Andrew Quilpa: Had you actually read the email, you would know
that the podcast you are about to listen to could contain
explicit language and offensive content.
These HR experts' views are not representative of their past,
present or future employers.
If you have ever heard my manager is unfair to me.
I need you to reset my HR portal password, or Can I write
up my employee for crying too much?
Welcome to our little safe zone .
Welcome to Jaded HR.
Warren: So, anyways, let's take two Welcome to J hr to podcast
by two hr professionals who help you get through the workday by
saying everything you're thinking, but say it out loud.
I'm warren I'm cc all right, so this is take two you're.
We had a little technical difficulty, so yeah, we're back
and it's 2025 in.
April We'll be starting our season five, a year five, so
that's going to be really exciting for us.
So yeah, before technical wonderfulness happened, we were
talking about Snowmageddon and you making it through that.
Cee Cee: Do you think that's what made this fall apart?
Was the Snowmageddon?
I'm starting to think Exactly.
Also, I'm starting to believe Mercury in retrograde.
Is it in retrograde?
What's going on?
Because I woke up this morning like my husband's complete work
station was not working Things, just his keyboard wasn't working
, this wasn't working whatever, and then he was like, trying to
fix that, like all the batteries went out all of a sudden in the
house.
I'm like is something happening with?
Is it retrograde or is it just 2025?
Like, where are we?
What is happening?
Warren: oh, I don't know.
I I haven't had any knock on wood bad luck in 2025 yet, but
I'm with me.
I'm just a time bomb waiting to go off with some bad luck
somewhere.
Cee Cee: So I just you know I'm over the new year.
Let's just go for a, a slightly used, like reasonably good
shape old year.
Like I'll take a 1998 all over again.
That was pretty fun, like let's just no but, yeah, snowmageddon,
so we had like 13 inches of snow, which is very not, it's
not normal for us.
But yeah, we were snowed in for a little bit.
The baby actually slept at my parents' place and because
they're like the daycare and they're like we don't know how
the roads are going to be, so just leave her here.
And that was fantastic, cause I don't remember a night, oh,
yeah, yeah, I'll wait.
Yeah, thanks, but yeah, like it was just, it was wonderful, and
I don't know.
I there's like this clip going around the internet.
I don't know if it went, quote unquote, viral, but it's been
going around.
It's our local weather guy and he has lost his mind, like while
doing the newscasting.
Like at the end of it he's just making snow angels and it is.
It is like chef's kiss of how we were just dealing with
snowmageddon.
Warren: Oh, that's funny.
So, yeah, we got our snowmageddon too.
It it flurried for probably five minutes and and it was done
.
Uh, and the funny thing is I went to take out some garbage
and I noticed, oh wow, it's snowing.
And you know, you really couldn't see it too well.
If you looked up in the light you could see you know it a
little bit better.
And then you, you look at like we have our patio furniture
covered with a black cover and so you could see the snow on
that.
I was like, oh cool, it's snowing.
And I said, you know what, I'm going to go take the garbage to
the curb before before it gets any worse or anything like that.
By the time I got back from the curb it was done, our snow, our
snow had stopped and we, we were done and I was perfectly
happy with that.
And yeah, so I was.
Yeah, I would like some snow, just not on a day or time I have
to drive and right now my son lives in.
It goes to college out in the mountains in North Carolina.
It's been snowing like three days in a row out there and I
think yesterday they got six inches and then it's supposed to
not snow again the rest of this week until friday, which, but
on friday and saturday it's supposed to snow again and
that's when we have to take him home or take him back, so it's
normally a 13 hour drive to get him there and back.
I'm anticipating this is going to be like a.
This might require a hotel trip somewhere along the way back
North Carolina.
We don't.
We aren't prepared for snow.
I don't think my county has its own snow vehicles period or
anything like that.
So yeah, that's it, that's good .
That's good.
So let's see.
I want to.
Before we get too far, I want to get caught up on a couple
things, and first, I am a very bad person.
I have not been checking our Apple reviews in forever, and I
was looking the other night and I noticed there's one that I
missed from October.
So Dustin Stoll, who left us a five-star review on Apple
Podcasts.
He wrote HR conversations to make the world go round.
I need to do research on podcasts for my marketing class.
I came across this during my research.
I find this podcast informational and educational.
This is precisely what I need as an HR major to become as a HR
major, because, after working in the field for a while, I am
jaded, so it helped me very much .
