HR BESTIES - HR Besties Happy Hour - Stay Safe Besties

Episode Date: October 11, 2024

Welcome back to another Happy Hour, Besties! We’re sure as hell glad it’s Friday. In this Happy Hour: Weather If you're a boss... don't do this Be careful who you get your info from Stay safe Besties!! Your To-Do List: Grab merch, submit Questions & Comments, and make sure that you’re the first to know about our In-Person Meetings (events!) at https://www.hrbesties.com. Follow your Besties across the socials and check out our resumes here: https://www.hrbesties.com/about.  We look forward to seeing you in our next meeting - don’t worry, we’ll have a hard stop! Yours in Business + Bullsh*t,  Leigh, Jamie & Ashley Follow Bestie Leigh! https://www.tiktok.com/@hrmanifesto https://www.instagram.com/hrmanifesto https://www.hrmanifesto.com Follow Bestie Ashley! https://www.tiktok.com/@managermethod  https://www.instagram.com/managermethod https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashleyherd/ https://managermethod.com Follow Bestie Jamie! https://www.millennialmisery.com/ Humorous Resources: Instagram • YouTube • Threads • Facebook • X Millennial Misery: Instagram • Threads • Facebook • X Horrendous HR: Instagram • Threads • Facebook Tune in to “HR Besties,” a business, work and management podcast hosted by Leigh Elena Henderson (HRManifesto), Ashley Herd (ManagerMethod) and Jamie Jackson (Humorous_Resources), where we navigate the labyrinth of corporate culture, from cringe corporate speak to toxic leadership. Whether you’re in Human Resources or not, corporate or small business, we offer sneak peeks into surviving work, hiring strategies, and making the employee experience better for all. Tune in for real talk on employee engagement, green flags in the workplace, and how to turn red flags into real change. Don't miss our chats about leadership, career coaching, and takes from work travel and watercooler gossip. Get new episodes every Wednesday and Friday, follow us on socials for the latest updates, and join us at our virtual happy hours to share your HR stories. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello besties. Happy Friday. Another week down, gosh, and now it's happy hour. What is going on ladies? It's been a week. It's a week. It's a week. We've had the weather, like the weather won't let up and normally you don't, you know, people say like weather's such a boring topic, but it's really top of mind for a lot of people in North Carolina, now in Florida, all over. And so hope our besties are staying safe or have gotten other places to be safe. And so, yeah. Oh gosh, it is hurricane season here in the US for those that are listening that are not

in the US and do not have hurricanes and all of that. But we wish everyone the best. That's an important thing, Ashley. Thank you. Because boy, it's been a busy storm season. And especially as we get older, that's like all I find myself talking about is the freaking weather. I know.

Even if it's good, when it's bad, it doesn't matter. Well, I feel like a constant of my childhood was like the weather people, like the weather women, the weather men. Like I think about those people and the information they got and they're always there. Three in the morning, they'll show back up, go home, take a nap or just sleep on the, they are like the stalwarts. And so as I get older, I realize I'm getting older because my weather, my news weather people are getting older. And that's, it's a little hard to see. Like if I see the people in Louisville that I haven't seen in a while and I'm like, oh no, wait, how are you older? Because I'm not, I'm still 12.

I'm still 23. God, that is so true. That's a sad note. Did you all see, speaking of the bullshit or the business aspect of this happy hour, so there's a woman named Heather Johnson who she made a video that's kind of big on TikTok about how she was in North Carolina. She reached out to her boss. She just started a nonprofit and reached out to her boss and was like, hope your family's okay this, you know, nice to her boss.

Her boss is like, yeah, yeah, you too. But in her response, her boss is like, you know, I'm going to go ahead because of the destruction. I'm going to go ahead because of the destruction. I'm going to take over your job. So today's your last day. And I'll give you two weeks severance if you return all of her company property within two weeks and reiterates, I'm really going to need that back. And she was affected by the flooding?

