dehumanisation in the workplace

The Well-Being Cost of Dehumanisation in the Workplace

I read an article on LinkedIn this week by @Geri Stengel that got us thinking about the quiet erosion of authentic human voice in the workplace.

People are exhausted. Not just from work volume, but from the constant performance required to be seen, heard, and valued. From adapting their communication to fit what platforms reward. From second-guessing whether their natural way of thinking, speaking, and leading is "professional" enough. This isn't just about platforms. It's about what happens when we internalise those patterns.

The article highlighted something stark: when women changed their LinkedIn profiles to appear male, their visibility jumped by 400%, 700%, even 818%. The algorithm doesn't need to know you're a woman to suppress you. It only needs to recognise patterns, your writing style, your communication approach, and decide your voice matters less.

That's algorithmic dehumanisation. And whilst women are disproportionately affected, this isn't just about female voices. It's about any human voice that doesn't conform to narrow, traditional patterns. What's most concerning is the well-being cost. When people learn that showing up authentically means being overlooked, whether by an algorithm or in a meeting room, they start performing. They flatten their communication. They adopt language that feels foreign. They exhaust themselves trying to sound like someone else.

This has a cost. Disconnection from work. Imposter syndrome. Burnout. The nagging feeling that success requires abandoning the qualities that make you effective. And when this becomes normalised, when only certain voices count as "professional", we lose the human intelligence that makes businesses resilient, innovative, and sustainable.

Voice isn't vanity. It's how we shape our careers, build our businesses, influence our industries. When suppression quietly determines whose ideas get oxygen, it's reshaping not just economic reality but human well-being. So, if we're accepting algorithmic suppression as inevitable on platforms, what are we accepting in our businesses?

The future being built treats humans as resources to be optimised rather than whole people with diverse intelligence. That's not a technical problem; it's a human one that businesses need to actively address. We can't separate business strategy from human well-being. Everything is connected. The suppression of voice, the narrowing of what counts as "professional", the exhaustion of constantly performing, these are symptoms of the same dehumanising system. We need to value our human intelligence and recognise that sustainable growth comes from cultures where people show up as themselves. We must nurture our intelligence and not be afraid to have a voice of our own.