So, dustin, sorry it took us so long to read your review.
I I'm going to try and read the reviews much more frequently.
So if you'd like to give us a review on any of the platforms,
especially Apple's that helps us grow, go ahead and do so and
we'll read it on the air.
So yeah, I'm just so sorry I missed that that review but also
it's time for me to to eat a little crow.
In the last episode about the Ohio State Disappointed I
apparently spread some misinformation.
I even said in the episode I didn't read the whole article.
I have the TLDR type of mindset ADD TLDR, it doesn't matter.
So apparently the Ohio State University employees did not get
their second increase.
They got the first increase back in July, but they were
informed that they would be getting this second one, so they
didn't actually get it, but it still doesn't change the fact
that they got screwed in the process and my feelings still
remain the same.
You tell me I'm getting an increase and then you take it
away from me because you don't have to give it to me anymore.
No, sorry, still still going to leave you.
Cee Cee: I don't believe anything until it happens,
especially with pay and promotions.
You can tell me until you're blue in the face that something
is coming.
Something is coming.
Face that something is coming, something is coming.
But I feel like I've been around the block one too many
times.
To know that something is coming is squat until it
actually happens.
Warren: Yeah, in my company we had like five or six people that
this would have applied to and we had a game plan in place what
we're going to do for each of them.
Some would get the bump to remain exempt and others would
get their normal annual increase at the beginning of the year
and then just go to non-exempt.
And we, we had a game plan for everybody.
And, uh, even the week before this happened, we said, okay, it
looks like the nothing's gonna happen to stop this from
happening.
So we'll, uh, uh and we're like , okay, fine, and of course it
does happen.
So, uh, you know, even if you have thousands of employees like
ohio state, you don't have to take immediate action all the
time you can.
You can figure this out.
I don't know, but I still think that I still think from what I
know and didn't read everything, I still think the situation
seemed to be handled pretty poorly.
So I did want to put it out there that I had spread some
misinformation apparently.
So I halfway read another article which set me straight.
Cee Cee: Well, thank you for the clarification, but it doesn't
change our final verdict as shitty.
Warren: Exactly, I like it.
I like it.
So we've been teasing for well.
Actually, before we get there, wanted to wrap up the must
listen to podcast list that we, you know, we had Mike Coffey
from Good Morning HR.
We had the game from Corporate Pizza Party.
We had Jamie from HR Besties.
I was trying to get two others.
I'll go ahead and say that I was trying to get Kyle from
Rebel HR and also Eileen and Glenda from Serping Corporate.
My schedule just went sideways and it just became harder for me
to try and get those schedule.
But those other podcasts are definitely in our must listen to
HR podcast lists as well.
But oh well, speaking of must listen to podcasts, we got
ranked for 2025 by Buzzfeed, which is absolute garbage, but
it's still.
It's still, yeah, the 20 number 21 must listen to a hr podcast.
I don't know what we were last year, but we're 21 this year out
out of I don't know how many there are.
There's 22.
There's only 20, but we got 21 on that list.
Yeah, it's garbage.
Buzzfeed sucks.
They list some podcasts which aren't in publication anymore.
I think one of the years we were listed on it, it even gave
it even gave completely wrong names of the hosts.
I don't know if it was me and Feathers at the time, but it
didn't have either of our names correct.
But this time our names were at least correct on it.
So yay to that, for what that is worth.
It basically sets you up for marketing, because they're
trying to sell your contact information and it's very
blatant, so I'll put the link in the show notes.
Cee Cee: A win is a win, man yeah.
Warren: Excuse me.
Cee Cee: After 2024,.
I'll take any win.
Warren: Yeah, yeah, For me 2024 wasn't that bad looking back.
I mean, you know it wasn't a 2020 or anything like that.
I think we're done with with those type of things, hopefully
yeah, I can be honest like 2024.
Cee Cee: Aside from like the weird stuff, things in my life
were pretty awesome.
I mean I had a baby like hello.
I mean that's pretty.
Yeah, like I can't top that.
So, yeah, like I'm no, yeah, like I I get cynical but at the
same time life is good.
I can't really complain.
Warren: No, no, and you know, even professionally, I have a
hard time complaining.
You know I'm not getting as much ammunition for a jaded show
for my own work experiences as I used to get when I first
dreamed up the jaded HR concept and things like that.
So it's a little bit different than having to rely on some of
the news sources.
And actually, speaking of which , two things we didn't do in
2024 and one will never come back is I don't think it'll ever
come back.
