CEO: Brain eBox | Workplace Learning Solutions | Host of the HR on the Brain Podcast | CEO: Lead with Sheree | Speaker | Passionate about developing leaders | Get in touch: sheree@thebrainebox.com

You’ve built a reputation for delivering great L&amp;D work - facilitating training, designing programs, and running onboarding. People trust you to get things done.But to grow into your next role, it’s not just about great work anymore.Now, it’s about influence, alignment, and leadership.You’ve got great ideas, but they’re not always landing.You want to be seen as a strategic partner, but you’re still treated like a service provider.You’re ready to grow, but what you need isn’t tucked inside another course.You need real-world support from someone who understands what L&amp;D excellence looks like - and how to lead it.That’s where I come in.I’m Sheree Comninellis, L&amp;D Executive and mentor for emerging L&amp;D leaders.I help L&amp;D professionals like you step into leadership.If you’re ready to lead, start here:📬 Executive Moves — my 5-minute weekly leadership edge for ambitious L&amp;D professionals.Each edition gives you:📌 1 bold insight to reframe how you lead📌 1 practical move you can apply immediately📌 1 growth resource to help you go deeper➡️ Get Executive Moves here: https://dashboard.mailerlite.com/forms/589169/98676779613423573/share.💡 Want to go further?Join the waitlist for The L&amp;D Professionals Collective - a monthly membership that helps you grow your confidence, visibility, and strategic influence, so you can be recognised as ready for L&amp;D leadership.Inside, you’ll get monthly live sessions, coaching, and practical tools designed to help you bridge the gap between delivering learning and leading it.➡️ Learn more and join the waitlist here: https://leadwithsheree.com/ldprofessionalcollectivewaitinglistMore about me:I live in Cape Town with my wife and beautiful children. I love historical fiction, good coffee, and my all-time favourite series is Gilmore Girls.

Sheree Comninellis (she/her)

Molly Johnson-Jones

Flexa

Co-Founder & CEO

11:FS

Senior Research Strategy Lead

Stone & River

Senior Consultant

Consultant

GlobalData Retail, formerly known as Conlumino and Verdict Retail

Lead Food Retail Research Analyst

Nomura International plc

Food Retail Analyst

Deloitte

Scholar

Rothschild

Intern

Hello, I'm Molly, CEO and Co-Founder of Flexa.

At Flexa, we're revolutionizing the future of work by showcasing what makes companies unique and bringing much-needed transparency to the job hunting process. With 3 million users globally, we partner with esteemed brands like Airbus, Mars, BT, and Verizon to create inclusive employer brands that attract the right talent. If you're keen to get your company on Flexa, reach out to Poppy at poppy@flexa.careers.

As one of the UK's foremost thought leaders on the future of work, I’ve been featured in major media outlets like Forbes and The FT. I’ve headlined talks at prestigious events such as Sifted, Recfest, and RunningRemote, and appeared on BBC News and TalkTV. I run workshops on a variety of topics, including EVPs and DEI, which I’ve delivered impactfully for GWI and Microsoft. Additionally, I’ve partnered with industry leaders like Mercer, Intel, Awesomic, and Samsung, consistently achieving excellent results for their campaigns.

If you're interested in collaborating on an influencer campaign or booking me as a speaker, please reach out at hello@mjj.work or connect with me on LinkedIn. Let’s build the future of work together!

Building a culture remotely is hard, they say.

WELL 

Not if you rank your employees’ fighting skills in a league table and a 158 message, very animated, discussion ensues.

CEO & Co-Founder @ Flexa | Future of Work Speaker & Creator (100k) | Employer Brand | DEI | Talent Intelligence

At 23, I almost had to stop working full time.

I’d just been diagnosed with a chronic autoimmune disease that affected my mobility. 

Some days, I couldn’t walk. Others, I felt completely fine. The inconsistency frustrated me so much.

Not just physically - but professionally.

I ended up losing my job because of it - because I needed to work from home one day per week .

The traditional world of work wasn’t built for people like me.

I’d sit in interviews, trying to understand if flexibility was offered without directly asking for it.

Because I didn’t want to be seen as a risk or someone who would work less hard than their able bodied counterparts. 

