HR BESTIES - We Are Not The Enemy

Episode Date: October 18, 2023

Toe-sucking at the office. And, HR does not have to be your best friend at work, but they are definitely NOT the enemy. Leigh, Jamie, and Ashley share their experiences dealing with difficult situations in the workplace and the challenges they face as HR professionals. They also discuss the importance of empathy and understanding in HR roles. Remember to appreciate your work besties and to reach out to them with gratitude. To learn more about the HR Besties, grab merch and reach out for partnerships, visit HRBesties.com Thanks for listening to HR BESTIES! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Toe sucking. Toe sucking. All right. Now, personally, I've never had my toes suck. That I can recall, but I went to a state school, so I can't remember everything, okay? But toe sucking. Toe sucking. Not kink shaming, right? So if you're listening to this and you're like, okay, she's kink shaming me. Absolutely not. I'll try anything a couple of times. All right. So absolutely not kink-shaming whatsoever, but toe-sucking in the workplace on company time without consent. Thoughts? I mean, y'all are having a reaction, right? I mean, I mean, y'all are having a reaction, right? I mean, what the hell?

No better EHS campaign that I could think of. You know, wear your steel toes, not to protect your toes from injury, from machinery, but literally from your coworkers sucking them off. Was that sneaking under the cubicle? Yeah, like I have so many questions. You have so many. So get this, right? Imagine you go into a lunchroom, a lunchroom, the break room, lunchroom. What is it? 1980. And you're like in elementary school. It's called a break room, right? Your female employee goes into the break room. You think you can get peace, right? No, women can't get peace anywhere.

Like full stop. Not even in your break room, in your place of employment. Okay. So she should have known better. All right. Victim shame, victim shame. Oh, my God. Bless her heart. Just trying to have a sandwich for lunch. Sits down, okay? Some other employee, male employee, hiding under the table. A peekaboo.

A peekaboo. A peekaboo. He loves feet. A lick-a-toe. A lick-a-toe. A peekaboo and a lick-a-toe, right? Oh, it's a twofer. What the hell? So he's hiding under the lunch table, just scoping out victims. First off, could you imagine

like doing that? Like I could never imagine even just crawling on the floor at work. It's ballsy. I have a vivid imagination. That is outside the scope, thankfully. Oh my gosh. Like who does that? Because you know how the floors are. He was waiting for his pants. He was waiting. And he's there just viewing. She sits down to eat lunch. A reasonable thing to do. It's lunchtime. And he grabs her foot and sticks it in his mouth.

Did you kick him? I imagine, right? I know I would. I mean, that would be a... I know I would. She didn't enjoy it. Let's put it that way, right? It got reported up, thank God. As it should.

As it should. But who the hell does that? Do we need safe words at work? I mean, seriously, mine's yellow just for the record. Mine's yellow for the record. Yellow, you know, I mean, but it's like, oh my God, bless her. Bless her. Can get no peace nowhere.

I hope he got fired. What the... God, last chance. Last chance. Because it was an accident that her foot ended up in his mouth. He was just down there licking the floor as a kink. He wasn't meaning to put a toe in. Oh, my God, she's the one who dipped it in.

But I just don't want to pay you like that. I don't want to pay you for that in the workplace. Doesn't that seem reasonable? You know what I mean? Like, you know, and of course, the argument as well, it was break time. Oh my God. That is a horrific argument. That is the worst argument. I was clocked out. I was sucking toes on my own time. This is my toe sucking time, damn it. This is my toe sucking time. That is literally arguments we hear in the time, damn it. This is my toe-sucking time. That is literally arguments we hear in the workplace, is it not?

Literally. Oh, God. So I know that we do have a hard stop, but because this is our first episode, I just want to say thank you so much for letting us put yet another recurring meeting on your calendar. God, we appreciate you accepting this invite, don't we? 100%. 100%. We are so glad you're listening because this podcast is for you. We want to make your workday better and help you enhance your success at work by giving you a peek behind the HR curtain and offering our insights. So let me share briefly how our episodes are going to be set up. Again, you are a very, very vital and important member of our staff meeting, but we're going to start every episode

with a cringy corporate speak. And we definitely encourage you all to play along at home in your offices and see if you can sneak some of these corporate sayings into your workday. Or maybe not if they're a little too cringy, right? Take a drink instead, right? And then we're going to transition to hot topics where we'll be covering things like difficult conversations at work, conflict at work, maybe a little Dave Ramsey this season, right? Because boy, is he the HR prophet. And then we'll end every single episode with Qs and Cs, questions or comments. So now that you know how this is going to work, let's go ahead and jump into the agenda. Ashley, can you kick us off?