Yeah. It's like there in Asheville. So she had reached out to her boss and it said, your family's okay. And she's like, I'm still missing home, even so much of it's destroyed. I can't find a hotel at Asheville, which is like a hundred miles away. Like that was her message. And her boss's response was like, yes, acknowledges it. But then also in the same text message, we're going to eliminate your position and severance. So I got tagged in it a bunch. It's been a minute since that happened. And it's just, just think about

this, especially at work as a boss, you control so much of your people's experience. And so reach out to your team members when they have this, even if you're like, I don't know if they're near this or not, they may be hundreds of miles away. Much better to do that than just ignore it. Sometimes the only thing you can control is reaching out, showing that support. Exactly. And offer flexibility. These people, their whole lives have got flip turned upside down, and you're worried about their productivity? Like, no, that's not their livelihood. Is that their livelihood? Yes. But is it their priority right now? Absolutely not. They want to make sure their family is safe. Yeah. And this was a trauma, a trauma nonprofit, which...

Ugh. Nonprofits are the worst. I've worked for them before. They are some of the most toxic work environments I've personally ever worked for. Go figure. I mean, I say sometimes, like, we all say things we shouldn't. We put things out in the universe we shouldn't. But when you are a manager and communicating something, especially if you're going to eliminate someone's job, first of all, doing it over text message in any situation. But in this situation, and I said, go on LinkedIn and be like, we're a nonprofit.

We want to keep our teams employed and support them. We need donations. I don't care. Exactly. Like, that is plan A. There are other options. There are plans A through Z before you get to letting someone go by text message. That's so disappointing. That makes me. So well, I so she also put up an Etsy. She made it on find me. She made an Etsy. And so I'll

share it. So I went to her Etsy. So getting back to HR Besties related content is I went to her Etsy's, which is called Lumber Puppies. All cute. It's like bandanas and things for dogs. So you know I ordered the bandana with pickles on it for Rosie. Oh my God. Please send it to me because I got to get my pups some bandanas. It's cute.

It's cute. She also has like flasks that say fuck Helene, which is also like... I appreciate that girl. It feels cute. It's cute. She also has like flasks that say, Fuck Helene, which is also fitting. I appreciate that. It feels fitting. But it was Rosie's birthday this week. So I got her that. But so, we'll share that. So some ways, again, so many things you could do as a boss, like here, we're desperate. We're trying to support our communities, keep our people. My team member has this shop, like amplify it. That would have gone viral much more better than going viral for text message. So anyway,

a reminder for a lot of people affected right now trying to get through and the trauma in people's lives continues. The work will be there. Figuring out the time and the flexibility, you will earn so much more goodwill than you will cost your business in productivity or whatever is your top priority. Yeah, because that was just so not necessary. He could have just eaten two more weeks worth the salary and then terminated after things settle down, whatever. I mean, it would have cost him a couple thousand if that. I don't know what she gets paid, maybe even a few hundred. You know, I don't know her situation, right? I don't know what her job is or anything. But it wouldn't have cost

that much is my point. Like, can we just get through like this traumatic destruction here? Can she at least get a house or a home or a roof or not live, you know what I mean? And well, and what happens, what happens in her comments section, if you go to the comments section, this is what happens in real life. I saw this all the time as an employment defense lawyer, is when someone is wronged at work, people are like, there must be something illegal about this. And again, sometimes in the US, there's not, because our employment laws are not as employee favorable, but people, when they are wronged, they feel wronged.

Everyone around them as well is like, burn them down, figure it out, take them, take them. And so comments, people are like, this must be illegal. And they're like, what are you getting paid? You're going to get rich, all of this. Yeah. But then they're like, what are you going to get paid? And then they're like, wait, is that above the DOL salary minimum?

