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 Hi ya party people, We’ve made it to the end of a short work week that totally still felt like a full week. 😐 I can’t be the only one who thinks so! Nonetheless, the chaos is nothing new, but I still have my fun with it, so I’ll count it as a win. Speaking of chaos, for this week’s Q&A, we've got a culture of forced positivity that's basically just conflict avoidance with better branding, and an HR-adjacent person who walked into a nine-person nonprofit and immediately got handed a full-blown employee relations situation they did not sign up for. Both of these people deserve a snack and a nap. Let's discuss, and if you wanna make my day and submit your own questions, submit them here! Sponsored by Gem Recruiting is being rebuilt around AI in real time, and most TA leaders are figuring it out as they go! That’s all fine and dandy…until you're also accountable for hitting hiring targets, leading a team, and proving TA's business value simultaneously. Oooof. 😬 If you’re tired of playing the guessing game, Uncut by Gem, a virtual conference on July 8th, will be worth your time! Expect TA leaders who've gone deep on AI and seen what works, who are willing to share their best practices. You’ll walk away with smoother workflows and scalable tech stacks. Basically, the kind of clarity that makes your H2 strategy feel attainable, and you a lot more confident! 😁 If you're on this journey yourself and want a blueprint from people who've already done it, do yourself a favor and save a seat! ASK AWAY ❤️ culture & empathy ✍🏽 Hello! I am an assistant general manager with a new to the company general manager that just isn’t doing what’s needed and doesn’t seem to care about it when I try and ask questions on his processes. I wish I could tell my regional manager that I am very unhappy and feel like he’s not doing what needs to be done. That’s not in our culture to be that honest. We are always supposed to be positive through anything. I want to be a team player, but I feel like something needs to be said. What should I do. Context: I work for a big corporation restaurant group. 📣 Rosetta Williams, Sr. Director, People Talent & Culture @ Immigrant Justice Corps: This is a really common bind in corporate restaurant culture — the expectation of positivity can feel like it's working against you when something genuinely needs to be addressed. Here's the thing though: you don't have to choose between being a team player and being honest. Those aren't actually opposites. What I'd encourage you to do is reframe the conversation away from 'I'm unhappy with him' and toward 'here's what I'm seeing impact our operations.' Your regional manager doesn't need to hear that you're frustrated — they need to hear specific, observable gaps that are affecting the business. Think about things like: Is service suffering? Are labor or food costs off? Are team members coming to you with issues they should be bringing to the GM? Are key processes not being followed? When you frame it that way, you're not complaining — you're doing your job. You're surfacing business risk, which is exactly what a good assistant GM is supposed to do. That's not a culture violation; that's contribution. Also worth considering: document what you're seeing. Dates, specifics, impact. Not to build a case against the guy, but because if you do raise this, you want to be able to speak concretely rather than generally. 📣 Jennifer Zimmerman, Learning & Development Manager @ L.N. Curtis & sons: Sounds like a tough spot. Way back when I was working in retail in college, I had a new manager come on who used profanity towards me. It was very unprofessional and unprovoked. I called my regional manager and let her know and basically told her I needed to transfer stores. She allowed it and after several months at the new store, that manager transferred there too. I requested another transfer and got it. It was difficult to call the regional manager, but I was not willing to work for a manager that didn't treat me with respect. Building on Sandi's suggestion, could you consider framing your feedback using the SBI model - Situation, Behavior, Impact? This model can help take the emotion out of feedback and focus solely on what happened and when, the behavior of the person, and the impact. Here's an article from CCL with more details: https://www.ccl.org/articles/leading-effectively-articles/closing-the-gap-between-intent-vs-impact-sbii/ Good luck! 📣 Sandi Creyaufmiller, SVP Culture &Talent @ Marine Bank: I would imagine that your regional manager would appreciate it if you could share with them what you are seeing and the impact of the GM's actions. Reach past your own dissatisfaction. You don't want to come across as a tattletale or sour grapes for not being promoted into the role. Focus on the impact of GM actions (or lack thereof) with data. Things like the cost of turnover, the impact on morale and, most importantly, the impact on customer experience. If the new employee is a poor fit for the company, it's better for everyone if they move on quickly. Safe Space members can join this discussion here. Not a member yet? Apply to join here.  ✍🏽 With experience primarily in finance, I'm new to a position that includes HR. Unexpectedly, employee relations with one person have taken up much of my time. I feel for the aggrieved and feel the organization has wronged them. I'm making a case for the employee, but am I meant to be "siding" with the company? Context: Nonprofit arts organization with nine people, I'm the first purely administrative employee. I'm taking a lot of responsibility from others, and elevating operations. The Executive Director is accustomed to controlling everything and calling all the shots. The employee in question is neurodivergent and has invisible disabilities - neither of which seem to be understood or respected. 