Yeah. So if we're starting with the cringy corporate speak, Lee, I'd love to have you kick us off on that. And then let's get into that hot topic, which is going to be the meat of our meeting. And Jamie, I'd love to hear your perspective on if HR is not your friend. And of course, at the end, we always want to reserve that time for the questions and comments, but Lee, cringe us away. Yeah. So one of the cringy corporate speaks that unfortunately I am guilty of using is the phrase circle back. Let's circle back around to that. I've used it too. Oh my God. Like let's circle back. Why not any other shape? I mean, there's a question, right? But basically, I know because that's what I want to say. I'm going to square up with you

if we're always trying to circle back around to me. I know, right? But what does that really mean when we say, well, let's circle back to that? Yeah. Or is it a 180? Is it a 360? Well, that's what I was going to say. If you circle, if it's a circle, it's 360. So it's coming back to you. We're literally coming right back to it.

Are you meaning coming back to a topic or coming back? It means I don't want to do it. Whatever. I don't want to talk about what we're talking about right now. So I'm going to take us in a circle. But really, it's going to be a semicircle and you will never see this starting point again. It's a half moon. Right?

I mean, like, what shape is that? You know what I mean? Let's trapezoid this. Let's trapezoid back. Right? I mean, like, see, that's just not as smooth. Right? That's probably why we say circle.

Yeah. Right? But don't you feel like the other shapes get the shaft? Yeah, totally. Oh, my God. But basically, I'm saying, I don't want to talk about this. I don't have time to talk about it. Let's just circle back.

Yeah. Like, let's circle back, right? When we actually have time to discuss this absolutely ridiculous topic that you brought to me. Yeah, let's create another meeting to circle back on that. I feel like you can also say that in the conference call voice. Do you have a conference call voice? Like a little bit louder,

a little bit louder. Do you have a different voice for conference calls? Oh God, I probably do. I probably do. Because it's like unmute. Ha ha. Unmute.

Real loud. Real loud. And then the smile drops as soon as exactly i learned that in the pandemic i mean i learned that with for sure with my husband i mean i would have the doors closed and i would be oh my god the circle back and the let the corporate laugh yeah but the corporate speak i do feel like people have a conference call voice and that's why circle back fits right back in my husband like will be downstairs he's God, you sounded really professional. I'm like, striking, isn't it? From time to time. He's like, did you say strategic like five times? I'm like, yeah,

we'll circle back to that later. Okay. So we'll try to bring that up in this episode. Those listening, definitely circle back to that in your conversations or again, just take a little nip. But Jamie, as we talk about this, have you ever heard the phrase, HR is not your friend? And what do you think about that? I've probably heard it. Yeah, I've probably heard it. Have you heard that? More often than I care to admit, but how HR is not your friend, but we're not your enemy either. Oh, I like that. Mic drop.

Yeah, mic drop on that shit. Podcast done. I know, right? That's it. There's the answer. Thanks for listening. Thanks for mic drop on that shit. Podcast done. I know, right? That's it. Thanks for listening. Thanks for listening. Q&A. So, you know, I've, I've, Human, Humorous Resources is three years old. So a lot of the times comments on my TikTok or memes or reels are, oh, HR's not your friend.

I'm like, cool, come up with something better because that's boring. I'm bored with that. But I think it's really, it's understanding what the role of HR really is. And I don't think anyone outside of HR knows what HR's role is and what we do and what our actual job duties are. Yeah, please go Google it. Yes, please. Matter of fact, look up my job description on the SharePoint because it's out there as well as yours. So you should probably look at that one too.

I have respect for that corporate organization having the job description in the SharePoint. I know, I was like, oh, I've perked up at that. That might have been my idea. Nice. See, there you go. Advocate of the employee, just saying. Clear communication, expectations.

