On episode 56 of The HR Famous Podcast, longtime HR leaders (and friends) Tim Sackett, Kris Dunn, and Jessica Lee come together again to discuss Gen-X references, Zoom-free Fridays, and White House staffers getting fired for marijuana use.

Listen (click this link if you don’t see the player) and be sure to subscribe, rate, and review (Apple Podcasts) and follow (Spotify)!

Show Highlights:

3:30 – Do you get upset when your Millennial and Gen-Z references don’t get your Gen-X references?

7:00 – First topic of the pod: Citigroup CEO has called for Zoom-free Fridays and a new bank holiday due to pandemic fatigue. JLee says she’d rather have Zoom calls instead of regular conference calls.

10:00 – KD says that Friday is not the best day to do Zoom free because Friday is already light on meetings. KD wants Zoom-free Thursday. What day do you think is best?

13:40 – When Tim thinks no-meeting Fridays, he thinks “I’m going on vacation early” Fridays.

16:30 – A team in JLee’s office has a policy where if they do a traditional conference call, everyone on the team has to be doing something active during that call in order to promote wellness.

17:45 – Citi is doing a new holiday called “Citi Reset Day.” KD thinks that the new CEO is trying to win the approval of the bank’s employees.

19:30 – Next topic: A few White House staffers were fired due to their usage of marijuana. Tim thinks it’s a little ridiculous for the White House to have a never-done-drugs policy for employees.

24:00 –  JLee thinks it’s impractical from a hiring perspective to expect all of your employees to not have a history with marijuana, especially when it’s legal in many places in the U.S. now.

26:00 – KD thinks it’s OK for people serving in the White House not to have backgrounds or positive tests with pot, but that it was sloppy on the Biden administration for not being completely transparent and upfront with their employees.

29:00 – KD’s son wants to work for a defense contractor and he’s been told not to go abroad to get that security clearance. So he won’t go!

In episode 55 of The HR Famous Podcast, longtime HR leaders (and friends) Tim Sackett, Kris Dunn, and Jessica Lee come together again to discuss big sisters, vulnerability in the workplace, and what the best question is to ask someone if you’re looking for negative information on a candidate.

Listen (click this link if you don’t see the player) and be sure to subscribe, rate, and review (Apple Podcasts) and follow (Spotify)!

Show Highlights:

4:00 – JLee has two kids: an older daughter and a younger son. JLee’s daughter has got to set a good example for her brother!

5:00 – KD asks Tim what’s the worst injury his big sister inflicted on him. He tells a story about how she almost burned the house down!

7:30 – Next topic: vulnerability in the workplace! An article about Brene Brown’s stance on vulnerability came out in Inc.

11:00 – Tim thinks you have to draw the line when an employee comes to a manager and says they don’t think a person can fulfill their duties.

14:40 – KD thinks some people will use certain talk points and be more vulnerable than they actually should be.

16:30 – JLee likes Brene Brown’s points on vulnerability guard rails and how there is a need for boundaries in this regard.

18:00 – What are some things that cross the boundaries of workplace vulnerability? JLee thinks it’s best, to be honest about what’s going on especially while working from home.

21:55 – “In hard times you can’t ignore hard times.” — Tim

24:00 – Tim mentions that his wife knows he’s off before he knows he’s off. He asks the crew if it’s the same with their spouses.

27:00 – How do we best extract negative information from candidates? KD asks JLee what the best question to net negative info when interviewing candidates.

On episode 54 of the HR Famous Podcast, longtime HR leaders (and friends) Tim Sackett, Kris Dunn, and Jessica Lee come together again to discuss the chicken sandwich wars, 2021 compensation trends, and Meghan Markle calling the royal family’s HR department.

Listen (click this link if you don’t see the player) and be sure to subscribe, rate, and review (Apple Podcasts) and follow (Spotify)!

Show Highlights:

3:30 – Is the Ford Pinto making a comeback?

5:30 – Who has been keeping up with the chicken sandwich wars? McDonald’s has entered the race against Chick-fil-A and Popeye’s to see who has the best-fried chicken sandwich. Who do you think is going to win the war?

8:30 – JLee wants to enter Wendy’s Spicy Chicken Sandwich into the race for best fast-food chicken sandwich. Tim thinks it’s a solid entry.

11:30 – KD asked JLee when was the last time that she taught her kids a life lesson? She’s just trying to teach her young children to put their dirty clothes in the hamper.

15:20 – Next topic of the pod: compensation. An article came out recently about the trends of compensation and pay in 2021 and what employees think will happen.

17:00 – JLee thinks that those companies that haven’t made a statement about geographic locations and compensation leave it open for them to call all employees back to the office eventually. She thinks that WFH is not really here to stay.

21:30 – The article reported that only 83% of respondent’s spouses know how much they make. Tim thinks that number is very low.

27:45 – Tim asks the crew what job Prince Harry would do best at. JLee thinks he’ll take an entrepreneurial route in the mental health space. KD thinks he’ll be a host at a mid-tier steakhouse in the burbs. Tim will hire Harry to be a recruiter because Americans love a British accent.

