WTF is Business Casual
Buckle up for real HR stories that'll make you laugh, cringe, and thank your lucky stars you're not that guy.
WTF is Business Casual is the HR podcast where two seasoned consultants—Sarah Bursten and Jenny Lavey, co-founders of RiseHR—dish on wild workplace fails, toxic bosses, employee drama, and leadership gone wrong. With 35+ years of combined experience in HR, leadership development, and people management, they offer surprisingly useful advice wrapped in real talk and hilarious storytelling.
If you’re an HR professional, small business owner, people manager, or just someone who’s survived office politics, this show is for you.
Subscribe to WTF is Business Casual—because work is weird, leadership is messy, and people always be peopling.
Hosted by Sarah Bursten & Jenny Lavey | RiseHR
www.risehumanresources.com
Episodes
28 episodes
When Employees Start Making the Rules: How Leaders Should Respond
What happens when employees stop asking and start telling?In this episode, Jenny and Sarah unpack a growing workplace trend they have been seeing with small business owners: employees announcing schedule changes, cutting their hours, dem...
The Most Expensive "Free" Lunch in HR History.
A team gets invited to a "free" lunch with a consultant, and it ends up costing the company six months of peace.Jenny and Sarah unpack a "WTF" moment where a simple midday meeting turned into a spiral of written statements, HR investigat...
Gen Z at Work: Lazy, Loud, or the Wake-Up Call Corporate Needed? (Rebroadcast)
Rebroadcast: It’s graduation season, and we’re dusting off one of our all-time fan favorites! Whether you’re tossing your cap, building a team, or guiding the next generation, this episode is essential listening for navigating the transition fr...
What "Lack of Initiative" Means (And Why Employees Get It Wrong)
This week, Jenny and Sarah break down one of the most misunderstood workplace complaints:“You lack initiative.”But what does that actually mean?Because to employees, it often sounds like:Work more. Stay later. Do...
Productivity at All Costs? The Workplace Obsession With “More With Less”
This week, Jenny and Sarah follow a strange rabbit hole that started with a podcast about the history of meth.Yes, really.The episode explored how stimulants were once used to push soldiers, pilots, and workers to stay awake longe...
WTF Workplace Moments: AI Fails, Paycheck Glitches & Career-Limiting Questions
This week, Jenny and Sarah lean into the weird.They kick it off with an AI interview note-taker that accidentally sent a candidate the hiring team’s unfiltered commentary about other applicants. Yes, really. Including the not-so-fl...
Small Business HR Mistakes That Will Cost You: Employee Classification, PTO Policies & Intern Rules
This week, Jenny and Sarah tackle the HR landmines small businesses step on all the time.They break down three compliance issues that quietly turn into very loud, very expensive problems: employee misclassification, messy PTO policies, a...
Cussing at Work: Where “Authentic” Meets “HR Nightmare”
This week, Jenny and Sarah tackle a topic that somehow manages to be both extremely relatable and extremely lawsuit-y: swearing at work.It starts with a law update that made both of them do a double take. Turns out, “letting an F-w...
The Workplace Is Tired: The Darker Side Of Modern Work
This week, Jenny and Sarah start the year by doing what they do best: collecting a pile of workplace nonsense from the internet and asking the uncomfortable question.Why are we still building work like people are machines?They bou...
Interviewing? Maybe Leave Your Mom at Home. (Rebroadcast)
Rebroadcast: We’re bringing back one of our favorite episodes as hiring ramps up in the new year—and it’s just as relevant now as ever!In this laugh-and-learn episode, Jenny and Sarah take you inside the beautiful mess of modern r...
Performance Reviews Are Broken (Part 2): Why Development Planning Keeps Missing the Point
Development planning is the most ignored, and most misunderstood, part of performance management.In this episode of WTF is Business Casual, HR consultants Jenny Levy and Sarah Burston break down why development planning deserves...
