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 Hi ya party people, It’s our fav day of the week, where we get to hit ⏸️ on all of our current BS for a couple of days and let the future you deal with it next week! Personally, I'm drowning in iced coffee and pretending my inbox doesn’t exist anymore. Right now I'm focused on you, and this Q&A! This week we've got one reader stuck managing a team while getting zero support from a boss who plays favorites, and another just trying to figure out what tool to trust for comp benchmarking. Let's discuss, and if you wanna make my day and submit your own questions, submit them here! Sponsored by Mitratech You know that sinking feeling when a law changes and you find out from an employee instead of, you know, in advance?! 🤯 Their compliance software, Mineral Elite, tracks 3,000+ employment laws every single day and sends plain-language alerts within 24–48 hours, with an action step already attached. No more guessing games. You also get unlimited access to SPHR/PHR-credentialed HR experts, a multi-state handbook that updates itself, and 300+ audit-ready training courses. 🤩 Setup takes under an hour too, so compliance chaos doesn't have to take over your whole career! ASK AWAY ⚙️ tools & support ✍🏾 I work for a boss who has no accountability and cancels every single 1:1 with most of the team but keeps the few with their favorites. Working for them feels disheartening but I also have a team to manage and want to feel like I can support them even though I am not supported. I would love any support! Context: I work for a small company working in educational services. 📣 Josiah Hernandez, People Operations & Recruiting Manage @ CW Financial Services LLC: First, I just want to recognize that you're thinking about how to support your team despite not receiving that support yourself, and that says a lot about you as a leader, and I want to call that out. I'd ask yourself what your team actually needs from you. Probably presence, consistency, and honesty. Keep your check-ins and show up the way you wish your boss showed up for you. If they see you making that effort despite how you're being treated, it will mean a lot. As far as your boss goes, it might be worth a direct conversation but I'd frame it more as advocating for yourself rather than calling them out. If it were me, I'd straight out ask if we could protect our 1:1s so that I'm getting what I need to not only do my job, but to lead my team well. If nothing changes, it might be time to start thinking about what you need long term. You can be a great manager in a bad situation, but not forever. 📣 Ayanna Kelly, Director of Culture @ ETR: First of all - I’m so sorry you’re going through this situation. It’s a heavy place to be when you genuinely care about your team and want to support them but don’t have the same support to be able to sustain. What I recommend (you may have already tried some of this): 1. Talk to them - try to get a few minutes even if they cancel a 1:1. Try to approach the conversation with how their actions or lack thereof are impacting you and give them specific examples of how you would like for them to be more supportive. Allow them the opportunity to own up to it and try to change. 2. Follow up in writing if you do have the conversation. A broad “thank you for taking the time to chat, I’m glad we can agree to move forward by doing XYZ together”. 3. If all of your 1:1s are being cancelled, send your weekly updates and needs to your boss in writing. Despite how disheartening, it’s time to start the paper trail. 4. Connect with their boss (if you have that relationship) to check in and find a way to convey that you could use some additional support from your manager. 5. If you’re not the HR person, go to HR. Start the conversation first so you’re not blindsided when you’re manager starts saying “you’re not performing” 6. Be honest with your team on where you can lean in to support them and when something is beyond your control. 7. Be honest with yourself about whether or not it is sustainable for you to continue with a difficult manager who is MIA. 8. Find mentors and peers outside of your workplace to be able air it out if you decide to stay and need an external place to process (super important since you’re in a small org) 9. Find joy outside of work. Find purpose outside of your role so you can show up, do what you gotta do, and then clock out and do things that keep you fulfilled. 10. Last but not least - your manager’s behaviors are not an indication of your worth. Keep going no matter what they do and be great. Use it as an example of what not to do with your own team. 📣 Susanna Williams, CPO - Chief People Officer @ East Bay Community Action Program: That sounds not just frustrating but like it genuinely impedes your ability to do your job. Two approaches: first, set up a meeting with them to directly address this issue and ask for what you need. If your boss doesn't follow through, email and cc the Big Boss. Second, set up a meeting with the Big Boss (if there is one) and share your frustration. If neither of those things work, either resign yourself to this situation or look for a new role that will give you the kind of support you're craving. Safe Space members can join this discussion here. Not a member yet? Apply to join here.  ✍🏾 What tools are you using for benchmarking compensation for individual roles? Context: Non-profit, 50 staff 📣 Rachel Ackerman, Senior Director, People Operations @ Barstool Sports: In my last role and current role, I've built an internal compensation tool that tracks the benchmark data, internal comp bands and incumbent data for our 400 employees. I built this tool in Google Sheets and maintain it each pay period with any updates for new hires, terms, and other employee changes to ensure it's up to date. I also update the benchmark data on an annual basis to ensure we're aligned with the current market. I work in a unique space and find it hard to fit our org into any of the tools that are out there presently. I have worked with and can recommend Pequity which virtually mimicked what I was already doing in my internal comp tool and also provided us an easier way to work through compensation cycles. There are plenty of other comp tools out there that can provide you with benchmark data and a space to manage your company's comp bands, you just need to know what things your company absolutely needs in the tool and see if it makes sense for the cost involved. 📣 Hannah Kinder, Director of Operations @ Greener by Default: We've built a custom code that scrapes the websites of nearly 100 organizations we have identified (similar advocacy space, similar size, orgs we see as models for our growth, etc). This runs 1 - 2 times per month and adds everything into a specific benchmarking spreadsheet in Google Sheets. While it runs, the code also pulls the data from the previous run into a "historical" tab so that we keep a running list of all previous job posts from our identified benchmark organizations. We've recently added a pivot table tab that pulls in the data from the historical tab so we have an update benchmark at any time, that we can easily change filters/parameters for as our policy changes. 📣 Angie Johnson, CHRO @ InMoment: I can help - I use Melita it's basic but does the job and TBH using AI lately has been really helpful and can do pretty extensive research and fact/data gathering easily and present it out in dashboards. Let me know if you're interested in more guidance here. Safe Space members can join this discussion here. Not a member yet? Apply to join here. Sponsored by Go1 Nobody (and I mean nobody) wants to log into three different LMS platforms just to sit through a compliance video they'll forget by lunch! 🥱 🚨 ON YOUR RADAR 🎧 The Cackle Queens are back, and this time we said screw the notes. Jess Winder and I riffed on HR's past + its wildest possible futures. A little unhinged and unfiltered, per usual. Check it out on Spotify or Apple Podcasts! 🧠 When your CEO asks you about AI and skills gaps, what will you tell them? On July 28th, I'm sitting down with Amanda Arena and Will Self from Aon for an HR Therapy session on building a reliable workforce plan before you're asked for one! 🥊 Every company wants the same ML engineers you do, so what's your move? Gem's free Talent Intelligence Report breaks down 165M applicants and 1.2M hires to show why sourced candidates get hired 8x more than inbound. Grab the benchmarks and 7 tactical moves before your top pick disappears in two weeks flat!* *This one is brought to you by one of my amazing brand partners 📝 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. This week, we’ve got a role kickoff guide! Check it out HERE ⬇️  🫂 COMMUNITY HAPPENINGS Must Attend Virtuals 💬 Panel Discussion: Disability Pride Month, July 30th - Disability at work is about more than policy talk and best practices. In honor of Disability Pride Month, join Safe Space Ambassadors Lia Seth, MariaElena Martinez and Safe Space member Tammi Burnett for a candid, informative, and fun panel discussion. Plus, tangible takeaways to help your org be more inclusive RIGHT NOW. No prior experience with disability inclusion required — just an open mind and a willingness to listen. Grab your spot to this must attend virtual event here! In-person Meet-ups 💐 CHARLOTTE AREA! The time to hang out has arrived!! Come hang with your community manager Kat at Aurora Flora Flower Farm in Mooresville, NC in August. We’ll grab some shears, walk the beautiful rows of flowers and gather all the lovely things to fill up our cups. Plus, the flower farm is all ours for the evening, big thanks to Devery for letting us come on an off night so we can hang with our ppl! AND Flowers are on Safe Space!!! Grab your spot here! Keep your eyes peeled St.Louis and Ohio - Safe Space Ambassadors are currently planning your in-person meet-ups. #ComingSoon Want to host your own in-person event, shoot Kat a DM here! FRIDAY FUN 🫠 the last 5 years in 1 image Where my Animorphs fans at??? I was OBSESSED with these books and tv show hence the inspo for this week. Why does it feel like we've just been dealing with thing after thing in HR? We're morphing every year into a bigger and bigger job... What do you think accurate or nah? That's all for this week! I hope you enjoyed! If you have any thoughts, please let me know. I'm allll ears. Reminder: Today is FRIDAY. 🙏 | |||||||||||
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