30:45 – KD watched some of Netflix’s The Crown. KD thinks that the situations in The Crown and the people being portrayed are very inconsequential in the terms of history.

32:15 – One of the big takeaways from the Meghan Markle/Prince Harry and Oprah interview is that Meghan went to the royal family’s HR department to receive mental health help.

36:00 – Tim recently had his 100th Peloton ride. JLee joined him for his century club ride and helped him reach his record. They ended up tying! Accidentally, his son Cameron did his 100th ride. Sorry Dad!

On episode 52 of The HR Famous Podcast, long-time HR leaders (and friends) Tim Sackett, Kris Dunn, and Jessica Lee come together again to discuss the one-year anniversary of the podcast! Get a behind-the-scenes look at the first year of HR Famous.

Listen (click this link if you don’t see the player) and be sure to subscribe, rate, and review (Apple Podcasts) and follow (Spotify)!

Show Highlights:

3:00 – Who do you think of when you think of “veteran hire”?  The gang has automatic comparisons to movies.

6:00 – It’s our one-year anniversary! Episode 52 marks a year of HR Famous. We can’t believe it!

8:00 – What percentage of the podcasts have you listened to? JLee has listened to them all, and KD has listened to about 70%.

8:40 – Time for a look behind the scenes of HR Famous. Tim says that they often have pre-podcast chats that might get them canceled.

11:30 – Tim asked the crew what they’ve learned from doing the pod. JLee says that she has to trust herself to wing it and she doesn’t always have to have a super-well-thought-out point of view.

13:30 – Do you listen to the podcast and read Tim’s, KD’s, and JLee’s writing? Tim has found that there’s not as much crossover as you’d think.

17:45 – Would you believe that the only person who’s cried on the podcast is KD? Tears of joy but still tears nonetheless.

20:00 – The podcast started out with the intention of being a little bit more fun but because of when the podcast started, the topics were more serious and timely.

21:45 – There is a lost episode! JLee describes the second or third episode where they discussed periods in the workplace.

24:30 – Tim always thought that he was late to the podcast gang. During the pandemic, there was a massive rise in podcasts, and now everyone and their brother has a podcast!

27:00 – Shoutout to our amazing guests! We love you Dawn, Laurie, Cameron, and all our other awesome pod friends!

28:00 – JLee was KD’s first editor at Fistful of Talent and so they have a long history together. Tim and JLee have just gotten closer in the last few years.

32:30 – KD asks JLee if she ever is drawn to certain things because she’s not getting enough feedback in her life.

36:00 – KD asks JLee what she wishes she knew before doing the podcast with Tim and himself. She says she didn’t know she’d have so much fun and she didn’t know how much of a difference a good microphone could make.

42:00 – JLee hopes that listeners of the podcast give some grace to the crew because a lot of the topics of the past year were really difficult and nuanced.

On episode 51 of The HR Famous Podcast, long-time HR leaders (and friends) Tim Sackett, Kris Dunn, and Jessica Lee come together to discuss what will be appropriate to wear to the office in the future, Whole Foods’ company culture, and the new jobs sprung by the pandemic, including “Head of Remote.”

Listen (click this link if you don’t see the player) and be sure to subscribe, rate, and review (Apple Podcasts) and follow (Spotify)!

Show Highlights:

2:00 – The triple Timmy touch is out to play today!

4:45 – Are we going to expect our employees post-pandemic to return to formal workwear? Tim thinks that more formal dress will come back naturally.

8:30 – Tim thinks that his outfits are all about the shoes. He’s also anti-tights in the office for all people.

11:00 – KD thinks that what is office appropriate also depends on what people can afford. Oftentimes we approve of the higher-end leisurewear but not the cheaper versions of the same product.

13:15 – Whole Foods was brought into court recently for reprimanding employees who wore face masks with Black Lives Matter logos on them.

14:30 – Tim thinks that Whole Foods will come to the conclusion that they need to give everyone the same face mask for uniformity. He sees this as a customer-service issue since customers need to be able to quickly and easily identify employees in the store.

17:30 – JLee brings up how Whole Foods has always had a strong people-centric culture and she thinks this is a shift for them from a culture perspective. The company has grown and is now a part of Amazon and they’re not as small as they once were.

19:30 – KD mentions that the Whole Foods near him in Birmingham is close to the Amazon distribution center that is currently voting on if they want to bring in a union.

22:00 – Do you feel guilty using Amazon’s one-day shipping? KD feels some guilt but JLee doesn’t feel any.

23:45 – Does your family have a shared Amazon Prime account? Tim’s family shares an Amazon account and he finds himself accidentally purchasing stuff that his kids put in the cart.

27:00 – JLee recently saw a job title that reads “Head of Remote.” She asks Tim and KD what they think the responsibilities of this job are.

30:15 – KD thinks this position sounds like a senior director of HR. The crew thinks it probably reports up to a CHRO.

31:30 – KD tells the tale of the flavored water machine in his office that arrived right before the pandemic hit. The machine displays the environmental impact and sadly they haven’t saved many trees since no one has been using it!

