Your Work Friends

New Week, New Headlines: $766B Incivility Crisis, Women CEOs Outperform During Turmoil, as 1 in 4 Job Applicants Could Soon Be Fake

• Francesca Ranieri

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Well, the work news just doesn't stop friends. Here's what's brewing. 

Incivility is costing companies billions, tariffs are threatening half a million jobs, and that perfect candidate you just interviewed? They might be an AI deep fake!

In this episode, workplace experts (us, Francesca & Mel - hello!) break down:

⏰ 2:15 Workplace Incivility: The $766 BILLION problem spiraling out of control as RTO mandates and layoffs create the perfect storm of toxicity

⏰ 8:20 Tariff Tsunami: How new policies could push unemployment to 4.7% and why your job search might now take 3-9 months

⏰ 14:30 AI Imposters: The shocking prediction that 1 in 4 job applicants could soon be deep fakes (not a typo)

⏰ 19:45 Gender Bias Bombshell: Google searches reveal we're still asking if "women can be CEOs" in 2025 (seriously?!) (Francesca apologizes for the amount of profanity in this segment) (but, she feels it was warranted). 

⏰ 23:10 Women Leaders Win: How female-led companies are quietly outperforming during market volatility

🔥 CAREER ADVICE YOU CAN USE TODAY:

  • The LinkedIn job search hack that lets you see postings from THE LAST HOUR
  • Why economic downturns could be your career's best friend (if you know how to pivot)
  • The financial runway you need to prepare TODAY for a tougher job market
  • How to network your way to safety when the job market gets shaky
  • Why checking in on your burned-out manager might be your smartest career move

Join us we try to make sense out of the work headlines into strategies you can use right now—because work is chaotic enough without having to figure it all out alone!

Thanks for listening! 

Hey! We love new friends! Connect with us!


Disclaimer: This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be considered professional advice. We are not responsible for any losses, damages, or liabilities that may arise from th

Disclaimer: This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be considered professional advice. We are not responsible for any losses, damages, or liabilities that may arise from the use of this podcast. The views expressed in this podcast may not be those of the host or the management.

Thanks for listening!

Hey! We love new friends! Connect with us!

Speaker 1:

workplace incivility is spiraling as companies rile up employees with RTO and layoffs, and new research is warning that this is a $766 billion problem.

Speaker 2:

Well, I feel like anytime you have the word spiraling, you're going to have a bill or a trill afterwards. Hey, welcome to your work. Friends, I'm Francesca and I'm Mel. What's going on, Mel?

Speaker 1:

Nothing, just eating some two-hour-old pasta.

Speaker 2:

You know it's cold, but it's got a good chew. Yeah, I understand that. I understand that. I just I'll tell you don't look at your 401k right now. Don't, just don't do it.

Speaker 1:

I refuse to look at my 401k right now Cause I might cry yeah, but we've talked about this cause. We live through God. What haven't we lived through yet? Jobs right after 9-11, 2008. I was in New York in 2008 watching my friends get walked out of Lehman. That was weird. It was a weird experience. There's a lot going on as a result of all this stuff too. I don't even know what to cover this week because I was like there's so much.

Speaker 2:

There's so much and I think, listen, there will continue to be so much, and I think, listen, there will continue to be so much.

Speaker 1:

fine, let's take a look at the things that really move the needle, and that's what we're here for. We're gonna help you get some clarity on some stuff, especially as it relates to work. That's our wheelhouse, so here's my deal.

Speaker 2:

I think right now, everyone's like freak out, oh my god, we're all gonna die, we're not there right at all, and so there's reason to keep things on watch, which we're doing, and I think there's reasons to be like. This is not a time to freak out. This is a time to get anchored and centered in yourself and do the good stuff. I will also say fun fact some of the best times in my career have been when shit hit the fan economically.

Speaker 1:

Oh yeah, creativity starts to really roar during times like this.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, you can zig when everybody else is zagging Opportunity. I'm not trying to Pollyanna the shit out of it, but in my experience there's opportunity. What are you talking about today?