We didn't do the holiday song.
I think y'all have suffered enough with my singing for the
first three years of doing that.
But we didn't talk about John Hyman's end of the year list of
worst employers and you know what?
I don't know whether to be happy or sad, but the contenders
there were no teenagers killed or anything like that.
I hate to say it that way.
There were no god-awful ones out there.
There were some bad ones.
So it was interesting.
But I did see he already has his first contender for 2025.
I saw earlier today.
I don't know when it was posted , but hey, we're only a week in,
so somebody's doing something out there to try and make the
list for 25.
So yeah, so, fun stuff.
Well, now, I think, would be a good time for you to introduce
to everybody what we've been teasing for a month or two about
what our new segment's going to be.
So take it away.
Cee Cee: Yeah, so I am a huge pop culture workplace comedy
connoisseur and it's always, I think this is kind of a passion
project of both of ours.
But we'll be having a segment that's basically HR lessons from
pop culture and, specifically, we're going to be focusing on
the greatest television show to ever grace our presence, which
is the Office.
So Warren and I are going to be picking select episodes the
classics if you will and we'll be dissecting them, but then
looking at them from an HR lens and see what they got right and
what they kind of got very, very wrong.
But yeah, so we're going to start off with the Office.
We might, you know, go into other shows, like maybe Parks
and Recreation or other movies like Office Space or stuff like
that.
So we're also open to suggestions.
So you let us know what you want to hear as well, or like
what you'd like us to dissect from that HR lens.
But yeah, like we're going down the like I said, it's pop
culture through the lens of HR.
Warren: I think that is just such an awesome idea.
I'm glad you brought it up.
If you, dear listener, have suggestions, the show notes have
two ways to easily get in touch with us.
One is a link that just says send us a text and that's
one-way communication.
And when you hit that button, the your text app will open on
your phone and it'll have like six digits as your first number.
Don't delete those, because I'll never get it if you don't,
because that's how the hosting provider sorts.
That six digit is our jaded hr code.
It knows to send it to us versus any of their other shows.
So you can send us that way.
Plus, there's a 252 number in the show notes as well, a phone
number you can just call.
You can leave us a voicemail.
It doesn't ring.
It's a Google voice number.
It doesn't ring anywhere.
I get a voicemail when someone leaves a voice message, but you
could send a text or voice message there.
And yeah, that's two ways you can send suggestions.
You have maybe a favorite episode of the Office or maybe
there's another show that you think needs to be discussed that
has a great HR influence with it.
A Big Bang Theory comes to mind , because they always seem to be
ending up in Regina King's office as their HR manager.
Oh, that's right At some point or another.
So, yeah, so it's funny.
There are some things we can pull out of there.
And, yeah, any workplace comedies that you can think of
or maybe they're not comedies, maybe they're dramas, I don't
know, I watch mainly comedy.
So, yeah, I'm really looking forward to this.
I think what we'll do is the, so the, these episodes, the
rewatch, if you will.
Episodes are going to be the third episode of each month, so
this one is going to launch approximately january 30th.
Uh, so, uh, uh, we'll do our regular recording session every
two weeks and then this will be a special one.
And if you have an idea for what would be a good idea, let
us know.
If you're a member of Patreon, I let our Patreon community know
ahead of time.
They're special, they're special.
So they got to know this about two weeks ago and Hallie gave it
a big heart.
And then Bill says awesome, looking forward to it and a new
year.
So, yeah, if you, if you join us on Patreon, patreon has this
new feature where you can chat with us and it's two way
communication.
So go ahead and support us on Patreon and you get to know a
little bit ahead of time what's going on.
I think I've done two Patreon only episodes and then you can
chat with us and we'll respond to it.
Cee Cee: So yay, you can also honestly feel free to slide into
my DMs as well.
I'm boozy B-O-O-Z-Y.
Underscore H-R yeah you can there's a plethora of ways to
contact us, so jump on all of them.
Warren: Your Instagram link is also in the show notes as well.
So, yeah, there's so many ways to reach us.
So, yeah, we really want to get some feedback from you, our
loyal listeners.
I mean, we're coming up on five years of Jaded HR.
It's so hard to believe that.
You know we're almost at five years Wow, crazy.
But yeah, this will be something good, this will be
something fun.
I'm really looking forward to it.
So, yay, I'm trying to think of anything happening in I I.
I am not prepared.
I did not do any homework.