On episode 50 of The HR Famous Podcast, long-time HR leaders (and friends) Tim Sackett, Kris Dunn, and Jessica Lee come together once again to discuss Netflix’s 2021 inclusion report, facial recognition software in interviewing, and the scam psychic that’s terrorizing JLee’s neighborhood!

Listen (click this link if you don’t see the player) and be sure to subscribe, rate, and review (Apple Podcasts) and follow (Spotify)!

Show Highlights:

2:20 – Do you know where the DMV area is? That’s where JLee says she is from when asked.

3:00. – Jlee has a scam psychic in her neighborhood and everyone is activating their Ring doorbell to find out who it is. Discussion of psychics naturally follows.

6:30 – KD asks Tim how frustrated he gets when people in his inner circle don’t share his passion for his favorite streaming shows/movies. The gang agrees there should be codes where you can force someone to watch a show a limited number of times per year.

10:00 – Netflix released their first-ever inclusion report in mid-January. KD addresses it as a masterstroke in communication and controlling the narrative in HR comms. They announced that women make up half of their workforce, even in leadership and executive roles.

12:00 – JLee thinks Netflix is doing good work in the DEI space. She cites a webinar they hosted about being black in HR and how it felt authentic and not too sales-y.

14:30 – Tim says that demographic data are very important in controlling the narrative they want to spin.

18:20 – Tim poses the question “do we know that Netflix is good for women”? He doesn’t think they are a tech company so the numbers could be low for the entertainment/media industry.

21:00 – KD brings up how they led with their best numbers when discussing their numbers on race and ethnicity that came later in the report.  He allows notes that the data they did provide in charts is hard to follow compared with the numerical data in tabs that companies like Google provided.

26:00 – KD asks JLee how she feels about the accuracy of facial recognition. She gets annoyed when her phone doesn’t recognize her face in the morning sometimes.

27:30 – Hirevue just discontinued facial recognition as a sorting feature in video interviewing. They felt that this feature could help give a better pool of candidates than without, but it started to raise some issues, namely the world crushing people for features like this without apology.

31:00 – Tim thinks the technology worked too well and that scared away many companies. There were just some concerns that the facial recognition software would raise some physical-attribute-related issues. KD wonders aloud how well the tech actually worked, and a discussion of whether facial tics and frowns was a knockout feature or note ensues.

34:00 – Did you love the button at the bottom of old iPhone models? Tim misses his button on his newer iPhone.

Traditionally, this is a very common and easy scenario. You’re in a conference room meeting, you need to use the restroom, like a freaking adult, you just stand up and quietly walk out of the conference room and do your business. Today, you’re on a Zoom conference, at home, what do you do?!

In episode 48 of The HR Famous Podcast, long-time HR leaders (and friends) Tim Sackett, Kris Dunn, and Jessica Lee come together once again to discuss having to go to the bathroom during a video call, fake commute routines, and what to do for a one year WFH anniversary!

Listen (click this link if you don’t see the player) and be sure to subscribe, rate, and review (Apple Podcasts) and follow (Spotify)!

Show Highlights:

3:20 – JLee tells the crew that her sister was born in Michigan, where Tim lives.  She can’t remember where in the state she was born, so we’re going to need an update on that!

5:45 – JLee brings up the Air Force One’s appearance at the inauguration a few weeks ago. Tim says that those shoes went for $5,000 on StockX!

6:30 – First topic of the episode: You’re on a Zoom call and you have to go to the bathroom. What are you supposed to do?

7:30 – KD thinks best practices are having all cameras on, but that complicates the bathroom issue.

10:00 – JLee sometimes gets ready for the day in the bathroom while on a video call. Can you hear the echo from people that get ready in the bathroom?

12:00 – Are you experiencing Zoom fatigue? Tim thinks it’s B.S. because there are just as many calls as before but some were not video. KD thinks that the number of video calls has declined since the earlier days of the pandemic.

13:30 – JLee mentions the rise of “fake commutes.” She misses the transition she used to get from being a parent to work/life throughout the morning.

16:00 – KD spends his “commute” time sleeping in instead of trying to recreate his work commute.

19:00 – Second topic: Silkroad Technology conducted a survey among office workers and executives and found ⅖ of office workers plan to resign because of how their companies handled the pandemic.

22:00 – KD thinks Silkroad is the Dark Web. Tim and JLee don’t know how to access the dark web and we want help! Tim and JLee are interested. 😉

23:00 – KD recommends reading the book American Kingpin by Nick Bilton about the creation of the dark web!

24:45 – KD and Tim are a little confused by the 40% of people who want to quit their jobs because they can’t think of that many companies that have really fumbled a Covid response.

28:00 – JLee thinks there needs to be some humility and grace for those trying to handle “unprecedented” times.

31:00 – It’s coming up soon that we’ve been working virtually for a year. An employee on JLee’s team mentioned celebrating the one-year anniversary and maybe getting a WFH gift for their teammates. JLee asked Tim and KD what ideas they have for a WFH gift.

36:00 – JLee’s brother-in-law went through a Gary V rabbit hole and found that he is bringing value to old sports cards.