I didn’t want to be ruled out before I had the chance to prove myself.

And that’s when the idea for Flexa started.

Because if I was struggling to find a company where I could thrive, how many others were too?

One of the best things that came out of building Flexa was that people no longer have to choose between:
 
- Working and being well
- Ambition and flexibility
- Salary and representation
- Culture and progression

And today, over 4.3 million people worldwide use Flexa to discover companies where they can do their best work.
________________________

👋 I'm Molly and I run Flexa, the platform that enables you to filter for your next employer based on what you really care about (like hybrid working and autonomy)

🔔 Follow me for musings on the future of work and equality

When women are assertive, we're called aggressive.

When women get frustrated, we're called irrational.

When women are confident, we're called arrogant. 

When women are resolute, we're called cold.

When women are direct, we're called rude.

When we disagree, we're called difficult. 

Women are expected to be warm, submissive, non-confrontational, and passive.

And when we aren't, we're penalised.

It's time to challenge stereotypes by double checking whether you're judging people differently because of their gender. 

________________________

👋 I'm Molly and I run Flexa, the platform that enables you to filter for your next employer based on what you really care about (like gender equality)

🔔 Follow me for musings on the future of work and equality

Good morning to everyone except people whose primary mode of contact is a phone call without any warning 

I will send you to voicemail, or text you to ask you what you want 

Unless you're someone I know also hates this behaviour, in which case I'll pick up and be concerned that you're in a life or death situation

Our team are in the same place for just 3.2% of the year.

When I share that stat, people are usually sceptical. It sounds like far too little time to build trust or a genuine sense of connection.

Yet Flexa is the most connected team I’ve ever worked in.

Once a month, everyone comes into the office for a day that’s intentionally designed to be worthwhile: strategy sessions where decisions actually get made, workshops that spark proper debate, co-working time so we can unblock things together, and something fun to finish the day on a high.

We also cover everyone’s travel, accommodation, food, and drink for the whole trip, so it’s easy for people to show up and focus on the day itself.

For the other 96.8% of the year, we’re scattered across the country.

Two of our most distributed team members live 423 miles apart. 

If you sat them next to each other at dinner, you wouldn’t guess they’ve only been in the same room six times. There’s no distance in the way they work or talk to each other.

It’s a good reminder that strong cultures absolutely can be built online. But a small amount of shared in-person time makes everything else work better: it gives people context, confidence, and a sense of who they’re collaborating with beyond the screen.

Our 3.2% is enough for us (and gave the team time to make us the most chaotic calendar I've ever received - photo below)

 How do you decide what the right amount is for your team?
________________________

👋 I'm Molly and I run Flexa, the platform that enables you to filter for your next employer based on what you really care about (like remote-first working)

🔔 Follow me for musings on the future of work and equality

“People don’t leave companies, they leave bad managers”

We repeat that line like gospel - but I think it totally ignores the true experiences we have at work.

Don’t get me wrong, I’ve absolutely legged it out the door because of terrible managers. The kind who take credit for your work, or constantly make you doubt whether you’re any good at it in the first place. Those are managers that you want to RUN from.

But I’ve also left brilliant teams and supportive bosses. I’ve left jobs I loved for better pay, for a new industry, for a challenge that felt exciting. And sometimes, I’ve left simply because I wasn’t the right person for that place anymore.

Leaving isn’t always a sign that something’s gone wrong. Sometimes it’s proof that things went right.

And I think that phrase “people leave bad managers” creates unnecessary anxiety for managers too. It implies they’re solely responsible for whether someone stays or goes. They’re not.

People leave for all sorts of reasons. Because they’ve grown. Because they’re curious. Because they’re ready for something new.

Good managers recognise that. Good companies make peace with it and use it to their advantage.

And as a startup, that’s what we want too: to give people huge exposure to new things, new skills, and new ways of thinking. So that they can go on to do brilliant things elsewhere.

Just not too soon!
________________________

👋 I'm Molly and I run Flexa, the platform that enables you to filter for your next employer based on what you really care about (like great leadership)

🔔 Follow me for musings on the future of work and equality

Most people aren’t asking to WFH for an easy life. They’re asking because real life isn't easy, and flexibility is the only way work and life fit together.