Obviously, I was telling you off the air that I've been
talking for months, months, about my son and his search for
an internship.
Well, he's got his very first ever interview tomorrow.
So by the time this airs, you know it'll be over.
I doubt he'll have an answer or not, but he's got an internship
interview tomorrow with a company in Fargo, north Dakota.
So I looked at the stats to see in Fargo, north Dakota.
So I looked at the stats to see we do have probably a single
listener in Fargo, north Dakota.
How many Fargo?
I don't know how many episodes.
Yeah, yeah, I just told them to stay away from the wood
chippers.
Cee Cee: I just pictured like this one person listening to our
podcast at their desk and they're just like me, me.
Warren: Yeah, we have.
They haven't listened to all the episodes, but yeah, I just
looked up and we have.
We have a listener who's listened to a few dozen episodes
up in Fargo.
Cee Cee: Well, listen, fargo.
We have a back catalog.
You can listen to all of them.
Warren: Exactly, exactly.
So yeah, I'm really excited about that.
We I've been doing practice interviews with him to the point
where he's just completely annoyed with me.
And you know, he's a senior in college, he's never even had a
job interview before or anything like that, so it's going to be
interesting.
So I'm excited for him.
I hope he's excited.
I hope it goes well, so yay.
Cee Cee: I'm sure it will.
The first interview is always nerve wracking.
Warren: Yeah, yeah, and you know if, if he doesn't get it, I
mean it'll suck, but it's a good interview experience and you
know it is in Fargo.
You know he, he is very interested in going to Fargo.
So Every time we look to apply for a job, there's been, you
know there's been places no, we're not going to go there or
anything like that.
But when he saw this one and wanted to apply, I'm like, okay,
yeah, we can, you know, check it out and give it a shot.
And so this is so far the only positive response he's gotten.
But if know, anybody hiring a geography gis intern for summer
2025, let me know.
So, yeah, that's gonna be.
Cee Cee: It's gonna be fun seeing the world through his
eyes yeah, things like that so oh, just think, in like 18 years
I'll be hopefully sending mine off to college and then maybe
that helping her get her new job and then her being like oh mom
god, leave me alone.
Warren: That's not how they do it, leave me alone, mom that's
not how they do it now okay, see , the thing is with my daughter.
She was much more open to my suggestions.
Maybe she's just nicer and sweeter and won't tell me to go
F myself.
My son is very prone to leave me alone.
Dad, get away, I'm tired.
Okay, you've had your fun.
I played your little interviewing game with you.
Let's, let's move on.
But my daughter was more into it and things like that, and so,
yes, that'll be.
That'll be interesting to see how that.
But the world of HR, what has happened since the new year?
I can't, really I can't.
Cee Cee: The only thing I can think of is, like, personally in
my world, it's just, we are in talent calibrations and I know a
lot of companies are going through performance reviews
right now, or at least doing their annual evaluations.
So so, yeah, like best of luck to you all.
I'm very fortunate to have a bunch of really great HR, like
an HR business partner team that supports it.
So, yeah, we're on schedule, we're on time and people will be
getting their reviews in a couple weeks and I am excited,
I'm glad that we can close the 2024 chapter down.
And then, like this is how crazy the year is for
performance management.
It's like we're not even done with talent calibrations, let
alone going into performance discussions, and I had to have a
kickoff meeting today about goal setting, because right
after annual goal setting, like it just you know, it's just the
wheel, it just keeps going and it's already like I'm already
planning for February and I'm not even seven days into January
.
Warren: Yep.
Well, we're at the tail end, we're wrapping up.
All our performance reviews have been done, completed, most
have been signed.
Employees are dragging their feet about signing and you know
the salary increases that were proposed went into effect
January 4th for everybody, so that's really exciting.
So, what I'm waiting for, though , is because I guarantee and I
can name the managers who didn't do a good job January, let's
say 10th, we get paid, but that is the last pay of 2024.
And you're raising.
I'm already bracing myself for a dozen phone calls or more.
On the 10th, my raise wasn't in my check, and I can tell you
the managers that weren't clear to let them know oh, this is a.
You'll see this.
It's effective January 4th.
You will see it on your January 24th check.
I so I'm already bracing myself for that.
Uh, and you know that's not the employee's fault, that's a
manager fault who, like I said, 90% of the people who call for
that question are going to be.
It's going to be because the manager didn't do their job
effectively, and the employee just doesn't know.