I mean, I'm sure obviously we all have, you know, following on TikTok and whatnot, but how many times have you heard HR is not your friend in your comments? And have you felt like you've had to defend yourself or even your profession? Yeah, well, I don't actually get that comment a lot because I think people do think I'm their friend, which I'm so glad. Which I'm so glad, you know, but the things that I might see sometimes is, well, HR just works for the company. And that one, I like laugh when I see that because we all work for the freaking company people. FYI, we're all getting a paycheck. We all work for the company. What are you talking about? HR works for the company. Oh my God. I just gave you a raise,

Bob. How dare you? Right. But you know what I'm saying? Like literally. I just advocated you. Oh my God. Because Bill fucking was dogging you. Exactly. I wish I could tell you all the ways that I'm advocating for you behind the scenes that you never see, right? Exactly. Oh my gosh. I think that's another point is like, we don't get credit. And one thing, being an HR professional, you have to be okay with that. Which obviously we are, right? That's what we signed up for. We did. We signed up for it.

And so we don't need the credit. And we even like allow others to take the credit. Absolutely. Like those managers and those leaders. But you're never going to know that. You are 100% will never know that. And so, but we're going to get blamed. When we aren't celebrated, we're blamed.

Absolutely. So Ashley, have you ever been told that in your comments? Have you gotten any of that feedback? Have you heard HR is not your friend? I mean, I probably get that more than everybody because I put myself, like you have funny means, you're funny and you have these comebacks. I have conversations where I'm sitting on the edge and being HR and showing conversations that I have with this fictional CEO, Luke, on the other side. And so I put myself out there as HR. And whenever you put yourself out there as anything, again, you're going to get the responses. And so I get that

incredibly frequently. And so in each of my videos and the way I do content, again, I have this conversation and often it's either educating, sometimes it's pointing at edutainment. So pointing out some of the legal or illegal things that many leaders truly do not realize are not permitted in the workplace. Or sometimes it's shaping this idea of why it's important to treat people like humans. And so I do frequently get the comment, ha, HR is not your friend. Like HR gives it. Every person that puts that, I do think that they think that's a unique thought. And I'm like, well, just look up and look down.

Your fellow neighbors in the comments say that as well. And sometimes it's challenging because when I started doing content, because frequently I have the same conversations throughout my career. I've been a lawyer, I'm in HR, and I like HR a lot better because it's proactive and you can have an impact. And I have worked at every level of the corporate ladder and I have worked in minimum wage jobs. And so I do, I care deeply about the respect for people at work and people being treated more humanely. And so I make these videos knowing I have had

what I call a career quilt where I've worked in different industries. I have this experience and a lot of people don't have that. And so I use that to try to provide that perspective and show in particular managers and leaders why it matters to treat people better. But there are other people that watch that and they have no trust. They have no trust. And it's not just corporate. It's any type of workplace environment, whether it's a factory, it's healthcare, it's retail, any of those things. They don't have trust and either that's often

they've experienced something horrible, a friend or family have. But so they believe that that experience means nobody else gives a shit. And so I put things out there and I definitely get that comment. But I also, the comments I like when I get are managers or leaders that will say, I never thought of things that way. Or people that say, oh, I never heard that perspective before. I never thought of things that way. Or people that say, oh, I never heard that perspective before. And I know that's not going to be everybody. But the way I describe it is I say, HR, absolutely, HR is not your friend because that wouldn't be my professional job by just being your friend.

Because friend Ashley, like somebody goes through something at work, friend Ashley's like, that sucks. Let's go, let's, oh my God, let's go. Let's go, let's have dinner. Let's have a drink and coffee. Like, I'm a drink and coffee. I'm a pretty friendly person, but I'm like, I will bitch and be like, that is jacked up.

That is absolutely jacked up. But, but HR, Ashley, and in my, my role is I often think good HR is a conduit. It is not just on the employer's side to defend employers' decisions. Frequently that's a legal job and I've had that job, but even as a lawyer, it's really important to understand when you work with humans, decisions have consequences. And so if you treat people like garbage, those people are going to leave. Your best people are going to leave. And so in HR in particular, it's being that conduit to vocalize why treating employees matters

and to help use your voice to influence employers, whether it's policies or decisions overall. And so it is that conduit. Often people don't see that conversation. And so that's why it's often absent. But I say, my job wouldn't be complete if I was just your friend and be like, come on, come on, let's get out of here. But it's having those conversations and trying to influence. So why you think the misconception then, right, that the HR professional in every single organization out there is pro-company first? Is it because we're the messengers oftentimes? For sure, yeah. I mean, we're the face, right, of the bad news. And often we're not the face of good news, right?