Performance Reviews Are Broken (Part 1): The Messy Reality of Workplace Evaluation
This week, Jenny and Sarah drag the workplace ritual everyone hates: performance reviews. They open with a simple truth HR has known forever. Nobody likes them, nobody trusts them, and nobody thinks they actually work. Managers dread writing th...
Sick at Work: Why You Showing Up Is Everyone’s Worst Nightmare
Cold and flu season has arrived, and Jenny and Sarah have officially reached their breaking point. This week, they break down the circus of people dragging themselves into the office sick, logging onto Zoom while sweating through a fever, or in...
Please Stop Hugging Me (and Other Workplace Crimes)
Welcome back to WTF is Business Casual, where HR consultants Jenny Levy and Sarah Bursten roast, rant, and reality-check the weird stuff that somehow passes for “normal” in the workplace.This week we’re calling out a...
Gen Z at Work: Lazy, Loud, or the Wake-Up Call Corporate Needed?
Gen Z has officially entered the chat and corporate America isn’t ready.Jenny and Sarah rip into the chaos (and low-key brilliance) of the newest generation in the workplace. Are they entitled job hoppers with no soft skills… or...
The Detachment Paradox: Why HR Bias Punishes Employees Who Unplug
Employers love to say they support work-life balance and encourage you to take your PTO. But here’s the workplace reality: when employees actually unplug, they’re often seen as less committed, and less promotable. Welcome to the det...
WTF Meetings: Why Your Workplace Productivity Is Dying in Conference Rooms
Jenny and Sarah rip into the black hole of modern work life: meetings. Endless updates, back-to-back Zooms, and “quick syncs” that somehow eat your entire day. It’s no wonder productivity is tanking.They break down:Why update...
Leadership Boundaries: Non-Negotiables That Keep Teams Sane
Jenny and Sarah lay down the leadership boundaries that keep their teams sane, their workdays functional, and their patience intact.From bosses who brag about “open door” policies but vanish when the tough stuff hits, to leaders who thin...
Brains That Work Differently: Why Your Team Needs Both
Jenny and Sarah get real (and a little vulnerable) about what it actually looks like to build something together when your brains couldn’t be wired more differently.From inner monologues that never shut up to brains that see zero
Rest, Recovery, Repeat: What Work Can Learn from Marathon Training
Jenny and Sarah get real about how the pressure to always exceed expectations at work is quietly fueling burnout, quiet quitting, and toxic workplace culture.They swap HR stories (some hilarious, some horrifying) about leaders who...
“Halfway There” Won’t Cut It: HR’s Guide to Performance Management Fails
Jenny and Sarah get into the HR trenches to talk about every people leader’s favorite nightmare: managing performance issues without a single documented conversation, aka zero receipts!From the leader who drops a “we’ve got to let them ...
Workplace Shenanigans: There’s Cheese in the Ceiling! (and Other HR Violations)
In this episode of WTF is Business Casual?!, Jenny and Sarah go full rogue with a chaotic, hilarious deep dive into the strange world of workplace shenanigans. The pranks that made the office fun… until they didn’t.This episode is a tri...
WorkHuman Deep Dive (Part 2): The Future of Work: It’s Complicated (But Still Human)
In Part Two of our deep dive into the WorkHuman Conference, WTF is Business Casual hosts Jenny and Sarah pick up where they left off—this time digging into the big, bold conversations around AI, leadership, and what it really takes to ...
WorkHuman Deep Dive (Part 1): No BS Lessons on HR, Culture, and Leading Humans.
In Part One of our two-part deep dive into the WorkHuman HR conference, Sarah and Jenny unpack their favorite moments, biggest surprises, and most impactful insights from the event. They tackle some provocative HR realities—like why your...
Interviewing? Maybe Leave Your Mom at Home.
In this laugh-and-learn episode, Jenny and Sarah take you inside the beautiful mess of modern recruiting. From jaw-dropping candidate missteps to the surprising rise of parental involvement in job applications (yes, it’s happening), they break ...