HR BESTIES - HR Besties Happy Hour: Bestie Updates and the Latest on SHRM

Episode Date: February 4, 2026

Welcome back to HRB! We hope your new year is off to a great start, Besties! We can't wait to catch up on all the hot gossip...   In this Happy Hour: Congratulations, Ashley! Being a cozy joggers manager, pause-consider-act framework, and more teasers from The Manager Method Updates on SHRM SHRM local chapters and seeking out other resources for HR professionals What we've been up to lately The Manager Method is available for pre-order! Visit managermethod.com/book for more information and your free book club guide. Your To-Do List: Grab merch, submit Questions & Comments, and make sure that you're the first to know about our In-Person Meetings (events!) at ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.hrbesties.com⁠⁠⁠⁠.   Follow your Besties across the socials and check out our resumes here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.hrbesties.com/about⁠⁠⁠⁠.    We look forward to seeing you in our next meeting - don't worry, we'll have a hard stop!   Yours in Business + Bullsh*t,  Leigh, Jamie & Ashley   Follow Bestie Leigh! ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.tiktok.com/@hrmanifesto⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/hrmanifesto⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.hrmanifesto.com⁠⁠⁠⁠   Follow Bestie Ashley! ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.tiktok.com/@managermethod⁠⁠⁠⁠  ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/managermethod⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashleyherd/⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://managermethod.com⁠⁠⁠⁠   Follow Bestie Jamie! ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.millennialmisery.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠ Humorous Resources: ⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠ • ⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠ • ⁠⁠⁠⁠Threads⁠⁠⁠⁠ • ⁠⁠⁠⁠Facebook⁠⁠⁠⁠ • ⁠⁠⁠⁠X⁠⁠⁠⁠ Millennial Misery: ⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠ • ⁠⁠⁠⁠Threads⁠⁠⁠⁠ • ⁠⁠⁠⁠Facebook⁠⁠⁠⁠ • ⁠⁠⁠⁠X⁠⁠⁠⁠ Horrendous HR: ⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠ • ⁠⁠⁠⁠Threads⁠⁠⁠⁠ • ⁠⁠⁠⁠Facebook⁠⁠⁠⁠   Tune in to "HR Besties," a business, work and management podcast hosted by Leigh Elena Henderson (HRManifesto), Ashley Herd (ManagerMethod) and Jamie Jackson (Humorous_Resources), where we navigate the labyrinth of corporate culture, from cringe corporate speak to toxic leadership. Whether you're in Human Resources or not, corporate or small business, we offer sneak peeks into surviving work, hiring strategies, and making the employee experience better for all. Tune in for real talk on employee engagement, green flags in the workplace, and how to turn red flags into real change. Don't miss our chats about leadership, career coaching, and takes from work travel and watercooler gossip. Get new episodes every Wednesday and Friday, follow us on socials for the latest updates, and join us at our virtual happy hours to share your HR stories.

Hey, besties, it's happy hour. Ah! We love a good happy hour, don't we? At 2026, first episode, Besties back together. I know this is happy hour, so technically we would not do corporate cringe. But it's February. Would you mind if someone said Happy New Year, or do you find that cringy once we get to February? I think you get two weeks.

I think you get two weeks in January to do it. But I won't say Happy New Year, but the first quarter, I will say hope this New Year is going well for you so far, or hope it's been a, you're having a great start or, you know what I mean? Like if I'm trying to reconnect with somebody, but I'm not going to say Happy New Year. Yeah. You still got that corporate executive in you. You focusing on that Q1, Q1 magic. You got that.

I mean, damn. Branded. Branded, I got that GE Meatball. That's what we used to say. We got the brand over here. I got the cat brand over here. over here, all the brands, you know? So we take classes in this, for those that are listen. I mean, you know, there are legit classes, some corporations, organizations, businesses put you through,

right? I can like feel people shaking their heads like, oh yeah, oh yeah, where they teach you fonts not to use the colors. I mean, what to say when. I mean, crazy. It's just a brainwashing thing. We had a carabiner at Young Brands of Corporate Speak and it would be like one was a Jeep bonnet, which was a meeting where you're standing, a short meeting where you're standing up. And maybe that has to do with the military. I can't recall. I can't recall.

