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
WTF is Business Casual
The Most Expensive "Free" Lunch in HR History.
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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 investigations, and a team that stopped speaking to each other. It’s a look at how a lack of curiosity and a surplus of ego can turn a minor oversight into a total relationship wrecking ball.
Spoiler: When leaders choose "investigation mode" before asking a single question, everyone loses.
They dive into the ripple effect of a leader who skipped the facts to go straight for the jugular, and a leader whose "I’d tell you if you sucked" management style left her team feeling like cogs in a machine.
In this episode, you’ll get:
- The Anatomy of "Lunch-Gate": How a tiny miss in communication led to half a year of resentment and "mechanical" one-on-ones.
- The Ego Trip: Why "hot and emotional" leadership is a recipe for collateral damage.
- The Power of the Non-Apology: Why it’s so hard for leaders to just say, "I forgot, and I’m sorry this landed on you."
- Assuming Negative Intent: How we "stack" stories in our heads until our bosses look like villains and our office doors stay closed.
- The Empathy Deficit: A reality check on why being "black and white" at the top leads to a very grey future for your culture.
Whether you’ve been thrown under the bus or you’re the one driving it, this episode is a mirror moment for anyone who’s ever forgotten that HR stands for Human Resources.
Hit play. Bring your own lunch—just make sure you run it by the head honcho first.
Visit our website: RISE Human Resources
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