Hi ya friend,

It’s the last two weeks of 2024.

✨WE MADE IT. ✨

It’s been one heck of a year and I, for one, am ready for a few days off.

If you need me I'll be in my sweatpants, curled up with my kindle, and devouring all the holiday treats. Tis the freaking season.

Before we get into 5 gifts your HR team actually wants - here’s one gift from me to you:

🎧The SEASON FINALE of the I Hate it Here pod. I asked 5 of my friends to give me their wishes for HR in 2025. We’re not doing predictions, we’re making wishes!!!

Now, onto today - other gifts HR teams may want… let’s have some fun!

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SPECIAL EDITION

Gift #1: Some recognition

When’s the last time someone told you thank you?

If you can’t remember… we have a slight problem.

🙏 So, let me fix that - THANK YOU for all that you do. 🙏

A lot of the work that we do is behind the scenes. We’re making things happen that employees may never know about. We’re fighting battles for employees that they’ll never hear of!!!

In fact sometimes we’re only visible during really happy times or really hard times.

And the in-between gets forgotten…

But don’t get caught up feeling like your work doesn’t matter if you’re not getting the recognition you deserve.

Because your work does matter!!

Pro-tip: keep a folder of emails, screenshots, whatever you have reminding you of the great work you’re doing.

And if that doesn’t work, send me your manager’s email and I'll deliver them a lil note. 🙂

Gift #2: Candles that set the mood

I’ve had some REALLY rough days this year. Working in HR is not easy and if you don’t take care of yourself it can become even harder.

Over the years I've developed a ritual to handle the bad days.

🕯️I turn off all my devices, light a candle and try to meditate.

I know, me??? Meditate?? But yes, I do it.

And you should try it!!

I don’t like when the stresses of work carry over into my personal life and begin to impact my ability to live. So meditation is how I shut out the work stuff and prepare myself TO LIVE.

This candle from Evil Queen - Exhale the Bullsh*t is perfect to set the mood.

What’s your ritual? I’d love to hear!!

Gift #3: A reasonable workload

A lot of the HR teams I’ve talked to recently have expressed how their workload feels somewhat unmanageable.

I get it, I've been there!

In fact, it took me a long time to learn how to accurately estimate bandwidth and push back when it’s too much.

So, what is reasonable? Ahh what a loaded question.

3 ways to figure out if your workload is reasonable:

1. Gather feedback: listen to what your team is saying. If you’re hearing a lot of I don’t have time for that, I didn’t get to it, or even comments about stress and burnout that might be a clear sign the workload isn’t reasonable.

2. Task & time: For every task your team has to complete make sure you are estimating how much time it takes to complete! This becomes INCREDIBLY helpful when taking on additional work and determining what’s actually reasonable. If you notice that a lot of your tasks take more time than your team has, that's a clear sign it's not reasonable!

3. Keep an eye out for red flags AND intervene: if you’ve noticed things like the quality of the work going down, deadlines being missed or your team disengaged then it's time to intervene. Look at all your tasks and determine what isn’t a priority. Pro-tip: drop the tasks that won’t have a real impact and take a long time to complete.

Here’s to reasonable workloads in 2025!

Gift #4: a burn book

Everyone needs a burn book! I mean, a journal.

Journaling can help:

Reduce stress
Promote creativity
Help with self reflection
Encourage gratitude
Support goal setting

I spend on average about 5 mins a day journaling some thoughts down.

It started with my Notes app on my iPhone then I finally grabbed one of my many empty journals and started writing down thoughts.

Confession: I love buying journals but then end up collecting them and never writing in them. Hence many empty journals.

Until this year!! I’ve started filling my journals with actual thoughts. GASP.

Like the earlier mentioned meditating, journaling has helped me unplug, unwind and let go of things.

Some days I make silly lists like 5 things I shouldn’t care about. Other days I write down memories I don’t want to forget.

✍️ Here are some of my FAVE journals if you want to get started:

Gift #5: A community who gets it

In 2024 my community was EVERYTHING TO ME.

I’ve always had great friends who wanted to hear about my work struggles BUT it’s a bit different having HR friends who truly get what I'm going through and can offer actionable advice.

Because sometimes the only people who truly understand what you’re dealing with are the ones who are also going through it all!

Safe Space was my lifesaver this year - it really felt like the best gift I could have ever gotten.

In Safe Space there are over 1,000 people leaders trying to get through another day in HR.

We’re exchanging resources, DMs and tips for how to survive it all!!

Come hang out with us in 2025?

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(HUMAN) RESOURCES

More cities join Starbucks strike
Party City shuts down all stores
Why some startups staying private rather than IPO'ing
Honda + Nissan merger is happening in 2026

WORK-LIFE BALANCE

📚 What I’m reading: Cruel Winter With You By Ali Hazlewood. I’ll read anything, I MEAN ANYTHING, Ali Hazlewood writes. I usually preorder anything she writes. This holiday book was part of a collection. I haven’t gotten through all of them yet, but you better believe i’ll try.
📺 What I’m watching: Christmas in Notting Hill. A Hallmark movie on Netflix that features London and lovely British accents? SOLD. Is it corny? YES. Did I giggle during certain parts? Absolutely. Would I watch it again? Possibly…
🩳 What I’m obsessing over: the perfect pair of sweatpants. Every pair I've ever owned is either too big or not big enough. Then they pill and never last longer than a season!!! I just want the exact perfect pair of sweatpants. Is that… too much to ask?

SONG OF THE WEEK

🎧 Yule Shoot Your Eye Out, Fall Out Boy

Are you even a real FOB fan if you don’t know this song???

There are loads of cute and lovely holiday songs out there… this is not that.

Don’t say I didn’t warn you…

You can’t take the emo out of the gal (it’s me, i’m the gal).

ENJOYYYYYYYYY.

That's all for this week! I hope you enjoyed this, please let me know what you think and what other topics you'd love for me to cover. I'm allll ears.

Reminder: Take care of yourself and know that I support you.

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