Wait, first off, what's a carabiner? Like the thing that holds a rope and you're like going down a mountain, right? If you watched the Taipei 101 climb. Oh, I did. And then we watched Free Solo as a family, which I watched back then. I've barely climbed, like, aside from like the, you know, little dinky one on the kids playground.

But by God, will I watch a mountain climbing movie? So we had the silver thing and all the cards attached to it with the corporate speak. Oh, okay. I get what you're saying now. I can envision it. Like the clip. I see it. Like it's like a circle thing.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then you're putting the laminated cards to reference how to be. Yeah. You can always put more like in high school. Like we're, you know, we're elder millennials. So in high school, if you had the LL bean backpack with a carabiner on it, you know, your keys. Yeah. I'm an outdoors person.

I walked to my car. I don't climb just when chased. That's the only time I've climbed. Because as a little girl, I climbed a fence once in my grandma's backyard and my foot went through a nail. TMI. But that's the only way I can relate to this story. Were you being chased by grandma or an animal? No, no, no, no, a dog.

Yeah, wild dog. A wild dog in the middle of the city. But it actually is a special happy hour because Ashley, Bestie Ashley, has written her first book, and we're going to talk about it. And we're going to give her kudos and flowers and all the congratulations because that's badass. I didn't pull the figures, but I meant to. So it's a thought that counts, they say. But a very small percentage of the population writes a book. And an even smaller percentage gets it to publishing. Like, holy shit, Ashley. Like, wow, you wrote something. What the heck?

Congrats. Thank you. Thank you. Oh, you sound so excited. You're like, oh, thanks. But you've been busy, right? I mean, you are, tell us everything. Catch us all up.

Bragg about yourself. Yeah, it has been, well, here's the book. Yay. You can't see it, but what it is. Yeah. Let me describe it. It's a book, okay? It's like a rectangle that can hold in one hand.

Gorgeous cover. There's green, teal, blue on it. It says the manager method. And then you have a subtitle there. A practical framework to lead, support, and get results. So it's not just a softy book about Be Nice and forget about, you know, everything that your boss expects you to do as a manager. But it is to thread the needle.

And as Lee knows, all too well, because she's right in the thick of it of writing and editing. And that's why in part we have been on break because we all have quite a bit going on. about so we have rejoined for this happy hour. But yeah, I wrote this book, The Manager Method. And this has been a work in progress. I say for about two years as an actual book. But when I went back to look at notes in my mind, like a lot of us have a thing like, book, book I'm going to write one day. And yeah, today's the day. Vision board. Yeah. Exactly. Despite all the advances in technology and the world, I mean, a lot of it was still about performance management and all of that. I say it in the book. I have a career quilt. So those of you that are listening that have had a story career or a few

months ago at Thanksgiving, people asked, what are you doing with your life or why'd you do that? Or you've had choices in your job history or you've had job loss. This book is all about a career quilt wherever you are, but especially as a people leader. Things to what to do and say. I have a three-part framework that you can take in any situation, which is called pause, consider act, things to do as a manager of to stop in the moment and think about what you're doing and how to apply that in anything you do as a people leader. This book is, just like I have talked about, I've worked with KFC at McKinsey. This book is written alike for aspiring managers at KFC through senior partners at McKinsey with examples across all different industries. So

it's wild and it's emotional when I got it in the mail. Well, I'll tell you all at first. put this video on our Instagram story. So when I first started out, I didn't have an agent, I didn't have a publisher. I was like writing it on my own. Actually with a service Lee had found that like helps you, helps you write your book and edit it and things. But my book was done. I was getting ready to publish it when Hayhouse, who I say they're famous as Mel Robbins let them publisher. So I think they had some, maybe some extra money from that book. And so that, thank you, thank you for allowing my book. So they came and but then I had to go through all these rounds of consideration. And so all this sudden, you're like, ooh, it was, like, it was kind of stressful because you're like, well,