And for just a little bit of information, nonprofits coverage under the FLSA depends on the nonprofit. But anyway, it's like, but so I used to see that all the time with like wage hour class actions, because it'd be like the person that gets fired for something and they go to a lawyer and like, this is bullshit. And the lawyer's like, yeah, this is bullshit. But tell me more about what you were doing in the unpaid overtime. And so all of a sudden, you firing one person

turns into a massive class action. So this is kind of a US concept, but just know as a manager employer, right now they have earned a lot of viral attention. They have a lot of people that are tagging attorney Ryan and Paige Sparks like someone else. Pandora's box. Pandora's box. So not necessary, appropriate, kind human, not how you'd want to be treated. Karma's a bitch. Yeah, that's true. Like it really is, you know? So everyone gets theirs at some point. Like I love just letting the universe handle it, you know? Like it's rare I retaliate or try and get vengeance or whatever, you know, I just like to kind of sit back. But I'm also lazy like that too. Jamie is a highly motivated revenger

for friends. Jamie pulls forward the karma. She's like, we're going to skip. Yeah, I don't want to sit around and wait for karma. We're going to start it now. Some say financial crime is victimless, but that definitely isn't the case, especially when it ends in murder. You need to check out Money Crimes, a new show hosted by bestselling author and entrepreneur Nicole Lapin. Money Crimes is about the world's biggest financial scandals and how they can spiral out of controls in ways you'd never expect. From cunning Ponzi schemes to cutthroat politics and even murderous con artists,

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But one was a video that I saw speaking of virality, right? And viral for shit that's not great. I saw this video come up a few times for me and I finally watched it all the way through where it's like a role play of a dress code violation, right? And you have like this pretend, I know, right? You never know. But you have, I sent it to you all. I sent it to you all.

I'm just saying. I know, I mean, I get some I sent it to you all. I sent it to you all. I'm just saying. I know. I mean, I get some stuff. There could be a role play. Yeah, I get those too. But this one was business related, which was neat. And it was HR related, which was rare for my algorithm. But it was like this lady pretending to be a boss. And, you know, they're in the workplace and she's talking to an employee who has a jean jacket on. And the whole thing was that they were coaching about dress code violations and how to talk to an employee who may be violating a dress code violation.

And so I started watching just because it's in my wheelhouse, right? And I was like, what the fuck? Like I watch this. It was like just red flags everywhere. Like everything that was happening was wrong. The boss was standing up, the employee sitting down. It's in the public space. The boss is being condescending, gaslighting her, saying, everyone is talking about this,, blaming everybody else on the feedback. It was crazy. I thought it was satire.

Of course, I've read the comments, and the comments passed the vibe check, thankfully. Everyone was like, WTF? This is all wrong, but it wasn't satire. They legit thought. Oh, yeah. To me, I sent it to the ladies and it's like one of those reminders, like be careful where you get your advice and counsel. Like none of those people were in HR or I don't even know if they were leaders, but they were

writing or they are writing a leadership support page or advice page. I don't know. So be careful. And that is some of the worst advice I've ever seen. And thank goodness the comments supported like us. I mean, the comments were great. One of them was like, I've been a HR professional of 10 plus years and this video is exactly not what not to do. And I'm like, yeah. Yeah. It's almost perfect to use in the workplace as an example for leaders what not to do, but that wasn't the intention of the video, which is what's... It made me so uncomfy watching it.

Also, I was like, what a choice of like the jean, I mean, every aspect of it, like the jean jacket. And she's like, our dress code is semi-formal, which made me laugh because I don't think I've heard that since I was a tried out of like a semi-formal where I was like, oh, it's time for 579. I was like- It's not a workplace dress code. No, it's not. A semi-formal what?

It's professional business casual. I mean, come on, you know? Weird. It was so right. I mean, I was like, again, totally went to the, like somebody, somebody had literally list listed out all the red flags, all of the red flags. And it was... It's amazing. Yeah. It's a good video. We'll post it on our stories so y'all can also be like, what the fuck is this? Jamie, I'm laughing. Jamie's comment. I just saw Jamie's comment.

Do not do this. But no, but I think, Lee, you bring up a really great point. And I feel like we've probably mentioned this before, but be very careful who you get information from and check their credentials, right? Because there are so many videos I see will pop up or we'll share them amongst ourselves. And they'll be a career coach or a resume writer or something. And they've never worked a day in HR, never been a recruiter, don't know dick about fuck. Um, like, and it's, and they're spewing information that's actually very harmful and inaccurate. And so I know that TikTok's an easy place. If for instance, even Instagram to get information like at your

face in your face, but it's not always accurate. So if you're looking for a job and some random career coach on TikTok told you to do X, maybe do a little bit more digging. Well, you know, I use that this week. So this week I did an interview training for an organization. I just love this organization. Sometimes when I do trainings, I'll have as part of it, I'm like, let's talk about what candidates are seeing

when they're applying. And so I'll pull up their careers page, I'll pull up your Glassdoor, often I'll have a conversation with the HR person who engaged me for this, to be like, I'm gonna pull up your Glassdoor. And I'm like, to me people there are, please tell me what I need to see.