But WFH isn't the answer for everyone. There are people who don't live in environments conducive to work, who thrive in structure and routine.

People are like plants; we thrive in different environments. 

The most powerful thing a company can do is be clear on their approach, so that people can make an educated decision about whether your company is right for them. 

________________________

👋 I'm Molly and I run Flexa, the platform that enables you to filter for your next employer based on what you really care about (like remote, hybrid, or office based companies)

🔔 Follow me for musings on the future of work and equality

I used to work with someone who used a wheelchair; the office was supposedly accessible so he was expected to come in every day

It had a lift, disabled bathrooms, and curb-free access

But everything else clearly hadn't been tested out by someone who actually used a wheelchair

The fob access was out of reach, doors swung inwards, the kitchen was unusable, and some doors were too narrow

Needless to say that he didn't stick around long

Accessibility is about so much more than a disabled toilet, and requirements vary from person to person

Hiring diverse talent requires an environment that doesn't present obstacles, otherwise that talent can't thrive and attrition will be significantly higher
_________________________

👋 I'm Molly and I run Flexa, the platform that enables you to filter for your next employer based on what you really care about (like inclusive companies)

🔔 Follow me for musings on the future of work and equality

I hired one of my best friends, and it totally changed our friendship. 



People always warn you not to hire your friends, but the truth is that you just shouldn’t hire the friends you can’t work with. 

I've known Beth Carter since I was 19. Three years ago, we hired her as our Head of Growth. Today, she’s heading off to something new... and we'll remain friends. 

It’s made me think about why it worked, and what actually happens when you blur the line between friend and colleague.

The friendship didn’t stay the same, and we never expected it to. 

It changed drastically.

Working together meant seeing each other fully: the strengths, the weaknesses, the stress patterns, the way we each respond when things get messy or urgent. 

You can’t learn that over dinners or holidays. You only learn it when you’re solving real problems side by side.

And, strangely, that made the friendship stronger overall rather than putting it under strain. We understand each other better now because we’ve had to be honest, clear, and occasionally very direct (although that's probably not that occasional for me). 

We’ve had to face difficult situations and get through them. We've had to navigate complex power dynamics. We’ve had to give each other feedback without tiptoeing around it. We've had to shift the way we do things to prioritise the business as well as our friendship. We've had to support and pick each other up from places you'd rarely see a friend. 

Not every friendship can hold that. Some depend on avoiding tension or keeping things easy. Some thrive on fun and spontaneity. Others are an escape from work.

Those friendships don’t survive working together.

But when a relationship is built on trust and clarity to begin with, working together adds something meaningful to it. It gives you a different kind of respect for one another. 

It deepens the friendship because you’ve moved beyond the polished version of yourselves. 

The work changed the friendship, and the friendship shaped the work.

Hiring a friend isn’t the risk. Hiring the wrong friend is.

She’s off to an exciting opportunity, and the friendship is stronger because of the three years we spent working together. And her friendship with my husband, Maurice, another co-founder, has grown over that time too. 

That feels like the best possible outcome.

Good luck, Beth 🍀 
________________________

👋 I'm Molly and I run Flexa, the platform that enables you to filter for your next employer based on what you really care about (like cultures built on trust and respect)

🔔 Follow me for musings on the future of work and equality

One of the best employers I’ve come across lately wasn’t a tech company or a start-up. It was a rail operator... here's why:

We’ve just onboarded Northern onto Flexa, and I’ve been genuinely impressed by how much they offer. 

They aren't just things that sounds nice on paper, but things that actually make a difference to people's lives. 

Here’s a snapshot of what they provide:

• 9 months of enhanced maternity leave on full pay
• Pension contributions matched at 1.5x
• Compassionate leave
• Various options for flexibility
• Emergency leave
• Carers leave
• Pregnancy loss leave
• Early careers opportunities across graduates and apprentices
• Neonatal leave
• Leave for fertility treatment
• Paid volunteer days
• Veteran communities
• Clear and transparent representation goals

None of this is box-ticking. It’s the kind of support that acknowledges people have families, responsibilities, health challenges and ambitions outside of work.