And then the 10% weren't listening, or, when their
manager did, tell them it was the effective date.
So, yeah, it's going to be good, but I'm already starting.
You know, as soon as I launch my review process, I create a
document in the postmortem, I call it for the reviews and I
write down things that could be done better.
We need change for next year, and I'm going to be going over
that later with my assistant, and Thursday we have our, our,
our meeting, our kickoff meeting for 1095s with our our provider
on that.
So, yay, a lot of fun, uh, there, and yeah, it is so
cyclical and there's so much going on right now.
You know it was nice that, like the, the last week of, you know
, december, the first week, week of January were somewhat slower
overall, but now it's like we're got to get right back in
the saddle because here it comes again.
Cee Cee: Yeah, I went through that weird space in time where
it was like between Christmas and New Year's and it was just,
I think we were all in this temporal time warp of just
insanity.
And now it's like coming back and you have to, like you know,
start running a new marathon.
It was this week's been a little you know, just catching
up on the emails, just getting my ass kicked a little bit with
all the things I need to do.
Warren: Yeah, yeah, it's you know, but I'm looking forward to
2025.
I think that you know.
Even the title of the show is jaded hr.
I'm I'm really optimistic, I'm looking forward to it.
I I think that it's going to be a good year.
Cee Cee: So yeah, oh, I don't think I told you this um.
2025 is going to be a fantastic year, because it is the year I
turn 40.
Warren: 40.
40.
Yes.
Cee Cee: I have mixed feelings about it.
It's fine, it's fun, it's a new era, it'll be good, but I'm
kind of excited about there you go 2025.
The year I turn into a real adult 40.
Warren: A real adult.
Oh, congrats.
Cee Cee: Thank you, congratulations on that, yeah,
yeah.
Warren: Does that officially make you an elder millennial or
are you like in the sweet spot of millennials?
Where does that fall in the millennial spectrum?
Cee Cee: Oh, I've always been elder, because I think the
cutoff is 82, so I've always been elder with that elder meant
millennials.
Okay, yeah, so yeah I am, I am, I am your elder I millennials,
uh or z's or whoever come, come talk to me, I am.
I'll tell you about the days before social media.
Warren: Yeah, exactly.
Cee Cee: And what an AOL room was.
Warren: Ooh, hey, okay, Fun fact , I in 99-ish I hired the first
developer for the Mac version of AOL Instant Messenger for AOL
and then, because he was the program manager for it, he ended
up knowing all these other people could do Mac development
and I ended up hiring majority of the team for the very first
version of maybe it was 98 for AOL Instant Messenger.
That was something really cool.
Going to the AOL I've never seen a business campus before in
that realm and going to see campus- oh, I miss the campus it
was so much like a collegiate campus kids running around in
backpacks and even on skateboards and stuff among the
various buildings.
But when you got into a coding area, imagine a large building
where when you get off the elevators other than the
elevators and the restrooms and the pillars holding it up you
can see the entire floor of the building from there and all you
hear is the click, click, click, click of keyboards and you know
the lights are not turned on in the building and some people
have lamps and other things and it was just so weird going in.
I've never seen that type of environment before.
I actually happened to be on the AOL campus in Ashburn,
virginia, the day someone dumped off like three dump trucks full
of those AOL discs you used to get all the time.
Someone collected them and sent them back to them.
I have to be there.
Like the day or day after that got delivered, I got to see the
piles of AOL discs that somebody had done there, that was pretty
cool.
So yeah, the 90s in Northern Virginia, the IT boom was really
really cool.
Cee Cee: And now when I see somebody who's still, did you
work for AOL?
Warren: No, we were a contractor , a third-party recruiting firm,
and they were one of our clients.
Cee Cee: Oh, that's awesome.
I want to point out the fact that you hired the team that
basically created AOL Instant Messenger, and I feel like you
need some credit.
Warren: Or Mac.
They already had it for PC.
Cee Cee: Or PC for Mac.
So I feel like some credit should go to you, because
Butterfly Effect if there was some bad selections it wouldn't
have worked.
So I thank your recruiter, that's all I'm saying.
Warren: Yep, that was my recruiting gig.
It was so funny back then.
The companies we work for and where they are now like AOL was
one of our clients, but like MCI WorldCom, which doesn't exist
anymore.
Remember, when you had telecommunications and you had
to pay for long distance and shit like that, mci WorldCom was
one of my clients.
I'm just trying to think of.
