HR BESTIES - HR Besties Bonus Happy Hour - Friday Frustrations and Ohio State Updates

Starting point is 00:00:00 Friday TGI fricking F. We made it. Hello, Friday. Hello, friends. Hello. Yeah, I don't know if I'd consider making it today. Everything that has possibly gone wrong for me to record, this happy hour has. So I'm here, if I sound different, I apologize. I'm literally loving you on a prayer. Jamie's in witness protection. It's like the podcast equivalent of a pixelated dateline photo.

Starting point is 00:00:40 We're trying to adjust your voice. It's not working out so well. It's just slightly different, but it's all right. Well, I got a new phone last weekend. And I'm telling you, I've never had this many issues when I've got a new phone. So I'm completely locked out of my Facebook. I've been on Facebook since November 30th, 2004. So I have to get back in my Facebook. That means I'm also locked out of all my accounts

Starting point is 00:01:07 on Facebook. So humorous, millennial, parody parenting, the chief meme office, and I'm also locked out of the chief meme officer on Instagram. And so this week has been a living hell for me. So anyway, anyone listening from Metta, if you could reach out, that'd be super great. Right. If you could give a shit for a second, that would be fun. Yeah. Like someone help me.

Starting point is 00:01:31 I'm in a Facebook group. I don't mean to throw that in your face because I can access my Metta this week. Sorry. On Facebook, flip there. No worries. No holes. But it's like a working mom, lawyers, you know, whatever, you know, Venn diagram. But in it constantly, people are like, does anybody have a,

Starting point is 00:01:47 people would put that to like a legal group. They would be like, who has a contact at Metta to get my friends internet thing? And I'd be like, no, no, no, no, no. Like I appreciate it. And I appreciate Reach Now to have a contact, but please don't do that to people. It is, it's people. No, no.

Starting point is 00:02:05 Those who are like work at, it is the burden of working at like a known organization. Yeah, for sure. It's like if you're an airline, I'm sorry. When I worked at KFC, people would be like, this location was out of chicken. And I'd be like, do you want me to call 1888 and send you some chicken checks? 1-800-CHICKEN, bitches. I don't know. Again, but of course, I'm always trying to be a good brand ambassador.

Starting point is 00:02:28 Of course, of course. Oh, let me see what I can do and add that to my stack of things that that to do list. But that's every other post on LinkedIn. That's every other post. Does anyone have a meta contact? Oh, my meta's down. Exactly. At tag, at tagging the CEO. Let me tell you. Mark Zuckerberg.

Starting point is 00:02:48 Well, I have this dream. You know, I live in, I live in, live in Dunwoody. And I have this dream of writing a musical about, about the suburbs, let's say, and specifically Dunwoody. Um, but that I'd have a song called at Mayor Lynn Deutsch, because we have like a Dunwoody community Facebook page That's exactly what you'd imagine and every other post is like, you know, I mean right now the time is like there's a dear You know beer that met a tragic fate or things like that And you look like at Maryland at Maryland or it's and so I don't have a song called like that Maryland at Maryland

Starting point is 00:03:23 That's the reality of it anyway. But I feel like even as HR professionals, I've been hit up so many times for resume reviews, for benefit questions. And even because I've worked in health care for the last 11 years too, but just health care questions in general. And I'm sure lawyer Ashley, I'm sure you get hit up all the time.

Starting point is 00:03:44 I mean, shit, I've done it myself. Like you're my personal counsel. I think it's like no matter what you do, or where you work, even when I worked for Marriott, I was getting hit up all the time for hotel discounts because we could get hotel discounts for friends and family. I mean, I'm talking $60 a night. Now the problem was though, if someone messed up a room or like fucked up or got in trouble, you yourself would get your discount taken away. So I was like super stingy with my hotel discount because I was like, fuck you, I barely filled you. You're not going to mess up my hotel discount. Oh gosh. See, that is it as HR.

Starting point is 00:04:25 I mean, I feel like we do it to everyone, right? What other jobs are like that? Like, it's gotta be IT. Like, it's always the danger. If you get a message, and it's usually a Facebook message from someone you haven't talked to in years. Maybe you worked with them a couple years ago. Maybe you went to high school with them.