And it’s a reminder that great workplace culture isn’t confined to tech, or start-ups, or the industries people normally point to. Every company has the potential to be truly inclusive, no matter the industry. 

I’m really pleased to have Northern on Flexa – and I think a lot of companies could learn from what they’ve put in place.

You can read more about them on their profile page on Flexa... you know where to go!

________________________

👋 I'm Molly and I run Flexa, the platform that enables you to filter for your next employer based on what you really care about (like inclusivity)

🔔 Follow me for musings on the future of work and equality

Enhanced paternity leave isn't just good for men - it's good for women too

We often talk about parental leave as a benefit. But enhanced paternity leave, in particular, is a real marker of inclusion.

Because when men take more leave, something powerful happens:

- Caring responsibilities become more evenly shared
- Women face less of the career penalty associated with early caregiving
- Teams start seeing parenting as a human responsibility, not a gendered one
- Companies remove one of the most persistent structural inequalities at work

So, today I wanted to spotlight some of the Flexa-verified companies leading the way on enhanced, equal, or progressive parental leave 👇

💛 Vodafone - 16 weeks paid parental leave for all parents, plus the option to return on 80% hours at 100% pay

📡 Virgin Media O2 - 14 weeks paid paternity leave, plus neonatal leave and carers’ leave

🚆 SilverRail - enhanced leave covering adoption, neonatal care and shared parental leave

🍫 Mars UK - Equal Parental Leave policy, with 26 weeks at 90% pay, for every parent

🏦 ClearBank - 6 weeks paid paternity leave and neonatal leave

💛 EY - enhanced maternity and paternity leave, as well as shared parental leave

👗 ASOS.com - enhanced maternity and 8 weeks enhanced paternity leave

📞 BT Group - enhanced parental leave with 18 weeks full pay, 8 weeks half pay and 6 months statutory

🍺 The HEINEKEN Company - shared parental and adoption leave

🏦 Atom bank - enhanced parental leave and adoption leave

You can discover more companies championing parental equality on Flexa ✨
________________________

👋 I'm Molly and I run Flexa, the platform that enables you to filter for your next employer based on what you really care about (like enhanced parental leave)

🔔 Follow me for musings on the future of work and equality

Good morning to everyone except people who steal ideas and pass them off as their own*

It’s just not cool and you’ll be found out eventually 

*apparently this is the most annoying coworker trait, according to the economist

After managing dozens of people, hiring teams, and building a company, I’ve realised most people miss the one thing that actually moves their career forward:


✨ Make your work visible ✨ 


When I first became a manager, I didn’t really understand just how invisible good work can be.

Before you manage people, you assume great work naturally speaks for itself. 

You believe that if you deliver something brilliant, the right people will notice.

But inside a business, things move too quickly for that. Everyone is juggling their own priorities. No one has the full picture. And “great work” can easily sit quietly in someone’s inbox, unseen.

As a manager, I started to realise that the people who removed friction - the ones who communicated clearly, surfaced context early, and didn’t make you guess - were the ones I valued instantly. 

Not because they were loud, but because they made everything around them work better.

Fast forward to being a founder at Flexa, and that finding has become even more true. 

The people who are indispensable to the business aren’t the ones shouting about how busy they are. They aren’t performing hard work; they’re doing it, and they make their impact easy to understand.

- They make decisions visible 
- They complete work without being chased
- They give clarity before the question arrives
- They make collaboration feel smooth, not like a fight
- They tell you what’s happening so you don’t have to go digging
- They start discussions early, showing how they work as well as what they do

As a founder, that is gold. Those are the people you build the company around.

Those are the people you give bigger opportunities to because you trust the way they work, and you never have to dig around to understand their impact.

The truth is: people are recognised and rewarded based on the work they can actually see, not the work they hope is being done somewhere in the background. 

It’s the same as building an incredible product and refusing to market it because “people will realise how good it is eventually.”

It's highly unlikely that they will. 

Not because they don’t care, but because that product / person just isn't at the front of their mind.

Visibility often carries the negative connotations of self-promotion, but it's only ever a positive trait in the workplace. 

So, if you want to progress, get a bonus, or negotiate a payrise, make your work easy to see, easy to understand, and easy to build on.