I was all fine, going to publish it on my own. Now I'm stressed. And so I was sitting with my son and his friend watching March Madness Games at Buffalo Wild Wings last year when I got the word that I, like, they were going to publish the book and everything. And it was such an emotional moment. But my most emotional moment, they told me my book, they were sending a copy of my book to, like, buy package. I was like, oh my gosh. So in December, I got a package. And it was like, from Penguin Random House, who owns Hay House. And it was the shape of a book. And I was like, oh, my gosh.

And so I get out my camera. I'm like, oh, I'm going to unbox this. This is so neat. So I inbox it. Well, it was a page a day calendar of inspirational sayings from Louise Hay, who's the late founder of Hayhouse. And I very much appreciated that gift. But I think on the video, I'm like, oh, okay.

Oh, not what I expected. I kept it. And so it was like, it was kind of like, a Christmas story. Like it was kind of happening. I'm going, okay, like, I did laugh. And so I have that. So I'll share that on our stories. But when I actually got it a few weeks later, and it was just, it's wild. And if anyone's listening, well, hopefully they are, but those listening, obviously, if a tree falls in force. Okay, you all. If someone listens to the HR besties, but pre-orders do help tremendously, the things I've learned. So if you don't order, you can go to

get it at your bookseller of choice, or if you go to manager method.com slash book, there's the places you can get it and you can get two or more copies at a discount. But also, when it releases next Tuesday, there will be three resources for free to accompany the book. Like a reflection guide, a book club guide, and a one-page tool for managers to bring my Paws Consider Act formula to life. But yeah, you will also see some kind words from Jamie and Lee, who both wrote endorsements for the book. So I appreciate you all ladies have been there in front of the scenes, behind the scenes,

and I'm very, very excited for this to come to life. And I've gotten really good feedback on it. But anyway, I'm pumped. Yay. It's surreal. No, it's great. Yeah. I mean, what we read, right, the Dirt Draft, you sent us all that. I mean, like, it really, really is good. I love the teaser. You've given folks here. I think that'll definitely push them and encourage them to go out and purchase. but I am curious, what is just one key takeaway from the book that you can share with aspiring leaders and current leaders right now? Like, what's one key takeaway they can get from this book? They're going to get a lot, but just a good one.

It is to not be a tight jeans manager. And in the book, I use pants as a metaphor and say, if you've ever had that boss that's like, send me that before he send it out, like every single time. Or, you know, just invite me. to all your meetings, you know, that and I say oftentimes, if you've done that as a manager and he's like, guilty, it generally comes from a good place. That micromanaging aspect, you're generally trying to protect your team members, protect yourself, but protect in the end, short and long term, doesn't tend to bring the best results. And so I'll say as a tease, some people then rotate to become an oversized

sweatpants manager. And in the book, I talk about how you can instead become a cozy joggers manager, which is more of structured autonomy. And so I do use that as a metaphor for leadership. So it's kind of like as a leader, you have a stick up your ass, like a bun-clinching leader. You're stiff. You're not flexible. When you said tight jeans, I thought of like a pair I have and I call them coochie-cutters. Coochee-cutter leadership.

Because they're like, they're really cute, but like you can't sit in them for too long, you know? Like they're standing jeans. Yeah, it's like my non-stretch pair that you put on straight from the dryer and you kind of, ooh, trying to have that extra holiday helping. My goodness. And so, yeah, they're restrictive, all of those adjectives. But instead to be a, you know, a pair of cozy joggers, have that support of autonomy. And so that is a topic. I love that analogy. Thank you. It's clever using pants. It was really written for all levels of leadership.

but also HR teams, if you're looking for something and again, a book club guide of, oh, this could be helpful, then you can grab it. But also, if any of our tips have ever been helpful, you will notice that we are not having ads in this episode because as HR besties, we have decided that we want to have an ad-free listening experience. So that means as we do things, your support means more than ever. Yes. Buy her book, y'all.

