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Hiii,

Sorry to be that person, but look at us already halfway through January! 

How are those resolutions going?! 

Are we still setting firm boundaries, or are we back to answering emails at midnight while dissociating over a bag of Popcorners? The kettle flavor is sooo good.

It’s okay, this is a safe space. You still have time to set the tone. 😉

This week, we’re highlighting the absolute circus that is 2026 headcount planning. 

Apparently, the vibe is "Hire aggressively! But also…cut everyone? But also, make it look like AI did it so we look tech-savvy and not just disorganized." 

It’s like some kind of messy riddle that we’re expected to make sense of without losing our minds, aka business as usual.

Grab one of your 10 emotional support Stanley’s that you bought last year and let’s discuss, shall we?

✨ Don't forget: You can always vent, celebrate a win, or find support in Safe Space

✨ Don't forget: You can always vent, celebrate a win, or find support in Safe Space

Was this email forwarded to you?

🤔 Employers plan to hire ‘aggressively’ in 2026 BUT only for certain roles

The TL;DR: Companies are saying “we’re hiring!” for 2026 while also quietly planning layoffs…just not in the same roles. Hiring is getting more selective, with demand concentrated in revenue, transformation, and efficiency roles, while higher-cost or slower-ROI roles get cut. Oh, and a lot of companies are just blaming AI for layoffs because it sounds better than saying “budget.”

My POV: And for your first magic trick of the year, a lot of you are gonna be asked to hire aggressively, cut strategically, then explain why both are happening at the same time without torching trust! It's not an easy task AT ALL. 

The signal here is that speed and adaptability are the currency now, and we’ll be the ones making that reality make sense to leaders and employees. Double down on those comms and explaining the why behind these moves or lose the trust of your employees forever. 

Just another day in the office, it sounds like!

On the mic this week: Jessica D. Winder is basically my unofficial co-host, resident HR truth-teller, and the person I bring in when I need real-time reactions and zero tolerance for nonsense. She’s an HR leader who has seen more than enough workplace chaos to respond with both empathy and “call the police” energy when needed. She’s also the author of The Hidden Gem Within!

Pin this: 

• Workplace horror stories are often funny until they’re not. Threats and safety issues need immediate escalation and clear boundaries.
• Leaders being wildly out of touch (like confusing paid sick leave with unpaid leave) is a culture and retention problem waiting to explode.
• HR’s job isn’t just policy…it’s also crisis response, risk management, and protecting people when situations turn unpredictable.
• Boundaries matter: social media, workplace romance mess, and “odd behavior” aren’t small things when they start impacting safety and trust.

My H*ly Sh*t Moment:  The scariest part is realizing how often HR is the only thing standing between weird workplace behavior and an actual safety incident, and sometimes we still don’t have the authority to act until it’s too late.

▶️ Press Play

Stat: More than half of US workers say they’re lonely, disrupting productivity

My spiral: We talk nonstop about engagement, productivity, and retention, but loneliness is the invisible thread running through all three of those things.

The tricky part about it is that it doesn’t show up in your dashboards until people are already checking out or leaving. 😶

What really gets me is that the difference-maker could be as simple as making people feel understood. Revolutionary, right???

HR can’t fix loneliness alone, but we can stop designing systems that ignore how isolated work has become for some folks!

🗣️ UNMUTE YOURSELF

Not everything that matters shows up cleanly in a dashboard, and pretending it does is how we end up optimizing the wrong things. 

Sooo before you answer this, think about the moments you felt something shift before you ever saw a metric move:

“How do you measure impact when it can’t be put in a dashboard?”

🛠️ TRY THIS TOMORROW:

Before you jump into fixing or reacting, slow it down for a few min. 

In my opinion, some of the biggest unlocks come from noticing where your thinking got a little too comfortable. 

So give yourself permission to question something you’ve been treating as settled and ask yourself:

“What’s one assumption I’ve made lately that might need rethinking?”

👂 OVERHEARD IN SAFE SPACE

Nothing says “great leadership growth moment” like realizing you were being collaborative while actively causing chaos!

Character development right before the weekend, love that for you.

Read what members had to say here.

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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