Starting point is 00:04:41 But they message you with like, hey girl, quick question. And you're like, it's either gonna be, it's's either going to be join my MLM or it's going to be, I need, I need very specific free professional advice. But so what other, what other jobs do you think of like that? H.R.I.T. lawyers for sure. Lawyers for sure. Yeah. I was thinking doctors, nurses that came to mind, you know, I think that's a big one. And I was, I was thinking about how, when I broke my toe, because I got super drunk off San Gris in my backyard, like I went straight to like a an osteo. What's the surgery? Oh, rude. Like I don't even remember

Starting point is 00:05:16 I don't even remember their names. Like their fields, you know, but the periodontist? No, that's a teeth. Yeah, I went to the tooth doctor. Yeah. But diatrogen. No, no, like, or the orthopedic surgeon. Sorry, I couldn't think of the whole word orthopedic. I mean, come on, you know, talk about a brain fart on a Friday. But yeah, you know, anyone that has an expertise, aren't we just like, desperate 99% of our day for someone who knows what the fuck is going on because like we don't know what's going on. Please give me an expert. I'm dying here.

Starting point is 00:05:54 Is this broken literally sideways Bruce? Yes. Go to the ER. Oh, okay. Oh, we go to the ER. Like you just like forget what to do. No, but you're always holding out that hope that they're going to be like, Oh, okay. Oh, we go to the ER. Like you just like forget what to do. No, but you're always holding out that hope that they're going to be like, oh, don't worry about it.

Starting point is 00:06:11 Just go to Walgreens here. It's on aisle 13. Exactly. You're just living your life hoping someone will have specific, convenient, affordable advice and it's not going to happen. There you go. See, so maybe we're looking for hope and we're looking for expertise. That's why people come to us all the

Starting point is 00:06:25 time any HR professional. What do you think about my resume? Looks great. Like, you know, here's a little hope and then here's a little expertise and my experience, right? I mean, so we all do it. But in your case, Jamie, you do it so much like surely it could come back around. Like, don't you just want some of that to come back around? Hopefully. Mark Zuckerberg, please, for the love of God. Someone for Metta, please.

Starting point is 00:06:50 Yeah, you'd think they'd want you to be. I mean, I don't think they give a shit about me, but that's okay. I mean, I get it. I get it. I'm just one person. But it's been insanely frustrating. My husband's stressed out for me. I mean, I've been a mess. And I switched carriers, and I had been with Sprint slash T-Mobile since literally 2005. And I switched carriers, and it's just been like a literal nightmare. It's just been like one of those, like, why did I

Starting point is 00:07:19 switch type things? Like, I'm hitting myself over the head. Well, you got Black Friday. You got Black Friday. Yeah, we did get a very good deal. I got one for Jones, who's my almost 12-year-old. So we got insanely great deals. But Jesus, that's been a pain in the ass. It's why you don't switch. You got to be careful. I mean, honestly, that level of switch, that's why I don't even switch grocery lines. That one looks like it's moving. Do you want to come to this line? Nope. Because I know you're opening it up, but if you do, your register is going to be broken and I'm going to be shuffling

Starting point is 00:07:51 back here and awkwardly like, Oh, do I go back to the place I was or head to the back of the line? I don't switch. Oh, so you're pretty risk adverse then on that. I went to law school. Right. So maybe it's something like, what is it Goldilocks, right? There's got to be that warm, perfect bowl in the middle. Are you in the middle there, Lee? You're our middle here. Probably. You know, like I'll definitely switch lines. I'm really competitive with that. I'll switch lines too. It's this line, like I'm doing all the calculations in my head, you know. But let me tell you,

Starting point is 00:08:22 I don't like switching my phone. Y'all know I just went through that myself and I'm still paying for it. I know, I don't understand why it's so difficult, but we're paying for it. Because you can't post on our shared channel. So I have a personal gripe against your. I can't start a new Instagram account. I can't start shit. I can't get my personal one up.

Starting point is 00:08:41 I can't do. Yeah. And I'm afraid now. Right? It's learned how, I mean, I'm't do, and I'm afraid now, right? It's learned how, I mean, I'm just afraid, like, cause I'm just trying to keep HR manifesto. Well, that's the thing.