That’s what people notice and that’s what makes you indispensable.

________________________

👋 I'm Molly and I run Flexa, the platform that enables you to filter for your next employer based on what you really care about (like career progression)

🔔 Follow me for musings on the future of work and equality

❌ Flexible working is not one-size-fits-all ❌

Companies don't all offer the same thing, and people's preferences vary, like:

🌍 Sabbaticals to explore new experiences at SAP

👨‍👩‍👧 Career and family coaching to balance it all at EY

🕓 Compressed hours to structure your time at Deliveroo

🤝 Job sharing to make work more accessible at BAE Systems

🏖️ Buying or selling annual leave for true flexibility at MBDA

🌅 Early finish Fridays to make weekends that bit longer at Vodafone

💪 Women’s health leave to support every stage of life at A.P. Moller - Maersk

🧡 Paid carers leave for life’s important moments at BT Group

🎓 Studying sabbaticals to keep learning at Northern

📚 Personal development days to grow your skills at NHBC

🐶 Pawternity leave and dog-friendly spaces at Mars

💫 Paid volunteer days to give back at Virgin Media O2

There are so many ways to make work work better. Your version of flexibility might look totally different to someone else’s.

Discover companies that offer the kind of flexibility you care about 👉 Flexa

#FutureOfWork #Hiring #FlexibleWorking

Disability inclusion starts with culture, not compliance

I founded Flexa after experiencing workplace discrimination due to my autoimmune condition - so when I talk about inclusion, it’s not theory, it’s personal

We recently hosted a webinar with Toby Mildon, Leigh R., and Emily Hyland on what real disability inclusion looks like. Not policies, not box-ticking - but culture.

Here’s what stood out:
🧠 A lot of disabilities are invisible - and every employee’s needs are different
 💰 Most accommodations cost little or nothing - it’s the environment that creates barriers
 🏗️ Inclusion must be built into every stage of the employee journey
 🗣️ Psychological safety is everything, without it, people won’t disclose or ask for adjustments

Our data backs this up: candidates with disabilities are 43% more likely to value core hours flexibility and 34% more likely to prioritise mental health support

When you build workplaces that work for people with disabilities, you build workplaces that work for everyone

Read the full newsletter for expert advice, data insights, and companies getting it right 👇

#DisabilityInclusion #FutureOfWork #Accessibility #InclusiveWorkplaces #DEI

Hello and welcome back to my newsletter! I write about the future of work, flexible working, startups, and DEI. If you've been forwarded this newslett

Open article: Disability inclusion starts with culture, not compliance by Molly Johnson-Jones • 8 min read

Disability inclusion starts with culture, not compliance

ad | Burnout gets talked about so casually now that we’ve almost lost sight of what it really is. Real burnout isn’t “I’m a bit tired”: it’s debilitating. It can hospitalise people. It takes months to recover from. 

And that’s partly why this stat stopped me in my tracks: Deloitte research in 2024 estimated the cost of poor employee mental health (including burnout) at £51 billion.

Not because everyone is burning out all the time, but because when it does happen, it’s catastrophic for the individual and expensive for the organisation. 

Lost knowledge, spiralling recruitment costs, teams absorbing extra load… it adds up quickly. 

But if we agree that true burnout is severe, surely the answer isn’t just to get better at catching people once they fall. It’s to stop them getting anywhere near that point. 

That’s why I’ve been looking at what Bupa and YuLife are doing, and am now proud to be working with them. Clinical support when you genuinely need it packaged with daily engagement that people actually use to deal with the early stage signs of burnout. 

Half of their members opening the app every day is unheard of for a health benefit. In a good way. Because it hints at something we’ve been missing: consistency beats crisis response. 

Supporting people shouldn't be about wrapping them in cotton wool; it should be about making the everyday healthier so the extreme moments are far less likely. 

At Flexa, when we talk about building sustainable companies, this is what we mean: designing work in a way that prevents problems instead of just reacting to them. 


#workplacewellbeing #futureofwork #employeebenefits

Brand partnership • CEO & Co-Founder @ Flexa | Future of Work Speaker & Creator (100k) | Employer Brand | DEI | Talent Intelligence

Good morning to everyone except people who speak so slowly you almost want to climb inside their mind and speak for them. I cannot 1.5x you and it makes my brain hurt.