📣 Rebecca Dobrzynski, Director, People & Culture @ Greenfield Global: It’s easy to believe that you have to side with either the company or the employee, but I actually don’t think that’s the job. HR should exist to ensure that the business is making decisions that are fair and equitable, comply with applicable laws and regulations, and mitigate risk to the business priorities. Sometimes that looks like “siding with the company” by enforcing policies or processes. Sometimes it looks like “siding with the employee” by pointing out to the business leaders where there have been gaps in compliance or best practices that lead to the employee having a potential path to pursue legal action or otherwise cause issues the business may wish to avoid (retention, morale, engagement, trust, PR, etc). Since you mentioned that you are making a case for the employee, I would focus on ensuring that you have presented the facts of the situation as objectively as possible and framed your recommendations as mitigating any potential risks to the business. Ultimately you want to advocate for resolving any issues that open up the company to legal liability or jeopardize its business goals while also being responsible with company resources and ensuring that employees are treated fairly. If your executive director doesn’t see things they way you do, it’s your job to find a framing that does resonate with them—but ultimately if they have all the facts and make a decision you disagree with, that’s on them a lot more than it is on you. (And documenting your evidence and recommendations is a way that you can protect yourself in the event of escalated legal action, since an employee can name both the business and specific individuals if they choose to make claims.) If you’re thinking it sounds hard to balance all those things, you’re right! It’s not a perfect science, but your curiosity, request for help, and openness to suggestion put you in a good position to approach the situation thoughtfully. 📣 Jess Tannenbaum, Head of People @ Brass Taxes: @Rebecca Dobrzynski So well said! HR is the bridge between employees and the company- elevating employee voices and concerns to ensure that leadership truly hears and understands, while also working to make sure policies expectations, and processes are fair, clearly communicated, and consistently applied. And, documentation is so important- to protect yourself and to make sure that there's shared understanding and accountability around conversations, decisions, and next steps. 📣 Olivia Maurer, Head of People Operations @ Justice Law Corporation: I don't think HR is supposed to "side with the company" at the expense of fair treatment. HR is supposed to do what actually protects the organization - which includes legal compliance and treating people decently. I'm imagining that coming from finance, there are probably clearer rules. What I'm hearing now, is that HR in a small organization where the ED controls everything can be much messier - especially when there's a misunderstanding of neurodivergence and disabilities in the workplace. What I might recommend is leaning in to your 'newness' in HR as your starting point. Ask clarifying questions like "what is our ADA process? How are we documenting this? Could this unintentionally be experienced as retaliatory?" Approach it like you're learning. Document what you observe, and if the ED is open to it, ask "I want to make sure we're approaching this in a way that protects us. Can we talk about what we're doing?". Alternatively, as Rebecca Dobrzynski mentioned - make a business case for it! Sometimes we have to 'translate' what we're advocating for into more evoking language. For instance, the ED might be responsive to the possibility of having to respond to litigation concerning failure to accommodate, constructive discharge, EEOC complaint and the potential damages for which they might be responsible. With all of this being said though, if the ED fundamentally doesn't respect this employee or understand accommodations, that's not something one person can fix. Your role in this case is to advise, and make sure you document that you raised this concern. Safe Space members can join this discussion here. Not a member yet? Apply to join here. 🚨 ON YOUR RADAR 🎧 Hiring for AI skills is genuinely hard when the skill set is still being defined in real time. I sat down with Kristin Russum from TriNet to figure out exactly what you can do to update your process. Check it out on Spotify or Apple Podcasts! 🗓️ Mid-year snuck up on us, and it’s time to debrief. HR Therapy is back June 24th, and we're getting transparent about the three biggest challenges HR is facing in 2026. Come ready for some spicy topics, and leave with an actual game plan! 🤖 AI Live Build Part 2: The Claude baddies were in full swing, over 600+ showed up for part 1 and for part two we're going even more advanced. Come build with us live! 📋 Your last compliance check-in was in January, and it's almost June BTW. Rippling is hosting a free virtual briefing on June 4th with a DLA Piper partner covering pay transparency, AI disclosure laws, and 2026 employment updates + a live Q&A to close. Don't start the 2nd half of the year unprepared!* *This one is brought to you by one of my amazing brand partners Sponsored by Hinge Health Somewhere on your team right now, someone is pushing through a migraine with sunglasses on at their desk pretending to be fine, and it's costing your business more than you think! 🤕 📝 RESOURCE OF THE WEEK Each week I feature a resource I love from the Safe Space library that I believe would be relatable to this week's newsletter topic. Today, we’re looking at the addiction to busyness. Check it out HERE ⬇️  {/if}{if contains(profile.lists,"Safe Space Members")} Community Happenings ☕Monthly Virtual Coffee + Cowork - Hosted by Kat. HR team of 1? In need of body doubling? Simply want to hang out listening to lofi beats with your fav community? Trust, it’s always a vibe. Come hang with some of the best ppl ever here! 👯June’s Virtual New Member Meetup - Hosted by Kat. Join her for a 30 minute virtual meetup to help you get in the groove, meet other new Safe Spacers, and get comfortable on the platform. It’s onboarding with real humans, not a cold start in the void!! Which we love. Want to host your own in-person event, shoot Kat a DM here! {/if}{if contains(profile.lists,"Safe Space Members")}{/if} FRIDAY FUN 🍿 I think I've seen this film before and I didn't like the ending!!!! No but fr why does this always happen and then everyone thinks its no big deal??? How about NO MORE SURPRISES and instead we have plans!!! That feels better... That's all for this week! I hope your short week was not stacked with meetings and. Reminder: Today is FRIDAY. 🙏 Take care of yourself this weekend! | |||||||||||
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Workweek Newsletter