Speaker 1:

One. I want to talk about workplace incivility because, according to Forbes, it's spiraling out of control. In WTF news, popular searches around male and female CEOs and the differences that are depressing. Oh, like the Google searches that are different between male and female, oh yeah, yeah, and for some F-yeah news, because who couldn't use some F-yeah news these days? I want to talk about an article that is highlighting how women-led companies are outperforming this tariff crash.

Speaker 2:

All right.

Speaker 1:

So hell yeah women.

Speaker 2:

Hell yeah, ladies, let's go. Okay, so I too am talking about tariffs, but for my main story tariffs and the impact on the job market, fast Company and CNBC, both widely reporting on it, did some research of my own Want to talk about what's going on and what you can potentially be doing about it to save your ass. The other thing in my WTF news, I want to talk about AI imposters in interviewing and getting jobs. This is a thing. It's a huge thing. And, by the way, I'm not talking about Chad GPT writing your resume. I'm talking about full on deep fakes interviewing and taking jobs. So let's talk about that. And then in my F? Yeah news, linkedin just dropped their 50 best large employers to grow your career in the US for 2025. Just want to call out a few. Let's do it. Give some love. Yeah, let's do it.

Speaker 1:

Diving right in. I'm going to talk about workplace incivility. So Forbes put out an article this week. Workplace incivility is spiraling as companies rile up employees with RTO and layoffs, and new research is warning that this is a $766 billion problem.

Speaker 2:

I feel like anytime you have the word spiraling, you're going to have a bill or a trill afterwards.

Speaker 1:

Workplace incivility is spiking. According to a new survey, of 2000 workers, over half said they've experienced micromanagement, gaslighting or being shut out of work in the last year. What's fueling this? The perfect storm. Layoffs, return to office, mandates, political polarization, burnout at every single level. So it's not just toxic vibes that are brewing. It's a trust crisis, and you and I talk about this a lot. We've talked about it with reciprocal work, and trust is at an all-time low right now. Here's the so what? People don't feel psychologically safe right now. It's wrecking team cultures. It's slowing productivity. It's driving turnover. The kicker Much of this bad behavior is coming from managers who are so overwhelmed, insecure or unsure about how to lead through this constant change. They don't get enough support. Managers, we love you. We're not going to dump on you. We love you, we know you're stuck in the middle. It's like the worst position. You're not getting the support you need and, as a result, this is what's happening. So I don't know. Are we becoming less kind at work or just more stressed? What do you think?

Speaker 2:

Listen when you feel like your ass is up against the wall, literally or emotionally or figuratively. Humans react really poorly. Sometimes I have, we all do and especially when you feel like in that middle management layer where you feel like you're getting it at all sides, it's really hard to put your oxygen mask on and be a servant leader when everybody's screaming at you. I will go on record saying I think most people, most people, are trying to do the best they can with what they have and sometimes that doesn't look a hundred percent great from the outside. You're not winning any fricking Nobel peace prizes. I get that. It's hard. And the last thing I'll say about this is I could not agree with you more. We do not support managers like you and I both know this. The average training spend and I'll go to my grave talking about this the average training spend right now actually used to be $1,900 last year. It's now $1,600. That's on average per employee. You know where the majority of that money is going is executive development.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, or tech. It is not going to your managers Yet we're asking them to like hold the bag on all this shit.

Speaker 1:

Everything to everyone. That's the one role that has that expectation, and it's just bullshit, god, yeah, no one's going to be successful in that.

Speaker 1:

That's what I'm trying to say no no, I think in these environments to managers, everybody, really you start to see micromanagement, control come in, because what do people want when things feel out of control, some semblance of control? So you are seeing probably upticks in things like micromanagement or this kind of control environment that rears its ugly head when this kind of insecurity pops out. And then I don't know, what do you think it's going to take for the workplace to feel safe again?

Speaker 2:

a lot. That's a short answer. Yeah, it's a 20 minute show, mel. Yeah, big question. Yeah, it's a great question. Listen, where do you start? We start with going back to the fundamentals of what we know. Great relationships look like you and I talk about that a lot.