Right, everyone's talking, people are like, oh, that literally wasn't us. Like you can see, and I'm like, no, your glass door and I like to meet people there. Please tell me what I need to see. Right. Everyone's talking. People are like, oh, that literally wasn't us. Like you can see. And I'm like, no, no, you're right. But this one, it was delightful. 4.5 out of 500% CEO. Great ratings. I was like, go from a position of strength, lean into these things. But Hussain is part of interview training. As hiring managers, you don't need to be HR experts or things like that. You got someone here, not me, but their HR director, who's your person, thought partner, great person. But I was like, sometimes it can be helpful to know

how to respond to things that may happen on the spot. And I was like, so if there's questions you've gotten or comments, I was like, sometimes on TikTok, for example, candidates get told to ask the question of like, why wouldn't you move forward with me? Or what hesitations do you have about my candidacy? And I said, how would you, okay, so let me flip it to y'all, we're here.

How would you answer that? And they're like, oh, you know, and so we talk, I said, hold on a second, let me pull, I was like, this is, I was talking about Chachi PT. And so I was like, let's pull up and see what Chachi PT would say, because Because ChatgyPT had probably a better answer than I would have thought of on the spot. If I sat down, maybe it would have been better. But honestly, it was so good. God, you have to share it because I hate that question when candidates say it. My hesitation is the fact you just asked me that question. Yeah.

Right. That you took some stupid TikTok advice. The gap is like people on TikTok that are looking for a job, you're trying to get the job, so you're trying to get the hack. So of course you're going to rely on something people say. And you're not thinking about how weird that makes the interviewer feel or uncomfortable, especially if they haven't sat through a training like this. And so I'll put it in our stories, but what Chachi PT said was, I appreciate you asking that, which you probably don't, but fair enough.

But I love this. At this point in the process, I'm still evaluating and getting a full picture of your experience and how it aligns, corporate cringe, with the needs of this role. What I'm most interested in learning about is more about than a specific area of concern, like leadership style, problem solving, whatever.

That will help me better understand how you could contribute to the team. Yeah, that's good. Like, it was so, it was good. And it's like, this allows you to address any concerns without committing to a negative stance while giving the candidate an opportunity to provide more context or clarify questions.

Anyway, so I say sometimes using it as a, if there are questions that you're like, I don't know what someone would say, using it and then putting that in your own voice can be a win. Can I just say, because people may be listening to this and they're asking, well, if I don't say that, then what do I do? If I don't say to the interviewer, oh, do you have any hesitations or whatever, if the interviewer was like, do you have any more questions, my pro tip and something that I

like to do, I consider it a best practice. You've already asked a few questions. OK, great. Is to share something that you did not have a chance to speak on about yourself. So I like to say, you know what? I don't have any more questions. Thank you so much for thoroughly answering all the questions

that I had. But I would just like to share, and I will add something. I just wanted to share XYZ. It didn't come up in the interviews, so I just want to let you know that this, this, this. I would take the opportunity, my advice, however you do it, to just add and give and offer more information about how you align with the job, right?

How your background's great for it instead of ask the person, you know what I'm saying? Just use that time in a more proactive or, you know, I'm kind of lost for words today. I did not sleep last night, but you know what I'm saying, right? You all get what I'm saying. Like, let me just ESP it to you. But use it selfishly to share more about you.'m saying, right? You all get what I'm saying. Let me just ESP it to you. Use it selfishly to share more about you. Sell yourself, right?

Instead of do some cringe question back. Because interview process, oh my gosh, I don't want to say it's top secret or anything or private, but in a way it is a very closed process. We try and not add bias in and we can't share all that shit yet. You know what I mean? Like, come on. Oh, we have to talk amongst the interviewers and all of that.

