leaders the practical roadmap to do the meaningful work of rebuilding it one experience at a time.”
—STEVE CADIGAN, author of Workquake, Talent Strategist, LinkedIn’s first CHRO
"This book cuts through the noise and focuses on what truly improves work: clarity, consistency, and leadership that people can rely on. Mary Baird makes employee experience simple and human, helping HR leaders create the conditions where people feel valued, supported, and able to show up as themselves.”
—CLAUDE SILVER, author of Be Yourself at Work, Chief Heart Officer, VaynerX
“With Squash the Sunday Scaries, Mary provides a volume with hundreds of practical action-steps and numerous real-life examples for leaders. If you walk away from this book not knowing practical steps to take to significantly improve your workplace culture, you have only yourself to blame! This is a wonderful resource for leaders at any level.”
—DR. PAUL WHITE, co-author of The 5 Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace, President, Appreciation at Work
“Squash the Sunday Scaries gives HR leaders practical tools they can use immediately to create positive change at work. It’s clear, grounded, and designed for real-world application, not theory. This book offers a blueprint for repairing the fractured social contract between employers and employees by intentionally redesigning the employee experience. With a clear focus on trust, fairness, and meaningful work, it provides leaders with concrete steps they can implement immediately to create lasting organizational impact.”
—ERIN SWAIN, Director of Learning and Development, DallasHR
“Culture doesn’t change because of programs—it changes when leaders are aligned. How leaders show up, how teams work together, and how employees experience the organization all flow from our values. This book shows leaders how to translate values into everyday leadership practices, turning employee experience into a meaningful and measurable business advantage.”
—HOLLY NOVAK, SPHR, SHRM-SCP, Chief People Officer, Jack Henry & Associates
“Mary has written a practical and deeply human playbook that replaces surface-level perks with a scalable system to rebuild trust, transform culture, and turn Sunday dread into Monday momentum. If you deal with people, you need to read this book.”
—DR. TONY BRIDWELL, author of Beyond the Leader, A Fable About the 7 Disciplines that Define Extraordinary Teams
This speaker reel shows how Mary turns the ideas behind Squash the Sunday Scaries into a practical, energizing experience for live audiences. Through keynotes, workshops, and leadership events, she helps organizations rethink employee experience in ways that build trust, strengthen culture, and move people to action.
Squash the Sunday Scaries is a practical guide for HR leaders who want to improve employee experience in ways that are strategic, measurable, and human. At the center of the book is The Simplifiers Employee Experience Flywheel™ — a framework that helps leaders use employee listening to uncover where the greatest opportunity exists, then focus on the right strategic levers to create meaningful, positive change.
This modern playbook shows readers how to move from insight to action. Inside, you’ll find practical guidance for each lever, AI prompts to accelerate the work, a 30-day action plan, journaling prompts for reflection, and one simple tip you can put into practice right away.
The bigger shift is this: Better EX leads to Better CX, which leads to better business results. When work feels better for employees, it shows up in stronger engagement, better customer service, and healthier business performance.
Mary Baird, PHR is the Founder of The Simplifiers, where her core philosophy is simple: do less, but focus on the right things to create the greatest impact. As an Employee Experience strategist, keynote speaker, consultant, and podcast host, she helps HR leaders turn complex workplace challenges into practical action.
✓ Founder of The Simplifiers Worldwide
✓ Host of The Simplifiers Podcast, heard in 155+ countries
✓ Speaker & consultant focused on EX, leadership, and culture
✓ Known for simplifying complex workplace challenges into practical action
Mary believes better employee experience starts when HR leaders stop trying to fix everything and focus on what matters most.
The ideas in Squash the Sunday Scaries are meant to spark real change inside organizations. Mary brings the book’s message to life through keynotes, workshops, and leadership sessions that help teams rebuild trust, strengthen culture, and create a better employee experience in practical, actionable ways. Sessions are available in person, virtually, or in a hybrid format.
A clear, energizing keynote that helps audiences understand why employee experience matters, where to focus first, and how to take action.
Interactive workshops that help HR teams turn employee insight into action while using AI ethically and strategically to accelerate the work.
Fresh, practical talks for audiences who want smarter ways to improve culture, trust, and the day-to-day experience of work.
Get your copy of Squash the Sunday Scaries and start building a better employee experience, one simplified step at a time.
Buying for your team, book club, or event? Ask about bulk orders: hello@marybaird.co