Speaker 1:

I have a few thoughts I was jotting down, I was reading this and I'm like, oh, been there, done this. We've all been in these environments. Right, it's not new, but I think it's definitely getting worse, just in unprecedented times. Sure, if you're an individual employee and you feel like, hey, my manager's behavior feels off, you might not be alone. But before jumping ship, consider is your manager burned out too? Is this a pattern? Or is it really a symptom of the current pressure? You know best, right, you're in this working relationship with them.

Speaker 1:

Francesca, you and I talk about the boss-employee relationship all the time with the work that we do. So have a conversation, just get to the bottom of it. As you mentioned, I also assume everyone leads with positive intent and they're likely not trying to be an asshole. I'm not saying there aren't assholes out there, but they might not be Leaders, check yourself right. If you're defaulting to control when you feel anxious, micromanagement might feel safer for you right now, but that's gonna kill trust with your team. So get curious instead of controlling, if you can, and then for executives, this is a signal. This is not just about people, but about the cultures that you're breeding. So if incivility is rising, your managers likely don't feel supported or equipped. So invest in leadership training, as you and I say ad nauseum, and not just performance metrics for these managers, but really invest in them, give them what they need, support them through this time.

Speaker 2:

We need to talk about tariffs, Mel. We need to talk about tariffs. I know everybody else is talking about tariffs. Well, let's talk about tariffs and especially how they're going to impact the job market. It hasn't been nearly as strong as we thought it would be after Trump was elected in November. I think the tariffs just had a bucket of cold water on the job market. You think A little bit. Fisk Company, CNBC, widely reporting on it did some research. I want to talk about the current situation. What are the impacts and some advice for listeners, Because it's interesting. Tariffs aren't just taxes on goods. It's absolutely going to impact the job market. It already has impacted the job market.

Speaker 1:

Let me give you an example. May I just see something I saw this week? I would love for you to give me an example. Okay, okay, someone posted a screenshot of their receipt from Fabletics or something. One of those companies.

Speaker 2:

Fuck yeah, fabletics, I know they're so good. Yeah, I've never tried it, but I see the clothes.

Speaker 1:

Me either, but I like the designs and stuff, and then I'm like, nah, I'm not going to buy anything, but what they showed on there was this order for $200. And it was like subtotal taxes, blah, blah, blah. Tariff cost $44 add to the order. It's like, when you see the upcharges on, like DoorDash and Uber, like it's an immediate cancel and I could go pick that up. Maybe I could go pick that up. So when you think about the impact of that, though, so think about that like times 100.

Speaker 2:

It's a great example, because when you think about Fabletics, for example, if you're going to increase your cost by 25% or even 30%, and then all of a sudden, the amount of abandoned carts they're going to have, the amount of people that aren't going to buy let's say they even have 30% less sales what happens then? Then they stop buying more inventory, then they stop investing, then they stop hiring. It's just this domino effect the less money people spend, the less jobs. That's just pretty much the case. What's interesting right now is, as of March of 2025, the job report came out around 4.2% unemployment. That's still a relatively stable number, but it's showing some mixed signals.

Speaker 2:

Economists project unemployment could rise to 4.7% by year end, just because of tariffs. That's an additional 500,000 people unemployed. By the way, I'm not even talking about what's going on with Doge or companies that were going to lay people off anyway. This is just because of tariffs. Unemployment raising that 0.3%, that halfa million people losing their jobs just because of tariffs. That's a conservative estimate. Fyi, the last time unemployment hit 4.7% was December 2016. Okay, so I want everybody to keep in mind that even though that's a lot of job loss, it's still a relatively good unemployment number. Let me give you some other ones for context. During COVID, unemployment hit 14.7%.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

We remember that you and I just talked about the Great Recession 2008, 2009,. Unemployment reached 10%. So just putting that in context of again, tariffs will impact the job market. Are we as bad as it was in the Great Recession? No, but it doesn't mean it won't necessarily get there, but as of now, we're still okay.

Speaker 1:

Fingers crossed, it does not Fingers crossed.