The pacer bills will not pay themselves. else, which is going to lead into our kind of other happy hour topics. And so a little teaser there. So I mean, look, I appreciate the support. I am a realist. I will tell people, people say, oh, how did you know, how did you get your book deal? I said, again, I like, I will. I wrote the book, and then I went through a lot of rounds. And candidly, having a social media audience and having a podcast audience and listeners, like, you know, publishing, it's hard, it's really hard to break into it. And I've realized that. And so I do not take a second of this for granted or anyone's eyeballs or dollars or anything like that.

And so I greatly appreciate those that are supporting it. But yeah, the manager method out. If I pretend anyone in Atlanta, if you go to my Instagram that we are having a launch party, I made a video about this that there's a local bookstore that had just opened. And my publisher said, you know, for a book launch, like, oh, do you have a book tour plan? Like, again, like, no, who wants to, who'd want to see me? What does that mean? I don't even know.

Where do I start? I've looked at enough social media videos to see the person sitting by themselves. and thought, I can't. My real fears come to life. And so they're like, you should go to this local bookseller and just ask them. And I went in and I was so nervous. And this lovely woman, Abby Diego at Prelude Bookstore, shout out in Dunwoody, Georgia. I told her, I bought some things that probably helps as well to be like, show your customer.

Not just to do something for me, but I bought things. And I, anyway, said, I have a book coming out in February. Immediately. She was like, how can we support you? And so anyway, we're having a launch party next Tuesday evening. So you're welcome to come there. How fun is that? Gosh, what I should do, what we should do next time we're together.

Like, let me take a video of you, like at a bookstore. Like, look at this poor lady. You know, look, she's like empty table, you know. Because, you know, I feel like some of those have to be staged, right? Yeah, with like a Sharpie, too. We got to make sure she has a Sharpie. Jamie's the type. If you're ever having a book, a book, so Jamie will show up.

Yes, I will. And she'll be like, I'll buy 10, copies of your book. I got you. Like that is Jamie. But I mean, look, I know we have a, we have a quick hard stop, but we do have a few hot topics that I wanted to talk about, including one that I think could make some news that has not been reported on. I have not seen it reported on with the Shirm trial. Oh. Do tell. So Sharm trial, you know, in December, we did our end of your episode, ended with an $11.5 million verdict against Shurm for the plaintiff in her racial discrimination suit. And so the status of that, what happens is even though the jury verdict was in December,

the judge's verdict just came in, like, I think, January 12th. And so under my Google confirmation and memory of the federal rules, Shirm has 30 days to appeal. And they've said previously that they're going to appeal. So I'd expect that to happen. So then that takes relatively forever in the court process. But in the meantime, in addition to the verdict, the plaintiff gets their costs, the things like would it cost to take a deposition or mileage for the witnesses that came in. And if you'll remember, a huge witness in that case was the white colleague of the plaintiff

who testified that she saw their boss treat the plaintiff differently believed it was because of a race, raised multiple concerns about that internally. I would say Ms. Mills. So she testified that she, you know, she drove from Indiana to Denver. And she wasn't subpoena for those like no court. She wasn't subpoena. She drove 1,100 miles each way in December from Indianapolis or Indiana to Denver to testify the trial.

She testified, like, I wasn't even friends with her. We worked together, but what I saw happen was not okay with me. And she testified in that. I haven't seen any of the jury interviews or anything like that or the like dateline. Tell me what you thought, your jury things. But it certainly seemed like that played a lot into it. So she got her mileage paid for. So that was like a couple thousand dollars, all of that.

So that Shirm now has to pay, you know, pay for the cost of that. What do you think the plaintiff's pacer bills were? I would play guessing game with you all. I wouldn't know. Yeah, I was like, I don't know either. $8.20. What? Oh, I'm all six figures.