We don't want to give false hope. We don't want to, oh, gosh, we have to align. Oh, all the things. I hate that question. Any hesitations? Yeah, I got a shit ton of hesitation. Well, yeah, now I have some. This episode is brought to you by Coca-Cola Creations.

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searching for a job, what do people want? They want someone that's going to be like nice to work with, kind to work with, kind of like takes initiative to do some shit, asks questions, like all that basic stuff. So another one is like, okay, organization. Like I looked into the organization and this is what I saw, but I'm curious what your current goals are. Because I'd imagine they might be these, but like I don't want to make assumptions. And so your current goals in the department, how they align with those goals.

That sends like, I care, I did some digging, I did that. And so, I just think, again, going to the chat GPT, I'm like, ah, what can I ask instead of that? Because now you're like, shit, what do I ask? Think of alternatives and just, again, thinking about how it feels from the interviewer. You just want to give them that reassurance, like, this person kind of knows their shit, they're good enough to work with.

Here we go. And it's crazy because the times I reflect, the couple of times I've been asked that question, any hesitations, it's like, I know, oh, God, they've watched that one TikTok or whatever. And I've always been asked it in a confrontational way. Like they wanted the answer right then and there, right on like, do I have this job or not? And it's like, I still have interviews that were, I mean, we have to stop people scheduled. We'll get back to you, of course.

I appreciate this conversation. I mean, you know, all that, right? It's like, oh, I don't like that one. I don't either. I feel like Jamie would be like, oh, I don't like that one. I don't either. Like Jamie would be like, I'm gonna give you some feedback. Yeah, I really would. I would totally actually. Yeah, I'd be like, look, I'm gonna be honest. That's not a good question. And here, let me tell you why.

I know. Who did you watch on TikTok? Have they ever? Had they ever hired anyone? Yeah, what dumbass on TikTok? They have 4.7 million followers, probably because they post stuff like that and people are sharing like, don't do this. Yeah, don't do this. Yeah, and people believe it.

Yeah. But they've worked two years and they've never hired anybody. Don't listen to that shit. Not that we know everything, but at least we've sat on the other side of that table. You know what I mean? No, I will be staying in my lane as we know everything, but at least we've sat on the other side of that table. You know what I mean? No, I will be staying in my lane as we know from recent weeks.

Oh, man. Before we wrap up here, I don't have a question, but I do have a quick comment. I did not get the wear white memo. Oh, yeah. Yeah, that's true. Mine's honestly a light blue. That's that blue. Yeah, that's blue.

Oh, okay. The sun. It's that blue. Yeah, that's blue. Oh, okay. The sun. It's the quiz. Do you see? Well, it's like one half of me right now is white and one half is blue. I'm sitting in the seat in the bar. It's like, ah, someone's shining, so no one's going to look at you. Lasers from the sun shooting. You're rounding us out.

We should put you in the middle. Oh, yeah. It's all good. Yeah, we. We are. It's all good. Yeah, we'll do that. Jamie, when you go down to Florida with your family, do you do the photos in all white, like the family beach pictures?

No, we don't. We've never done that. I don't mind them. I actually appreciate when I see my friends do it, but are you kidding me? My husband and children? Hell fucking no. Oh my God, it's like it's making me giggle thinking about it. No, but I do want to do Christmas photos this year. Yeah. I

don't know if that's gonna happen. Like in pajamas. I mean, I don't I don't even care. It doesn't have to be like, I just would like to have a nice family photo. My friend who's a realtor does that for for clients that we're going to do that in a couple weeks. So yeah, like I would love to just have a nice family photo. I'm planning on getting in my dream shape in about the next two weeks. There you go. Because surely that's going to develop a fashion sense, all the things. I love it.

I love it. Well, got on that note, we got to, I guess, keep drinking and snacking and prepare for those photos. Stay safe, besties. Stay safe snacking. Yeah. You know, prepare for those photos. Stay safe, besties. Stay safe, everyone. Yeah. With Melted. Yeah.