Speaker 2:

There will be certain industries and certain workers that are a little bit more impacted or vulnerable, most vulnerable sectors not surprising Fablet retail, wholesale trade, manufacturing, agriculture they're going to get hit. They've seen the most immediate cuts. Some businesses have already started laying off folks, like Stellantis 900 employees just because of the tariffs by the way, stellantis wasn't doing super well before that anyway but because of the tariff-related stuff 900 people right away. Made-in-usa companies could benefit, though. Part of this and the narrative we're hearing around tariffs is we want to bring things back to the US. We want to bring manufacturing jobs.

Speaker 2:

That's the thing like manufacturing domestically. It could also mean, by the way, services. That's something that's being talked about right now, especially in the EU Services being tariffed in tax. That could also mean that too, but right now it's largely manufacturing. Advice for listeners what advice would you give folks Listen? It was already a hard time to find a job. Tariffs are going to make it harder. What advice?

Speaker 1:

would you have. My number one advice to everybody is to make sure you're nurturing your network and your relationships, and it doesn't guarantee that you're going to be safe or that you're going to have a job, but if you're laid off as someone who does career coaching and have coached people through this, my most successful clients are those who nurture their networks constantly. Whether they have a job or they don't, that's where they spend the majority of their time. They're building relationships or maintaining relationships that might guide them to the next thing. Yeah, so that's my number one piece of advice, and find a hype song that you can play each day that gets you excited for your day, because it's a rough ride, yeah.

Speaker 2:

What about you? A few other ones I would suggest, because are we in a full-blown employment crisis right now? No, should people start preparing themselves for a much tougher job market all the way through 2026? Yes, yes, absolutely. One is expect longer time horizons for being able to land a job, anywhere between three months to nine months. That stretch is going to get a lot longer. Three months to nine months that stretch is going to get a lot longer. Give yourself that emotional, mental runway of time that it will take longer, potentially, to find a job. So, runway of time, emotionally, prepare yourself for that length.

Speaker 2:

Financially, if you can start thinking about having a nest egg just in case caca hits the fan, if you can have at least a little bit of coverage for yourself obviously unemployment is still, as of now, available and that sort of thing, but give yourself that runway. I would also argue start to look at some of those industries that might feel like they're a little bit safer right now, made in America type of companies. Right now. You might want to start getting a sense, or getting yourself pulsed on where are the pockets of hiring? There still are the pockets of hiring. There still are organizations that are hiring.

Speaker 2:

I'll talk about that in my FIA news, but also be on the lookout for that and sense that and that's. Those are the things I would. I would suggest people do. It's going to be a little rocky. Can you come through this? Yes, I go back to what we said at the top of the hour, to the times in my career where I fast-tracked the shit out of it was during massive downturns. Even though this feels like it could be soft and it could be scary, look for the opportunity, because they're always there.

Speaker 1:

What's your WTF? I want to end on good news, because it's a little rough and rocky over here. All right, my WTF is more of a tale as old as time, so you and I won't be surprised. And recently Inc put out an article that said a new report analyzed the most popular searches about male and female CEOs, and the differences are depressing. That was the headline. So here's the what a new study from Textio analyzed Google search trends related to male and female CEOs, and the differences are pretty grim. When people search for female CEOs, the top related questions are can women be CEOs? How do female CEOs balance work and family? But for male CEOs, the searches are about success and power. How?

Speaker 1:

did male CEO become successful. What is male CEO's leadership style? I just want to add a sidebar here. Why are we still Googling? Can women be CEOs in 2025?

Speaker 2:

I'd be very curious about what the gender breakdown of that is. Just to let's stop that.

Speaker 1:

Let's stop that. Yeah, answer, yes, get off my mind. I would like to call out and reference a site called Pink Chip, which covers all of the women-led CEOs running major companies and organizations globally. If you're interested in that, go check it out. All right, and also the other thing. Look, I'm not a parent, but I have friends who are parents and you get this you've been a female leader. When we talk about male leaders, we don't ask them about their parenting styles. So why is this still a top thing for women? It's just so interesting.