Well, no, it is. Because when you're a lawyer for it, like, you get the pleadings for free. You don't have to pay like I do because I'm not a party to it. So anyway, but I did, I saw that and was like, what? And I was like, yeah, I guess you get those for free. So as opposed to Besty Ashley, whose bills were multiple times. But I got a certified copy of the last day of the transcript because I'd seen this. But so in the closing argument, this is where the parties can really, this is where you can kind of

bring the creative flair, so to speak, or say things. But Shirms' outside lawyer described that white colleague that came and testified on behalf of the plaintiff. Do you know what Sharm's lawyer called her to the jury? Oh, God. I don't think I want to know what, like a snitch, a traitor. No, no, no, no. She said she wants so desperately to be the white savior. During the trial, she says that. She said that in the closing argument. She said, you know, well, she can't keep her story straight. She's talking at both sides of her mouth. But I have to tell you, I have been a lawyer, I've been a lot of transcripts, I've seen a lot of things.

I've never seen something like that. That's gross. I mean, what does that do? What purpose has that served? I mean, those that are lawyers might say, well, you know, lawyers have, you have an ethical obligation to zealously represent your client. That's like generally the legal standard. But that being said, can you imagine a Sherm article talking about, like, oh, like what

you should call someone, including someone that testifies to an opinion that they had or in a different experience you had. But that's the one thing. I would love to have heard from the jury of when they said that or been in the courtroom to see the reactions to that because I personally had never seen something like that made in an argument. It's disgusting. Wow. But I mean, also look who their client was. So there we go. Look how that went for him. There we go. Well, and we did hear as well. One thing I will say is relatable is so quickly after the verdict that the Sherp Holiday Party was happening. but so that Johnny C. Taylor, the CEO, had made a video to all employees. Oh, I've watched it.

The relatable aspect of that video is Johnny Taylor, you know, quickly recorded this message. Lee, do you want to tell what we? He just had some major tech issues that were really funny and really cringy. I mean, you know, like he couldn't, he's like, how do I turn this off, right? Was it? Yeah, how do I turn that? Like, for, for like 10 minutes, it felt like it was probably at least two minutes trying to sign off here. How do we turn it?

this off and oh god so i will say again obviously the verdict made i was very surprised that's the one piece of that that but i was like let me just make sure there were no corrections to that because the lawyers get to go through oh that's not what i said no no but so that lawyer that said that is now the outside council again because right after that verdict you may have seen shirm was sued again in a different case this is in virginia federal court where shirm is headquartered and this is all about ADA accommodation, specifically a job candidate that Sherm had given an offer to. And after she got the offer, this candidate said to the recruiter, hey, I have iboglasemia. I need to bring a service dog to work. And that went back and forth. And we've done some videos. You can see on that at HR Besties pod,

Instagram, but the plaintiff has said that she showed that she needs a service dog. She gave documentation showing she'd had time she'd passed out. She actually got in a car crash while commuting because she'd had a glucose monitor, but that wasn't sufficient. That ever since she'd, gotten her service dog in like the several years since, I think she'd had two instances of passing out where she'd had multiple multiple per year before them. And so she'd given this documentation to Sherm. And so Sherm, though, ended up rescinding the job offer. And from a legal case, I mean, this is like the complaint came out. Sherm has responded. And I have to say that again, like where we are now is like discovery will happen. We'll like, we'll see more. But even in Sherm's response,

Sherm said, because I thought, oh, Sherm's probably going to say, like, they had an allergic employee, or here's the, you know, specific reasons that she couldn't have a service dog, which oftentimes the ADA is like allergy. You still got to have, allow a service dog at times. You know, there's ways to accommodate both. But Scherm said in their response, for example, that Sherm admits it did not communicate to Ms. Torres, what hardships sure may suffer if it granted her preferred accommodation has her service dog in the office. And so what I'm really surprised about is it seems like Sherm's interactive process and we'll see what ultimately the court decides about whether it was legal or not. But the Chermer rescinded her job offer.