The only client that I think is still around and doing very,
very well is MicroStrategy.
They were.
We were in Tyson's Corner, virginia.
They were literally around the corner.
We used to call it the shopping bag building.
If you've ever been to Tyson's Corner, that's where
MicroStrategy was, at least in the 90s, and now they're killing
it with the whole Bitcoin thing .
So, yeah, if I bought some stock in the 90s from them, I'd
be retired now probably.
But yeah, it's so interesting to think of the clients I work
with and how, in the telecom industry, none of them are
around anymore.
Aol is a shadow of what they used to be.
Microstrategy is still around.
I can't think of any other clients I service with IT and
people with government.
We had some government.
We placed some people like north of Grumman and places like
that, but so they're still around.
But yeah, it was really weird, really really cool, really
different and, yeah, fun stuff.
Back then Shoot it was technical recruiting, then was
shooting fish in a barrel.
I couldn't believe I was getting paid to do that and paid
well and making commission and all that.
It was a fun time.
Cee Cee: That's awesome.
Warren: Late 90s.
Cee Cee: I also want to point out I think probably late 90s,
early 2000s was probably the prime time for a corporate
campus.
I worked on a corporate campus before everything just basically
got dismantled because of the way it is now.
But like, I love a campus and I like, if you give me a good
camp, so where I worked, like I worked for the home office of
Luxottica and at and like it's here in Cincinnati, and one of
the like, the really cool things is like we had an on-site gym.
We had what was it people service that would come pick up
your clothes and drop it off the next day.
We had a cafeteria and like I think the company put stipends
into it to basically lower the cost for us.
You could have like a really cheap lunch.
That was really like, honestly, it was really decent.
There was walking trails, there was, I mean, there is like all
this stuff that I'm like I'm so nostalgic for because it created
such a really fun culture.
I think we talked about this before on the podcast.
Like I work with people who are in my wedding.
I was in people's, my coworkers' weddings.
It was just such a fun time and I'm not sure if it's the campus
or just the nostalgia of being early career amongst a bunch of
other people who are early career like you.
I can't put my finger on it.
Maybe it was a little bit of both, but I miss the campus and
I will die on it.
Hell, no, don't tell me.
I have to come to that campus every single day and I can never
be late.
Like then we're going to have problems.
I will beat you up, like, but I would love a campus that I can
go to.
Warren: My wife's company has a campus and it is.
It used to be really cool.
They did the same thing.
They had a employee gym.
My wife broke her leg in the employee gym there and but they
they had a cafeteria.
At first the food was free and then they made it like $3.
So $3 and their food was good and they would even have like
seafood days where they would have things like shrimp for $3
and their food was good and they would even have like seafood
days where they would have things like shrimp for $3 and
shrimp and fish and it was really good.
They had a hotel on their campus.
They still do have a hotel, I should say, on their campus for
visitors and things like that.
They do training there, among other things.
They actually have their own airport on their campus, so it's
a really, really cool thing.
But now she goes to the office every other week for one day and
she's not even there for the full day, unless she absolutely
has to or she decides I'm going to hang out and talk with the
other people that are here, because she's not required to be
there.
She's actually removed all of her personal belongings out of
her office, so her office looks pretty vacant now.
And then she says sometimes it makes me feel sad, but sometimes
I'm like eh, don't care when she goes to her office and it's
completely empty, like it's not even hers anymore.
So, yeah, I've never worked in that environment, but I think it
would be a mix of being a young professional and having all
those amenities right there for you, like a gym, go out to lunch
with your friends, or maybe you've been just going to go get
a snack.
Hey, let's, let's go get a parfait or something like that.
You know, let's take five, go get a parfait, snacks, pancakes,
whatever.
I think that there is something to being in that 20, the early
30-something and working with a bunch of other 20 to
30-somethings in that type of environment.
I think it would be pretty darn awesome.
Like I said, I never worked on a campus, but I can just see it
and know what other people have experienced, heard what other
people experienced.
I think that would be pretty cool stuff.
But yeah, I don't know how much you have that anymore.
Cee Cee: Yeah, it's not there.
But you know what?
Everything it's like a pendulum .
Everything swings in one way to the extreme and then it swings
back into the other way.
I wouldn't be surprised in like 10 years.
There's a resurgence of like returning to the office full
time or something, because whatever, um, I don't know, I
don't know.
I I kind of see something coming back.
I don't think it's gonna be this remote forever unless you
take a remote job.