Yeah, we give the glory to the leader, don't we? To help their credibility. So we're the face. And of course, like, what employee is not going to think, you know, when we're having to deliver the layoffs or terminations or the PIPs or, you know, we're the face of that. And so we're the face of bad news. Now, I know that, you know, there's bad doctors, there's bad vets, there's bad teachers, bad anything. There's bad HR professionals. So we're not so dense here to say that all HR professionals are great. I know, and we are, right? But we're not so dense to think that everybody knows what they're doing, right? I mean, some organizations, they put you know, capital into development and ensuring that everyone in every function truly understands their job and can perform it well. And that's probably like, what,

2% of organizations, right? I mean, really, you know what I mean? And so, no, I mean, there are HR professionals that perhaps don't have, you know, the educational background, experience in HR, and maybe those folks, you know, maybe educational background, experience in HR, and maybe those folks, you know, maybe those folks truly are not your friends. I'm doing like air quotes because that's a cheesy way to put it. But, you know, they are probably just saying yes, sir, yes, ma'am, to any directive that they're getting because they perhaps don't know better, which happens in every single job, not just HR. Now, I know with HR, it's very personal because, you know, they're a steward of culture, as is everyone in the organization. But, you know, they're who you're talking to about very personal matters.

You know what I mean? So it stings when you're having, you know, a hard conversation with an HR professional, perhaps getting disciplined or getting terminated. Instantly, it's like they're the bad guy, right? I mean, it makes sense. It makes sense. But people, I say this frequently, HR should not be having these conversations. Like HR, and certainly legal, but HR in particular, I say it should be a playwright, not your best lead actor or supporting actor. Because if I'm showing up to work and my job is ending, that is a terrible enough experience. But if that's happening, I want to talk to the person

that has been my boss, or maybe not. But frequently, if you have that conversation with someone that you've never really interacted before, maybe open enrollment or things like that, but they're a faceless and they're delivering that message. It feels so much more impersonal. Oh, I know. And so, okay, so what do we do? You either, you have that conversation together, but also HR, just like HR shouldn't be your friend. HR's role should not be a witness. And so frequently you have this, oh, should I have a witness? And it drives me absolutely crazy because they say HR should be a resource and not just this idea of human resources as like, you know, investing money in people, but actually be there to answer questions. Advice and counsel, right?

100%. And think about the questions that as HR, one of the silver linings to the gray cloud that can be helping people with some really bad stuff that goes on in their life, is you can anticipate the questions that people have. So proactively giving people that information. But HR should not be the person, the only person that person hears from, because it makes those things feel ever so more impersonal. And if your leaders can't have that, which it may be the first time they're having that, and it's a tough conversation, then talk to them and give them the training as well. Yeah. Now, conversations that I do see from a feedback perspective, it's always HR is not your friend. And they're always building cases against you. And they're always doing this or that. I don't know about you all, but I do not have that type of time. I do not.

I am too busy doing all this other stuff. I don't go off and Google everybody. I do not. I am too busy doing all this, all this other stuff. I don't go off and Google, you know, everybody. I'm not trying to build a case, you know. People forget that we are employees too. It's harder on me, okay? It's more work for me. If I'm over here trying to do 20 investigations, trying to set people up, trying to find all these evidences. We are not doing that, okay? We do not have the time nor the interest to do that. I have never in my career met an HR professional that's like that. Does that mean they don't exist? Of course not. They exist, right?

Because there's people that are bored. Okay, and they don't know. They love to see the world burn, right? I have never met that HR professional. Every HR professional I know has zero time. They're doing the best they can. There's typically thousands of you all in one of us, right? And so we are doing all we can to coach leaders to really be those frontline people advocates,

right? Because they're the ones, to Ashley's point, they have the relationships and they're having the interface and the hard and difficult conversations. We're trying to equip them to be better, right? While we're also minding the back store and all of this. So I always think it's fascinating when I see, well, HR is not your friend and they're just out to get you. Wait, what? I have no time to get anybody.