And it's still a bit unclear about whether they explained why they weren't going to allow her to have her service dog. Probably they just considered it a distraction or, you know, them. It's like, well, someone else wanted to bring their pet to work. So we said no to that. So, you know, like just something so incompetent. It's going to become an issue. If we let her do it, everyone's going to want to do. Yeah. Animals are just going to run this place. Well, it's it. And they're like, well, we gave her accommodations. She could use her continuous glucose monitoring system. But again, this plaintiff has said that wasn't special. You can get breaks. Use her pump and have food or water near her workstation as she needs it. And so again, you read it. It's like legalese, but separate from the legality, like the one thing, and I've talked a little bit about this in this videos is when people ask for, there's a reason

that when people may not ask for an accommodation until after they've gotten their offer or that your employees when they need one, they're terrified. Because it's, it feels, terrified and people really worry about that. And so the one thing I'll say about this case is, unlike the Colorado racial discrimination case that took three and a half years from lawsuit being filed to verdict. So this is actually interesting. This is in the Eastern District of Virginia, and I looked at it because it's like, discovery has to close by June, pre-tile conference, June, like June of 2026. I was like, oh, that's fast. They call it the rocket docket. So the court, that's like the legal term. And so things move really quickly. And so unlike some of the other things,

we will see sooner rather than later and where you tend to see some of the discovery. Like, as people exchange things, they're not like, here's my answers, filed for the court. Your bestie, Ashley, go pay 10 cents a page. That only happens when that file like a motion for summary judgment. But anyway, that will likely be a matter of months as opposed to waiting years. So we'll see on this, but I just, I've already seen some of the responses to this. Just one thing after another, right? Yeah, it's always something.

God. Freaking shirm. I know. I'm like, I don't want to talk about, I don't want to talk about it. Sherm, I'd love to talk about places you can unite the HR professionals. So anyway, starting the year off with a bang. Literally. Then they announced Oprah as their keynote speaker at the conference in June. I think what upset me the most is people under in the comment section saying, oh, I might need to renew my membership. For Oprah, like that writes all is Sherm Drongs

for you? Like, all right. I mean, I'm okay with Oprah, but at the same time, it's also like, Don't you think it's kind of like a grab? Who could we possibly get that would get members back? I mean, do polling. I'd love to get a poll on that, like to randomly get pulled. Yeah, they have surveys that they used to send out. I don't know if they still do, but. Oh, really?

Yeah, I mean, I don't, I'm not a member anymore. I don't seem like they do. Yeah, I was like, I'm not a member anymore, but I had an agency once you reach out about whether I'd do a partnership for Sharm. And I was like, well, I want to be candid that I did do a video. we're talking about this. Rattie and I try to bring a balanced approach of lessons for all employers and things like that. But with that, just a heads up, I don't know that this is the right partnership, the THX. That was a reply? Yeah, it was pretty close to that. Thanks. Thanks.

With thanks probably. I'm glad you brought that up though because I, in April, I'm actually speaking at a local chapter of Sherm's conference in Virginia, oddly enough. And I've had a lot of people be like, you know, you hate Sherm. And I'm like, no, no, no, no, no. There's two different things here. There's Sherm's the organization. And then there's the local chapters, which I was involved in the local chapters here in Middle Tennessee. I support the local chapters. It's the organization, unfortunately, and how it has been run in, you know, the last few years by Johnny that I have an issue with. I love the local chapters. And I want to support the local chapters because those might be the only places that those HR professionals in that area have access to have

other people in their even career field. Because HR is so lean and so lonely. So I've had quite a few people reach out and be like, what's this about, Jamie? And I promise you, it, it, I've, I talked to those people that are in charge of the local Sherm chapter and they're great people. And I'm excited to be there in April. Love the people in our function, right? And I do think it's about supporting people. I've spoke at a state conference. And those groups are so strong and kudos. I mean, you know, when I'm personally talking about SHR or any organization's performance, but SHRM in particular, it is out of really love, respect and commitment of the field of HR. A hundred percent. I mean, we need. to progress. We need to be better. We at least need to, you know, have a high say-do ratio, you know, so when others or organizations are not doing those things, it reflects poorly,

