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
When Employees Start Making the Rules: How Leaders Should Respond
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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, demanding remote work, and assuming the answer will be yes.
The bigger issue is not employee boldness. It is leadership hesitation.
They dig into why so many leaders struggle to respond in the moment, how unclear expectations create bigger problems later, and why avoiding uncomfortable conversations often creates legal risk, resentment, and confusion across the team.
This conversation covers the real difference between being flexible and being run over.
In this episode, they cover:
- Why employees are increasingly telling leaders what they will do instead of asking
- The difference between a reasonable request and an unreasonable demand
- Why small business owners often struggle more with boundaries than corporate leaders
- How unclear expectations create confusion, inconsistency, and frustration
- Why avoiding hard conversations almost always makes the problem worse
- How to think through requests for schedule changes, reduced hours, and remote work
- What leaders should do before saying yes to a request tied to stress, family needs, or medical concerns
- Why documentation matters more than most leaders realize
- The role of boundaries, accountability, and clear communication in healthy workplaces
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