I can't even get myself. You know what I mean? Do you all see that too? It's like we're all against them. We're all trying to set everybody up in the order. What? It's like, I don't, yeah. Do I wear many hats? That's more work for me. But I promise you, that's the hat I'm not wearing. Exactly. I actually have a story that I want to share with you guys. Story time. Yeah. I need a warm cup of tea. So I was with the company for five months, but I knew it wasn't a fit pretty early on.

But I was trying to kind of hang out because, you know, and I got a claim of harassment. And of course. Against you? No, no, no, no. It's like that was quick. No, it just came to my desk. And it was within like a month and a half I had been there. And I had already kind of had a certain type of feeling about the leader.

He just gave me bad vibes. But, you know, like I'm new here. I don't know. And I got this claim and I immediately investigated it and I brought it to the owner. And he literally told me that, why are you meddling? Why does HR always meddle? I had a real claim. It was real harassment. I had several documented witnesses and I also had several people that came forward. And it was right then and there, I was like, I can't even do my job here. Here I am bringing a real life claim to the owner and he's telling me that I'm meddling.

And shortly after that, I resigned. Oh, good for you. It was one of those situations where I knew that I had to get out. And unfortunately, I did have to find another job. I was lucky and I did find another job quickly. But I will tell you, that man who the claim was against, of course, the owner told him. And then the man proceeded to come to my office and stand in my doorway to be trying to be intimidating. And on my very last day, he followed me out to my car and he was about three inches behind me.

And it took everything I had to not say something because I was like actually physically scared. Of course. And he didn't know anything. But he just knew enough from the owner. And so I know a lot of the times, you know, you're thinking, this poor woman that brought on this claim and these several other women, I couldn't do anything for them. And I couldn't even tell them. So I hope y'all are listening. couldn't even tell them. So I hope y'all are listening. But I couldn't even tell them and I had to leave that job because I knew not only was I not safe, but no one else was in that company. And so even in those situations, it's like sometimes even your moral compass, like I knew

I had to get out because there was nothing I could do. I was not going to be able to do my job and do my job correctly and fairly and honestly in that company because they weren't going to allow me to do it. They just wanted a yes person. Yeah, a yes person. And, Leah, I feel like you've done a video on that of when HR leaves and the sign that that is. Oh, yeah, yeah. I remember that one. Yeah, like the canaries in the mines, right? It's like, I mean, if you see an HR professional leave, you start seeing your HR team leave, run.

Get the hell out of there because HR is so masochistic. If we can't take it anymore, my God, everyone's screwed. Like literally, this place is going down, right? Because typically we are the last to leave because we're like the cleanup crew, you know? And part of what we do is selfless work. It truly is. I mean, you know, and so we take a lot, right? It's a thankless job. It truly is, right? And you're damned if you do and you're damned if you don't. There is an example you gave where you're considered meddling, you know, with a claim against the business that you just

have the due diligence and the responsibility to investigate, right? I mean, and look, you get bullied, right? You are then harassed, right? That happens to us. We're not immune to, you know, all the bad things that are happening in the organization. You know, I've had to have personal security before. I've had people at my house. I've had to be walked to my car.

I've had to, you know what I'm saying? I mean, wow, just to try to do my job. And guess what? Not everyone's built the same and not everyone is okay with that. I'm doing air quotes because it's not that I'm okay, but I've had to experience that. Sometimes HR professionals, you know, your bravery and your courage, you know, saying the hard things and going against perhaps a different perspective to your leaders, that gets you fired too. Yeah, your job. I mean, your job, your employment's on the line, right? I've been in that situation and it sucks.

So don't tell me I'm not an employee advocate when I've been fired for being one. Right. I cannot even tell you. Trying to protect your job, I've lost mine. And that's a decision I've made for me, but I do not expect any other HR professional or any professional for that matter, any worker for that matter, to do that. They should not have to be in that position in their work and in their jobs. No. Right. You know what I mean? But we find ourselves in that position constantly within HR.