you know, it really reflects poorly on the function. But I haven't had anyone tell me that, Jamie, that, oh, but you hate, you know, this, why don't you, you know, but you've made, you, you're a little louder, I think, on that front. Definitely. than I am. You know, I've attended the annual conference. I'll attend again, you know, but yeah, but for me, it's the support of the people and really just push into, you know, like you both do, pushing for what's best for, you know, our field and function that we're proud to be a part of, you know. So anyone that is shitting on that, it hurts. Well, I'll say this. So a fun fact about Lee is over a year before we started the podcast,

Lee had an opportunity to speak at a local Sherm chapter, and she couldn't, and she recommended me. And so she reached out to me and said, hey, they need a speaker. I can't do it, could you? And so I did the same. And I love what those chapters are doing and the resources. I'm speaking at one now in May, out in Iowa. So I'm so we're excited. Oh, my gosh. How cool is that? Oh, cool. And they're doing a book by, which I'm very excited as well. And so that's always an option. But I do think it's really important because especially a lot of those volunteers and those resources. And our good friend, Tracy Sponenberg, as well, in the event, you're other looking for additional resources and not necessarily as a replacement for Sharm, but also if you ever look at her site, she has a whole like crowdsource thing of conferences and podcasts. I think HR besties are listed in there. So anyway, I just think it's more info.

More info is always helpful. Oh, yeah. Shirm's an option. It's just not the only option, you know. Exactly, exactly. The last I'll say, because I hinted that we talked about this, so I can't lie. But it's the Amazon, so the Amazon layoffs last week where you see the SVP, the AI SVP, it's like, you know, as you saw in the email from HR, we are eliminating rules.

And unfortunately, no one had seen that. Well, no one, that would be affected because the AI executive sent it out before HR had actually notified people about the layoffs. But it looks like they tried to recall that email, which again, one doesn't work. but also they referred to Project Don of the layoffs seemingly. That is my corporate cringe speak, I think, is having projects altogether always feel a little like corny and it's always like Thunderbird or things like that. Yeah.

Phoenix. Phoenix. Yeah, Phoenix. Apollo. We had Apollo once. Oh, my God. Stop. Like, it's not that serious, y'all.

But if you're one of those people laid off and you read this email about Project Don, like Project Don, Project On, Project On. What? So I've been sunset. We've used Sunset as Crunch Corporate. speak. So are you sunsetting me? And now the dawn is rising on the workforce of... Yes. Oh my God. You know, robots or whatever less people. But please, whatever extent, can, don't call layoffs project. When you said Don, I was thinking like Don Nol Trump. I'm not kidding. I don't know why my

brain went there. That's bad. No. We're like Don Draper. Project Don Draper, Madman. Gosh. It's always something. It's always something. So we've all had a lot. going on leaves you've been head down headstand hands down type down writing i am writing writing writing trying to finish us up moving to cover design all that fun stuff so i'm excited that's awesome exciting yeah still doing the edits and all of this and it's ah you know ashley keeps me posted on her process and i appreciate all the hey fyi or you may see this or don't do or do this or oh you know So I get the luxury of her experience here going through it because it is something. It's a whole new world, whole new thing, you know.

I did the audio book recording and so and that was a process. But I know because you're going to do it, right? Yes. You have to. No, they ask me. They want it. So they got it. I can't wait.

I asked them. I was like, should I do it? And they're like, we can do an actor. What do you think? I'm like, okay. And I can do it. Like, oh, I've gotten one DM, like asking about doing audio books. So 100% no one's told me no so far, so I'm not going to ask.