Starting point is 00:08:51 It's like, I appreciate the security measures. Like I do, I honestly do, but Jesus Christ, can I get in the fucking account? Oh, Whether you own a bustling hair salon, Whether you own a bustling hair salon, a painting company that just landed a big job, or the hottest new bakery in town, you need business insurance that can keep up with your evolving needs. With flexible coverage options from TD Insurance, you only pay for what you need.

Starting point is 00:09:26 Get a quote in minutes from TD Insurance today. TD, ready for you. Anyways, good Friday rant, right? Which is always part of a happy hour. Sorry. Oh, gosh. Anything going on? Positive? Oh gosh. Anything going on? Positive? Well, no. I did have an update, but I did have an update that's like a secondhand cringe, which we've talked about a little bit, like the whole exempt salary thing that got struck down in court. And I kind of made some things saying, it's kind of awkward because like the January 1st one got struck down, but also the July 1st increase that got struck down and you know, I'm like, just beware if you have increased people salaries and you're

Starting point is 00:10:13 going to go back to them and like take that pay away now because the judge said you don't have to, it's probably not going to be received well. Let me tell you who did not, who's, who did not see my advice on that or did not, probably did not care about my or anyone else's advice on that. That is Ohio State University, the Ohio State University. A manager method follower had sent me this and they're like, remember when you said to be careful if you take people's pay away? Here it is.

Starting point is 00:10:42 They sent me an article from the Columbus Dispatch. Basically, Ohio State, two things. One is there was a pay increase July 1st and then the other one coming January 1st. Ohio State made a change on November 1st. And it was a little unclear whether that was like, let's just say if that was anticipating the January 1st, they did that two months early. Okay, kudos. Good for you.

Starting point is 00:11:01 Help people get through the holidays. Love that. So they implemented that November 1st. November 15th, the judge in Texas, federal judge strikes it down. You know, doesn't apply. A week later, 306 employees from Ohio State get an email that's like, remember that pay increase from November 1st? Well, you can keep it. We're going to do you solid. You can keep it for November, December, but we're going to take it away January 1st. We're going to roll back. That is so rude. The thing I don't like in particular, aside from all of it, is HR sent this letter. I

Starting point is 00:11:35 will say, my money is that HR didn't make this decision, and we will talk about this. But the spokesman, when the newspaper's like, hey, we heard about this, the spokesman's like, well, we did it in alignment with the court decision. Actually. I was like, okay. I have read every page of these court decisions. The court decision did not say take money from your employees. It said you don't have to do this, but it's from a goodwill.

Starting point is 00:11:58 So don't use that misleading language. Be straight up and be like, we decided not. And they also said altogether, they're saving about $2 million with these, by not taking back these salaries. $2 million in total. And spending it on football. Well, exactly. They're spending on football, which they also had to spend $100,000 after the fight with

Starting point is 00:12:16 the Michigan last Saturday. But they have a pretty much brand new president like this year and in August They already increased that presidents pay like 35,000 salary and gave him a hundred sixty something thousand performance bonus and I this is my general thing is like it's not just it's not just a drag on Ohio State like my Grandfather actually went to Ohio State But it is this principle of like if you going to do things and affect the people that are your organization, they can often see or they're wondering what happens to leaders at the top. And when it's publicized being a public university, you are sending such a strong,

Starting point is 00:12:56 strong, awful signal. So that one really, I think it's shameful. Wow, it is. I can't believe the spokesman didn't go on there and just throw HR under the bus, like globally. You know what I mean? Well, HR probably does not too. Just HR's. I'm surprised the statement didn't say, HR's not your friend, and close quote.

Starting point is 00:13:16 For real. But when I saw this, and the letter to employees had come, at least from HR, but I was like, I bet HR is the messenger here because HR does not have an incentive to do this rollback, but the board of trustees and the finance department does. Absolutely. On the contrary though, right? So I mean, for those who aren't at HR in a function like finance or on the leadership team, what happened was is HR did a shit ton of work. They did a ton of work. And they did all they could do infuse some sort of equity, right? I mean, I mean,

Starting point is 00:13:49 they analyzed everything, we do so much analysis, people do not get that. And we presented something probably that was solid, right? Like we're going to be in the green, this is going to be great and feel good. And this is going to make us more market competitive, this is going to be great and feel good. And this is going to make us more market competitive. This is going to help with retention. This is going to help with whatever, right, all the things, you know, and it's the holidays. And it's I think all the all the all the

Starting point is 00:14:15 all the things, right. And then that happens. And then someone probably in a text message, probably a leader in a text message was like, Oh, did you see that ruling in Texas? Nevermind. Let's go ahead and roll this back. And finance and leadership went and made that decision and probably cascaded the comms for internally with themselves without even informing HR. No shit, right? And then comes publicly, the comms team, a random person, you know, and finance admin, you know. Put their disappointed in there because the letter's like, we know you're disappointed. Put that, show some empathy. We know you're disappointed.