I think people hunger for it honestly, because I think we're
just a social humans are social beings so there's only going to
be so much that people can take from video interactions that I
think we're going to see some amount of need and want from the
employee to have that physical connectedness again.
So I could be wrong, but that's what I predict.
Warren: I agree, I absolutely agree.
I voluntarily have given up my work from home day.
I can still do it if I want, but by the time, you know, for
my, I was only doing, I was allowed to do it up to two days
a week.
I only did it once.
For my, I was only doing, I was allowed to do it up to two days
a week, I only did it once.
And just you know, first were problems packing up the computer
, remembering the charge, or both leaving office and coming
going back to the office and having to charge her.
You know, doing this it was and I feel so much more productive
in the office and I like I like the interaction with the people
and half my day is people coming into my office and I like I
like the interaction with the people and half my day is people
coming into my office and needing a question answered or
having a problem that I can solve, or something like that.
And when I'm not in the office, they're not calling me, they're
not chatting me, they're, they're not doing those things
as I.
Where we work, it's just hey, I'm going, hey, warren, can I
come in and ask you a quick question?
And that's how it works.
And so I decided, you know, when it's slow and I'm working
remote, it's almost painful, whereas if it's slow and I'm in
the office, hey, I can chit chat with somebody.
I've got other things to do or, you know, I'll be there for
that person who has that one-off question or something like that
.
So I, like I said, I voluntarily gave up my work from home and
actually this is my first time in my office recording this.
Since what?
A month ago, when we last recorded an episode I've not
been up here for for anything.
So actually I had.
I came up a half hour before and turned the heat on, because
the heat hasn't been on up on the side of the house, because I
don't, I don't use it.
So, yeah, I wanted to.
It's just different, it's just, it's just different, it's just
different.
So, yeah, yeah, social interaction is.
I still have friends with people I work with at that IT
company in Northern Virginia in the 90s.
I'm still friends with a couple of people from there and it's a
different environment.
I don't think you can have that interaction, that camaraderie,
working remote, because I think the the people there and at
other places I've worked have been what makes it, you know,
special, if you will.
Yeah, this is so unjaded.
I know it's like Hallmark movie type thing, but no.
Cee Cee: I always think, also, like working remotely, if you're
gonna do it a hundred percent of the time, I think it also
depends on where you are in life .
And I like, because I'm thinking like, okay, I think of
myself when I was new to career and I didn't know, you know,
aside from a couple internships, there are certain things you
just don't know until you work in an office and you're actually
on a payroll, a lot of those things being those special
social things, and you know how you interact with people.
I don't know if we, I don't know if we talked about it on
here, but I forget the number but there's a lot of Gen Z
getting terminated or fired because of a lack of performance
or just inappropriate behaviors or stuff like that.
And I'm like, or stuff like that, and I'm like, oh my God,
some like I think working in an office, early career with people
is so beneficial to you professionally.
Um, yeah, like I think that's so necessary.
But then, on the flip side, I'm like, I am so flippant.
Thank you, like, thankful, and I'm going to say I w I was very
privileged to be able to work from home while I was pregnant
and one like and returning to work after having a baby and
like that to me.
I mean, I can't imagine what it would have been like to have to
commute 35, 40 minutes every day , um, without you know the
ability, like if I was had morning sickness I would have to
pull over the side of the road and puke or all of like the
weird things, all of the weird things a woman's body does while
she's pregnant, like having to be in a conference room and like
almost pee your pants or something like all those things.
I'm so happy I was able to work from home, remotely, and I
think there I think there's something to be said about
meeting people where they are in a lot of the ways and giving
them space to be flexible.
Like if they need to work from home for a small season and
they're still able to do their job and do it well, let them, if
they want to come back to the office, create a space for them.
Like I don't know, there's something to be said about being
a little flexible.
Warren: Absolutely, and I think that's the best thing.
If you could have some sort of true hybrid hey, you're going to
work from in the office Because , especially early career, you
need some mentoring, you need some development, you need
someone looking over your shoulder every once in a while.
Hey, warren, instead of doing it this way, why don't you try
it this way or something like that that you're not going to
get remotely?
And yeah, I understand the data's there that people are
much more productive working from home.
I know my wife says she's like does the job of two people now
that she's working from home and she, she doesn't really mind
that as much.
But you, you know in her world it works well.
For me it just didn't work out as well and I never got used to
it.
If I'd been doing it more than you know once a week or twice a
week or something like that I probably would have adapted
better.