Speaker 2:

We're still not there there are very few women in the CEO ranks, especially in the fortune one. It's still not there. This is what I'm wondering. Are women Googling that to see? Is this even possible, Cause they're not seeing the representation? Or is it men being dicks?

Speaker 1:

Look and this isn't to trash men, right. I think it's the society we've grown up in has created this conundrum that we're in. It's just still shocking and disappointing to see. By the way, this isn't just a search quirk. It's showing how bias is still really shaping how we see leadership. Male CEOs are assumed competent, strategic, worthy of study, but female CEOs are still questioned for their legitimacy or their ability to have it all. So, even though women now lead more Fortune 500 companies than ever before 52, people still Google as if it's like a wild anomaly over here.

Speaker 1:

So, individual employees, if you're a woman in leadership or striving for it, no bias is still baked into that public narrative, but also visibility matters. People Google what they see. So keep showing up, keep doing your thing. Be you Leaders. If you're mentoring women or championing equity, make sure your recognition goes beyond work-life balance narratives when you're talking about women. Talk about their business acumen, their strategy, their growth and publicly, and don't just mentor. Women are over-mentored, sponsor them and executives. Bias and perception becomes bias and opportunity. So if your board or leadership team is still asking the question can women lead, even subtly, you have some cultural work to do. That's all.

Speaker 2:

That is all read a fucking book, jesus christ. Read a book.

Speaker 1:

Read a book, you have some work report yeah, oh yeah no, look, I don't, I'm not trying to generalize, but man, I saw this article and I was like son of a bitch. Still, still, still.

Speaker 2:

Why are we here? All right, what's your WTF news? So companies are facing a disturbing new threat Fake job applicants using AI deep fakes to interview for remote position. These scammers are using generative AI to fabricate photo IDs, create employment histories and provide real-time interview answers, sometimes even using face swapping technology during video interviews. Let me give you some of the numbers here. According to Gartner, by 2028, one in four candidates globally will be fake. Not a typo One in four. One in four.

Speaker 1:

I feel so bad for recruiters right now. As a former recruiter, I'm like oh, my heart aches for that nightmare.

Speaker 2:

My heart aches for recruiters. My heart aches for any of your cybersecurity team Because, once hired, these imposters can install malware for ransomware attacks steal consumer data and trade secrets or simply collect a salary that wouldn't otherwise be qualified for.

Speaker 2:

It's literally corporate infiltration. Gone high tech, literally. Some of the victims we're seeing here are cybersecurity and cryptocurrency firms are seeing the highest surge in fake applicants, with companies offering remote work being particularly vulnerable to targets because they don't have to be there in person and they can literally fake the videos the whole time. One Florida-based cybersecurity startup founder reported every time we list a job posting, we get 100 North Korean spies applying to it. When you look at these resumes, they look amazing. They use all the right keywords that we're looking for 100. 100. Going back to your thought about networking and the importance of your network, especially in the job search and to protect the sanity of every talent acquisition team, don't underestimate the power of being in person and networking and having those relationships. Listen, the job market's tough. It's going to get even more competitive with these dumb things.

Speaker 1:

Having worked in recruiting, it's not unheard of for people to have someone else show up for their interview. That happens more often than you think and you're like what the hell, man? But this is like just super next level clearly, but man well what a time to be alive.

Speaker 2:

What a time to be alive Like what a time to be alive.

Speaker 1:

All right, what's your F? Yeah, my F yeah. Also related to women-led companies. Mpw Daily, with Emma Hinchcliffe, said women-led companies are outperforming the tariff crash. Huh, I know so yeah.

Speaker 2:

Must be all the kids that they're holding on to, barefoot and pregnant.

Speaker 1:

A hundred percent All right. While markets are reeling from Trump's latest tariff threats, women-led businesses are quietly outperforming the broader market. According to a new S&P Global report, companies with female CEOs, or CFOs, are showing higher stock performance and better returns during this economic uncertainty. It isn't a fluke. Women-led firms tend to be more risk-aware, disciplined and conservative with their spending, which actually pays off. During volatile times, while headlines scream chaos, women-led companies are steadying the ship. It's a compelling case for diversifying leadership. I'm just curious what would corporate America look like if 50% of CEOs were women here?