But when I read that first, when I read the first sentence of my book, I mean, I literally thought to myself, I cannot do this. I can't read the whole book. But I did laugh because my best girlfriend, Megan, who I pranked on Scare Tactics last year on USA Network, she'd messaged, like when I announced my book deal, you know, your friends keep it real. And so she's like, Ashley, will your book involve a murder? Because I only read books with a murder. And I was like, well, no. And then I was in my neighborhood women's group recently. And they brought up my book launch was very nice.

And someone said, what's in it? Is it like, ooh, romance? I said, well, I forgot that it does have the word sex in it because I forgot that I'd had a footnote about sex in the city regarding clear communication and post-it notes for those that were Saxon the city fans. I said it does have that word in it if that makes it more appetizing. Are you serious mind references breaking up over a post-it? No, really? And I put, if you know, you know. Oh, that's great. I love that. Oh, my God. How crazy is that? You know, us. geriatric millennial shit, you know. Right.

It's core memory, right? Core memory, for sure. Jay, what about you, girl? I'm not writing a book. I'm doing a whole lot of nothing, to be completely honest. I got some personal stuff going on. And that is actually where my entire focus has been, unfortunately. So we will see where 2026 takes us.

But still trying to make my memes and run this business since no one wants to hire me, which actually works out well. because the personal stuff has kind of consumed my life that I couldn't go back to work right now if I wanted to. Well, I'll say this. We have seasons. Yes, for sure. We have seasons. And I'm glad that the silver lining to this cloud that we all heard about last year on the podcast and then some is allowing you to have that. But how can H.R. Besties listeners support you in the media? Yeah. I mean, just if, you know, following all my channels, interacting, engaging. It's a lot. I know. Like, share. You know, like I said. Like I said.

we don't get paid for the content we post. It's only the branded stuff, really, that we get paid for. So I know people got really mad during Christmas because I was posting a lot of ads. And I was like, I'm sorry, y'all. Your girl's got to eat. But yeah, just like and share and follow and comment and engage. And every once in a while, drop me a DM and say hi because I need it. Love that. All the support, all the support. And Lee, people can sign up to get updates on your book. and the Post-It notes and all that, those things. Yeah, exactly. Well, definitely like, follow, share, all of that, you know, as creators, we need that.

It keeps us creating, you know, because it's very motivating and inspiring. Yeah, just keep a lookout for more and more book updates, you know. But HRManfesto.com, you can certainly sign up for a newsletter that doesn't exist because I'm a one-woman show. But one day I will send an email. And in that one day, it'll have. All the info about the book, you know, so be ready. I feel that.

We are ready. And we know we will have to say we know it's been very hard for workplaces. There's been a lot going on in life. Oh, I know. Everyone hang in there. In the world. You know, those in Minneapolis and particular in the HR world, you're doing a lot to support your people and trying to figure out, what do I say, what do we not say?

People have different opinions. And so you'll see different resources we put out there. as well. And HR can be an especially tough place when you're trying to throw the needle there. But don't forget to support yourself while you're trying to support others. Gosh, you know, oh, have a drink, Basties, have a drink, happy hour, whatever that drink is. Oh, God, I feel like I need one. But thank you. We got, we got messages like, oh, and again, we've had between personal stuff or this, I mean, 40 plus podcast interviews this month. And so thank you. you and written a bunch of articles. So thank you to all who are listening and know we appreciate

you all. And even though we'll come back for another episode when we can, but also none of us would have any of this without you all. And like the messages of like, where are y'all? Like, I don't know. It makes me tear up. So I know. Don't worry. We're not going anywhere. We're here. We appreciate y'all. We're online every day. I'm still running my manager training, but I love the most of like my, you know, my husband, had joined manager method last year, the business. And he loves when things come in. And like, if he sometimes has a call with someone, he's, he's like, man, people love that HR besties podcast. So it means especially less, whether you're in HR or not, just set up a call and just

tell them how much, how much you love you. You're helping out on the home front as well. Thank you. So thank you all. This has been a real emotional time. And so it's great to be here. Jamie and Lee and all of y'all listening. Thank you. I'm so proud of you. Yeah. Congrats, Ashley. Cheers, besties, pickup manager method.