Starting point is 00:14:57 You should be angry. I would be so angry. Yeah, I think that's one of a variety of adjectives, the least of the adjectives people are going to use. I'd have so many resumes out there. I'd be rage applying. Yeah, I mean, but I would dare to guess that the amount of money is probably far less than like for that next year, budget wise, than anything else. You know what I mean?

Starting point is 00:15:24 Like a thing to coach. Well, and what you're gonna have to pay to hire the replacements and train these people that are gonna be GTFOing their way into the new year. Like the increases for how many people? It's like 306 people. 300 people. That increase, the effect on payroll,

Starting point is 00:15:42 the EOP there, as some organizations call it, is going to be far less than what that football coach gets paid for a year. Which also tells me that 306 people are probably underpaid. And also, the Department of Labor is appealing that decision. Again, I don't think anything's going to happen, and now there's a new administration. But also, interestingly, and I was texting with the girls about this, but I was like, the new head of the Department of Labor coming in under the Trump administration was incredibly surprising to me.

Starting point is 00:16:14 If you haven't looked into her, she's like candidly about as pro-employee as you're going to see in a public administration, just historically. She is a supporter of what's called the Pro Act, which is like a pro unionization. And so again, my guess is- The daughter of a teamster. Yeah, exactly, endorsed by the teamsters. And so what had happened last time was,

Starting point is 00:16:36 Obama's administration rule got struck down, President Trump came in, basically had this compromise. And I don't personally anticipate another increase coming, assuming this one gets struck down, but it's certainly possible. And so you may like take this back and have the yo-yo anyway in short. No, no, no. In short. Oh gosh.

Starting point is 00:16:59 But if you work for the Ohio State University, HR department, shit, man, like we feel you. Like we know, we know how all of that we know. We know we are coded. You can. We know we've been there. We've been there. You can send us a message from your personal device. You can send it anonymously, HRbesties.com and just write, you know, code word freebird and we know. They done fucked up. We they done fucked up. My eyes are literally watering for them. Like, that's how like, you know, like I've lived that multiple times, all that effort. They worked on

Starting point is 00:17:37 that for so long. I mean, you know, all the things and then they went off and did it without consulting. Oh, like the anger, you know? Oh, we see you. We see you. I know, I know Lee's crying. I made, I made a video on this and I got comments from people that are like, here's me, one of the people affected and yep, feel like it's, they're real. And that's because that's what they're doing is there's those employees are spending their time on TikTok and Instagram. and most importantly, like all the job application sites to flee. That's what happens. So recruiters out there start scooping up the Ohio State employees. Oh gosh, that happens, right? That's a good place to target. The headlines tell you exactly

Starting point is 00:18:19 what organizations to go to. Yeah. You tell me, someone making high thirties, high $30,000, $40,000, getting ready for the holidays, telling their family, no, January 1st, we counted on this. Yeah. No more. Well, we appreciate that update. It's very grinchy. So anyway, you asked for something positive.

Starting point is 00:18:39 I'm positive that that was a decision I would never personally advise people to make. Quite the opposite. So right now, if your organization's trying to figure out what to do. Exactly. Yeah, do the opposite. Just go forward. You know what I mean? No takebacksies. That's just rude. Exactly. Official. Oh, well, on that note, happy Friday to everyone except the Ohio State University decision makers on that one. We hope you have a relaxing one. Enjoy the holiday season. See you next week.

Starting point is 00:19:09 And we do have a Wednesday episode next week. Yeah, surprise bonus episode. Bonus episode. Woo woo.

HR BESTIES - HR Besties Bonus Happy Hour - Friday Frustrations and Ohio State Updates

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