Speaker 2:

I mean weather in the storm a little bit better per the data.

Speaker 1:

So this was just some F-yeah news like excited Good for them yeah. I love it, I love it.

Speaker 2:

What about you? Okay, so LinkedIn just released their top companies of 2025, the 50 best large employers to grow your career, specifically in the US. Their methodology looks at companies on various elements career progression, upskilling and LinkedIn is one of the only organizations that probably has this kind of data, because they can see when people are promoted, they can see when people are taking starts, they can look at what's going on with LinkedIn learning which, by the way, people can take as an individual, or companies also purchase it so they can see who's doing what in the ether and who really invests in your development or not. I think everyone should take a look at the list. It's 50 companies, by the way, all 50 companies are hiring and have pretty substantial job recs on their job sites right now. I know we just talked about the job market getting slow, but all 50 of these companies are hiring and all 50 of these companies are places where people can see development and progression.

Speaker 2:

A couple of the companies slam dunk yes, google's on there and, by the way, all of Google's subsidiaries, like Waymo, youtube, wiz they're all on there too. Alphabet, amazon is on there. Wells Fargo's on there, but there's also companies like PwC and EY, at&t, caterpillar, gm, procter Gamble, Accenture, roche, apple, eli Lilly, comcast a lot of different industries very big. I would absolutely take a gander at this page. I would also take a gander at it too, because what's nice about it is it lists the company, the top US locations, so you can see where they're located, their most notable skills, like what they're most known for, some common job titles, their largest job functions.

Speaker 2:

That's also really nice, so you can get a sense of is this their core competence and what's their flex work, availability, are they remote, are they hybrid? And so these are just some things that make it really easy If you are looking for a job, if you're job curious, if you just want to see how some of these big majors are operating from a development perspective good little report to look at out this week.

Speaker 1:

I like it. We'll link to it in the show notes.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Speaker 1:

Very cool. I actually I'll leave everyone with a nice little job hack that I learned this week.

Speaker 2:

Of course we want a job hack Mel.

Speaker 1:

If you're applying for jobs right now and you may have seen this, I saw it over on TikTok and I wanted to share you can do a job search in LinkedIn and if, for the job that you want, sort by what's been posted in the last 24 hours and in the top you can change the time in the URL to match the last hour, because right now it's just like minutes in the URL, so you adjust the minutes. So instead of 24 hours, you can adjust it to the minutes for the last hour and it'll show you everything that's been posted within the last hour.

Speaker 2:

That's huge, because what we're hearing and I know you're hearing this more than anybody is the minute something opens up in the first 24 hours it's a hundred people, a thousand people have applied to it. So if you can see the first hour and be first to market, that's cool.

Speaker 1:

It is very cool. Also, the other thing for people to know is if you see how many people have applied to a job on LinkedIn. That number's not 100% accurate, because all that they can track is if someone's clicked. They don't know if they've actually applied once they've left LinkedIn. So don't be discouraged.

Speaker 2:

Do not be discouraged. And, even better, find somebody that works there and get that warm intro. Hell yeah.

Speaker 1:

Start networking Number one. Number one network.

Speaker 2:

Mel, what do you always say?

Speaker 1:

Network is your net worth?

Speaker 2:

We'll end there A hundred percent. We're going to end there. We'll end there 100%.

Speaker 1:

We're going to end there. This episode was produced, edited and all things by us myself, mel Plett and Francesca Rennery. Our music is by Pink Zebra and if you loved this conversation and you want to contribute your thoughts with us, please do. You can visit us at yourworkfriendscom, but you can also join us over on LinkedIn. We have a LinkedIn community page and we have the TikToks and Instagrams, so please join us in the socials and if you like this and you've benefited from this episode and you think someone else can benefit from this episode, please rate and subscribe. We'd really appreciate it. That helps keep us going. Take care, friends. Bye, friends.