But I never really got the full adaptation to it and I was like
, yeah, I could take it or leave it.
But I think, yeah, younger professionals need that in their
life and I'm really surprised they don't want it more because
after, like, look at someone, my daughter's age, she's 23.
She went through college, through all of COVID, and you
know her college experience sucked.
That's heartbreaking, you know not, not, not like you know mine
.
She went to East Carolina and she didn't have the same are
like, yeah, I want to interact with people and things like that
.
I don't know, maybe these people interactions maybe will
lead to retention, as I know, I've stayed at more than one job
longer than I probably should have.
Yeah, because I like the people .
Yeah, uh, the job was mad.
If it didn't suck, it was mad at best and but I like my, my
co-workers, I like the people I was with.
So, hey, what the hell, I'll stick around to be with them and
yeah, so that's, I don't know.
I think that's a good experience.
Yeah, you have a.
But if you even have a sucky job and you're with good people,
that makes it all the.
That makes all the difference as well.
Cee Cee: So no one can like.
There's something about a bond between people who have a
horrible work experience, whether or not it's the company
or whether or not it's the boss they work for.
And it's so funny because I have like I have some team
members in my past who form our company and we still have like a
chat going.
I got what is it just like a text, like group, and we still,
like at least once a week, are like active in there.
I haven't worked with these people in years, but we all
bonded over the fact that we had a nightmare boss.
Oh yeah.
Warren: And but there's more of you.
Yeah, you might have a sucky boss, but there's more of you
than them.
And it's like, yeah, I think I've told the story before.
I worked one place where the HR manager slash, director slash
whatever the title of the day was they.
I was there six years, I think.
I had eight managers slash, directors, slash, whatever.
I think I had eight managers slash, directors, slash,
whatever.
And after a little while I was just and I'm in my early 30s and
I'm thinking, oh, let's see how long this person lasts.
You know, I'll be here longer than they are, that type of
thing.
And it was interesting.
You don't get those type of experiences without physically
being at work, being at work, and how the hell these new hr
people deal with all the, the, the poops, the poop happenings
if their, their employees aren't I know they're, they're being
robbed of a critical these people aren't able to clean up
poop in a, in a bathroom.
Cee Cee: I mean, where are these stories going to come from one
day?
What you're going to tell?
An old war story about a mean IM someone sent you Please.
Warren: Oh yeah, so anyway.
Well, even though we had no agenda going into today, I think
we've gotten this one pretty far.
Next week we will have an agenda.
I'll do some homework I actually think I've a, an idea
or two and then, of course, please listen to the episode.
On the 30th we'll be re-watching the office, I think,
next.
Next time we'll even go into what episode we're going to talk
about.
So if you want to watch it, uh, ahead of time, before the
episode drops, so you can become more familiar.
I know that's what I'm going to be doing as we, as we plan our
episodes.
And please give us your feedback .
The show notes are just chock full of ways to give us feedback
, including CeCe's.
Let us know what you're thinking, what you'd like to see
, or any other stories you might have for the show, or your own
experiences.
We got text, numbers, everything like that.
So give us your feedback and also leave a review.
I promise I won't take two months, like I did with Dustin's
review, and get those out sooner.
So leave us some reviews.
That's what's going to help people find us.
I think we're.
We've got like a 4.8 rating on Apple podcasts, so please,
please, continue to check that out.
I think we've got like a 4.8 rating on Apple Podcasts.
So please, please, continue to check that out, and I know some
of the others are allowing you to give either thumbs up or
stars and things like that.
So, yeah, help us out that way.
Cee Cee: Yeah, rate us.
It helps us in the algorithms.
Warren: Yeah, the algorithms, the algorithms, yeah.
Cee Cee: The algorithms.
The algorithms.
Warren: Yeah, so let's go ahead and land the plane, thanking our
Patreon supporters.
I know I mentioned them earlier , but Cece, excuse me, but
Hallie, the original Jaded HR rock star, bill and Mike, thank
you very much.
You can join us on Patreon or you can chat with us there,
message us there as well.
So thank you very much to them.
Also, thank you to Andrew Kolpa , who does the voice artist work
in the intro, and the intro and outro music is Double, with the
Double by the Underscore Orchestra, and so, with all that
said, as always, I'm Warren.
Cee Cee: I'm Cece.
Warren: And we're here helping you survive.
Hr one.
What the fuck moment.
At a time you