Shaun Raaff — Entrepreneur,People Centric, CEO, Employee Experience
With Shaun Raaff — Entrepreneur,People Centric, CEO, Employee Experience
In short
Shaun Raaff, Chief Experience Officer at Humanity SA, explains employee experience as a business discipline rather than a soft one: values-based leadership, consistent daily practice instead of one-off workshops, and data-led assessment of what is actually wrong. His argument is that treating people well drives revenue, and that culture must be driven from the top or it stalls. The one takeaway: Employee experience is framed as a performance and profitability issue, not a wellbeing add-on.
How did a sports psychologist end up running an employee experience company?
Shaun trained in education and sports psychology, teaching and coaching while studying. His fascination with high-performing teams led to private practice, but South African rugby sides were not receptive 15 years ago. A friend suggested HR and recruitment as a route into corporate, and after a few years there he co-founded Humanity five years ago.
Is South African corporate leadership still resistant to caring about employees?
Things are changing, though many senior executives were shaped by a hierarchical, almost militaristic upbringing. Shaun's point is that the employee base is shifting faster than the leadership base, so leaders who refuse to move with their people will struggle to attract and retain strong talent.
Isn't employee experience just fluffy, kumbaya stuff?
No. Cultures can be as hard or as soft as a business wants, provided everyone has agreed to them. Shaun uses high-performance sports teams as the analogy: they succeed not by taking it easy but by holding very high expectations of each other, with engagement that is sometimes tough or conflictual.
Why does empathy make sceptical executives uncomfortable, and how do you get past that?
Because empathy is confused with sympathy. Shaun defines it as making sure you have looked at things through the lens of the person looking back at you, and used that perspective to reach an outcome. With accountants and lawyers, his colleague Craig uses neuroscience concepts, which makes it feel scientific enough to listen to.
Should a company start with vision and mission or with values?
Values. Shaun calls values a compass and a form of process psychology: get the process right and the results follow. Vision and mission matter so staff know where they are headed, but statements on a wall are a waste of time if nobody lives by them. Humanity itself runs on nine values.
What is the business case for investing in employee experience?
It makes more money. Shaun says the research shows businesses doing this well perform better on revenue and bottom line, because how people feel determines how they perform, and performance drives profit. He frames it as high performance rather than soft, fireside sentiment.
What does a typical client look like when they first call?
Often an SOS: high performers are leaving, or the leader knows the culture is toxic but not how to change it. Clients range from big corporates, where Humanity works with subsets and divisions rather than the whole 5,000-person business, to smaller firms. Work begins with objective assessment using qualitative and quantitative data.
Why don't one-off workshops and motivational sessions change anything?
Because neural pathways revert to autopilot and old habits without daily reinforcement. Shaun says this cannot be an intervention or facilitation; it must be consistency driven by leaders all day, every day. Change comes from small things over time rather than one big event that leaves people feeling great for a day or two.
Where does company culture have to start?
At the top, with the leader, then flowing down through the organisation. Shaun has seen middle managers try to drive change while senior leaders remain uninterested, and it is extremely difficult. Even in his own 16-person team, getting it right takes active, constant work.
In their words
the experience of your customer is determined by your employee and if your employee is being treated like crap why would you expect your customer to be treated any differently
empathy is just trying to make sure that you have looked at the perspective of the person who's looking at you
we want people who leave businesses to be assets not liabilities and that's our biggest goal
our neural pathways are are fixed to go into autopilot and if you aren't changing it you know like day on day on day on it's it's going to go back to old habits without without fail
our goals have never been things that look like revenue our goals are like how we work because how we work will drive revenue
Key takeaways
- Employee experience is framed as a performance and profitability issue, not a wellbeing add-on.
- Values, agreed and lived daily, are more useful than a vision and mission mounted on a wall.
- Empathy is perspective-taking to reach an outcome, not sympathy, and leaders' vulnerability makes them human to their teams.
- Culture change requires consistency over years; long-standing clients use Humanity as an accountability partner, one for almost three years.
- People leaving a business should be assets, not liabilities, and that reflects well on the employer brand.
- If culture is not driven from the top, middle managers pushing it will struggle.
Show notes
On this episode I chat with Shaun about Humanity SA,, what it is and what they do.
Humanity is an innovative company driven by the human element at the heart of every business. It is leading the way employees can experience work today, by building tangible relationships between companies and their most important asset, their workforce.
Humanity aims to bring positive change with every interaction an employee has with their employer. Every meeting, project, team-building exercise, strat-co and ex-co, should be a cohesive experience where growth, happiness and purpose are key outcomes.
It’s only through such a lens a company can see REAL ROI.
Frequently asked questions
How long does Humanity typically work with a client?
Some engagements run two and a half to three years. Their longest-standing client is a 500-employee business they have worked with for almost three years on long-term strategy, using a data tool and holding the leadership team accountable to their commitments.
Does Humanity work outside South Africa?
Yes. They have a large South African client base plus several clients north of the border in Africa, working with executive teams. Shaun says the shift to virtual communication has opened their eyes to further opportunities, including international work.
What is Humanity's own internal purpose?
To be one of the best businesses in the world to work for, and then to help other businesses become the same. Shaun says their goals have never been revenue targets, because how they work is what drives revenue.
What is Shaun's personal ambition?
To stand on a TED stage and share this message. He says he believes massively in the power and potential of people, and wants to watch teams, businesses and leaders succeed around him.
How can people get in touch?
Through the newly developed website humanitysa.co.za, by emailing hello at that address, or via their LinkedIn page, which Shaun describes as very active. They also have Facebook and Instagram, which are more playful.
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