We are employees too, right? And no, we're not your friends. But no, we're not all, you know, siding with the company. There is no contest like that. We're just trying to do great work and have an impact. One thing I think organizations can do overall is, and this includes with HR, because sometimes things happen and people feel really personal because it is, whether it's someone, you know, needing to take leave, someone feels they're not treated well. But overall in an organization, I think if I'm giving one tip to organizations on something you can do to help all of your employees overall is talk to every employee to think about when people come to you for your role, meeting them where they are. I've used this example, put HR aside for a second. So I've

used this in a couple of trainings lately. I've been talking to organizations that have like tech support or call centers. And I say, what I think is really important for this part of training is to talk to them and say, think about how it is when someone reaches out to you, they don't want to have that conversation because they are having a problem and they may be having tech issues. They may be having really urgent issues, whatever that is. And so you talking to them and recognizing where they are and saying, I know you probably don't want to be having this conversation. So let's see if we can solve it and get you on your way and, and you, and you feeling better about things than when you started it. And I said, that was about 10 seconds. And so if you can train people though, as opposed to just being so,

so transactional, because so much of work is like call volume or doing things, but having some of that human touch can be incredibly important. And so what I think a lot of HR professionals are not trained in is this aspect of thinking about when people reach out and managers as well. It's actually, I think even more important for those managers to have that one basic training to think about when people come to you. And you may be very busy. Again, most HR professionals, HR is a very lean team because it costs the organization's money. So they tend to staff it as lean as they possibly can and leaner.

But talking, but that one aspect of training, of thinking, especially for individuals that have not had robust HR training. Again, I'd rather you know this than have any sort of certification. That is, when you talk to someone, understanding where they're coming from, they may be having personal challenges. They don't know the answer. And so having that empathy. And you may say, I don't have the answer today, but I understand. I appreciate you coming to me and we will absolutely figure out what to do next. And it's not promising something. You don't promise. That's a very important thing for managers to know, not to take all the time you need. And then three months later, oh, shoot, now I don't know what to do. But talking with people and giving that training to think about where people are coming to you and have that approach to recognize that rather than

being so irritated. Because that's an area where I think HR gets at times a very deservedly bad reputation. If you have people that are very busy, but they're incredibly cold individuals. And so sometimes that might even mean, if you have common questions, I need to reset my ADP password. I need to da, da, da, da, da. Okay, so have an automatic response with an answer that gives people links to your 10 most common questions so they can self-solve. Sometimes that's the help people need.

But that's one area where I do think HR gets that in every topic. And so that's something I'd say to organizations is to think about and giving that overall training and it can completely reshape how people talk to each other at work and how that mindset is including HR. I like that. I really do think it comes down to the employee experience and companies investing in that and just giving a shit about it. How does it feel to work here? Well, yeah, because I mean, you have to have leadership buy-in, right? And that comes from the top down. And I think it's important to know is having, does HR actually have a seat at the table? So, and obviously this company that I went to, I didn't actually interview with the owner. So I wasn't aware of how involved he was

with the business. I just interviewed with my direct boss and the person that I was superseding. And so, of course, I asked all these questions thinking this was such a great fit. And here we are. That's a surprise. Yeah. Surprise, surprise. Surprise, surprise. Don't we love a surprise? Not that kind. I know, right? No, rarely are surprises good at work. That is true. That is true. It's too true. It's too real. Oh, gosh. So I think we can conclude here in this meeting that HR is not your friend, but we are not your enemy either. Not even close by a long shot, right? The only person that's your friend in the workplace is that work bestie. And you better hold them near and dear, right? Oh my God, I love my work besties. Me too. Right? Right? I love my

besties right here. I know. But hey, we are your HR besties, right? We're your water cooler besties, here to always talk business and BS with you and help you be successful at work. All right. So I know we have a hard stop. So I want to make sure that I save time for questions and comments. So does anybody have a question or a comment? Yes, I actually have a quick comment. I actually just want to thank you, Lee, and you, Ashley, for literally bringing light onto our profession and sharing your content and providing such a great outlet for other HR professionals. Not me about to cry. I'm not even kidding. No, but seriously, I feel like we've created this incredible community.

Not even kidding. No, but seriously, I feel like we've created this incredible community. And we've really been able to shine a light onto a different side of HR. And I'm hoping we continue it with this podcast. Oh, my God. All right. Well, that was totally not planned. I'm feeling a little like Misty.