Gen Z aren't lazy. They're just done with your outdated workplace BS 💪

I'm tired of hearing Gen Z being called "the lazy generation" when they're actually doing what the rest of us were too afraid to do - demanding better

They're asking the questions previous generations were scared to ask. Can I work remotely? What are the growth opportunities? How does this company support mental health? What's your DEI commitment?

And here's the thing - by being vocal about these needs, they're making work better for EVERYONE. Not just themselves.

Our data shows what Gen Z actually wants from work:
💰 Salary: 75% (obviously)
🌍 Location flexibility: 57%
👩‍🎓 Personal development: 53%
🩺 Benefits: 30%
🤝 Mission: 23%

They're not asking for ping pong tables and free snacks. They want fair pay, the freedom to work where they're productive, and real opportunities to grow.

In this week's newsletter, I'm breaking down:
📊 What Gen Z actually prioritise at work (backed by real data) 
🚀 How they're redefining work for the better 
🎯 How to actually attract Gen Z talent (hint: be transparent) 
💡 What every generation can learn from Gen Z employees


Read the full newsletter below 👇 



#GenZ #FutureOfWork #EmployerBrand #WorkplaceCulture #DEI

Open article: Gen Z in the Workplace: The Ambitious Generation Redefining Work by Molly Johnson-Jones • 8 min read

Gen Z in the Workplace: The Ambitious Generation Redefining Work

What do you think ranks after salary and flexibility for candidates?


It's career progression! With 36% of people saying that it's a non negotiable for their next company.

When companies make career progression a real priority, it turns into a powerful retention and attraction tool.

Here are some brilliant Flexa verified employers recognised for investing in development and progression 👇

📊 EY – structured career paths, professional qualifications and opportunities for international mobility

✈️ TUI – skills development and progression opportunities including hackathons, L&D budget, in house training, language lessons and further education support

🛩 Airbus – clear progression frameworks, apprenticeships, graduate programmes and internal mobility across engineering and innovation

🍫 Mars – investment in career development and leadership growth at all levels, including lunch and learns, in house training and studying sabbaticals

💻 SAP – continuous learning programmes, L&D and personal development budgets, study support, hackathons and in house training

📱 Vodafone – personal development days, LinkedIn learning licenses and clear progression routes

📡 Virgin Media O2– structured development programmes, internal opportunities and leadership training

🚆 Northern – clear pathways, apprenticeships and study support and sabbaticals and financial coaching

📞 BT Group – career mobility, internal learning platform, L&D budget, coaching and mentoring and LinkedIn learning licenses

🏦 ClearBank – personal development budgets, financial coaching and in house training

Career progression shouldn’t depend on luck or how loud you shout. It should be designed into the company culture.

________________________

👋 I'm Molly and I run Flexa, the platform that enables you to filter for your next employer based on what you really care about (like career progression)

🔔 Follow me for musings on the future of work and equality

Accessibility shouldn't stop at the interview 

Too many companies treat accessibility like a checkbox during hiring and then forget about it

But accessibility needs to show up every single day. In your culture, in your operations, in your EVP

Our data shows candidates with disabilities prioritise:
Diversity: 58% above average
Dog-friendly workplaces: 52% above average
Core hours flexibility: 43% above average

And with 20% of the working age population being disabled, companies that ignore accessibility are excluding massive talent pools

This week's newsletter breaks down: 
♿ Why accessibility is a business advantage, not compliance 
🔄 How to make it an everyday priority (not just at onboarding) 
💼 How to embed it into your EVP authentically

Because disability inclusion shouldn't be a nice-to-have. It's essential.

Read the full newsletter here 👇


#DisabilityInclusion #Accessibility #DEI #EmployerBranding #WorkplaceCulture

Hello and welcome back to my newsletter! I write about the future of work, flexible working, startups and DEI. If you've been forwarded this newslette

Open article: The International Day of Persons with Disabilities: Why workplace accessibility must go beyond compliance by Molly Johnson-Jones • 10 min read

The International Day of Persons with Disabilities: Why workplace accessibility must go beyond compliance

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