Little Misty, little Dusty. I mean, you can't see me, but I know I am crying. There's onions. Someone's cutting onions. Oh, Jamie. Well, same, right? Same, you know, because people don't know what they don't know, right? And I always feel like when people know better, they do better. And they may think better as well.

So any way with our platforms that we could help shape perceptions or misconceptions, what an honor and a gift and privilege for us, right? Oh, my God. Like, I'm going to cry. Sorry, right? Oh, my God. Like, I'm going to cry. Sorry, guys. Oh, my gosh. All right. Well, I'll try and top that, Ashley. I can't.

I can't. I know. Mic drop. I will say ditto. Ditto. Ditto. Ditto. Ditto.

Ditto. Back to Jamie. When I started seeing it, it just brought a smile and being connected in real life. But I want to give a shout out to all of you that have had work besties that have gotten you through those times. And whether you have those group text chains, you've done those getaways, you've had those people that you're like on my worst day, like, or you're in the meeting and you have that, you can't even look at that work bestie because you're like, it is over the second, the second we start. And so my challenge to everybody is sometimes we have

those people in our life and we, whether you, you, you don't necessarily take them for granted, but you haven't told somebody in a while. And so reaching out to those work besties and just saying, and sometimes it may have been that boss that was a good boss that you had or those work besties, those people, and reaching out to them and sending them a text and saying, I don't think you had any idea the impact you had on me. Because sometimes you think that person knows and they know in their heart of hearts, but that type of message can absolutely make their day. Oh, my gosh. Not me running to my phone, like literally. Because you can see the person. Oh, please.

You know what I mean? I'm like literally trying to reach for my phone here. I will do that. And more than likely, you will work with that person again. Oh, God, I hope. You know what I mean? If I'm lucky, I get my work besties back, you know? So not a question, but a comment.

lucky. I get my work besties back, you know? So not a question, but a comment. And I will stay on the work besties love train that we've created here. Everyone's crying. Oh my God. I know choo choo all aboard. Come in, ride the train. Oh my God. Right. Okay. I'm aging myself, but I can like do that, you know, thing, you know? But anyways, work besties have literally changed my life. Okay. And everyone's like nodding in agreement. And I am a better person because of the mentors that I've had in my life and the work besties that I've had in my life that bring just such an incredible amount of sanity to my day when I'm going cray, when I'm wrapped up in myself, right? Meaning that I'm just like a ball of anxiousness or hurt or pain or confusion or man, I messed this up.

Oh my God. Right. Totally. And I have text groups of work besties from previous jobs. Same. Right. I mean, you know, if we, I mean, I have one that's called corporate whores, right? Like, I know. Same. Right. I mean, you know, if we I have one that's called corporate whores. Right. Like, you know, yeah, yeah. Well, yeah. And I love it, you know. And so I'm going

to be texting those corporate whores later tonight and taking Ashley's challenge and telling them, thank you. But if you do not write to continue the challenges as well, if you do not have that work bestie, boy, find you one. There's got to be somebody out there. But they are, at least for me, I mean, we laugh together. We cry together. Oh, my gosh. Yeah, it is. It is trauma bonding, right? Which is literally what HR Manifesto is all about. Shameless plug. But I mean, I send my work besties alcohol. Like, you know what I mean? Like we send each other gifts and flowers. I send booze.

I like to say thank you for, you know, spending that two hours with me to just talk me off the ledge. Thank you for letting me bitch to you. Oh, my God. Totally. Or those phone calls in the car commuting. Have you had those? Where you scream together? Those ones? Yeah. I those phone calls in the car commuting. Have you had those? Where you scream together? Those ones?

Yeah. I had one of those the other day. Totally. Totally. It's very healing. And to circle back on the besties. Oh, there we go. Cringe.

Yeah, you know. To circle back, though, like, really, I've been lucky enough for, I've had several work besties, and I still talk to most of them, but one of them for over 10 years, and I've now worked with her twice. Oh, God, what a dream. And I hope to work with her again in the near future. Love it. Oh, shout out to her. Love it. Love these besties.

Oh, work besties and HR besties. work besties and HR besties. Thank you so much for joining our HR besties crew, accepting our recurring calendar invite, and just talking business and BS.