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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 bounce through everything from four-day workweek studies to open offices, from job hunting on dating apps to LinkedIn slowly becoming Facebook with certificates. Somewhere in the middle, they land on the real issue: work keeps taking more, and nobody seems able to say “that’s enough.”

This episode is a grab bag of trends, but the throughline is simple. We are tired. And the system is pretending that’s a personal problem instead of a design flaw.

What’s inside this episode:

• Why working less shouldn’t just make you a better worker, but a better human
• The real reason open offices exist and why nobody can focus in them
• Why people are using dating apps to find jobs now
• How LinkedIn lost the plot
• What “ghost promotions,” “career shrekking,” “midlife collision,” and “culture rot” actually mean
• Why some countries are making after-hours work illegal
• The uncomfortable conversation about unions and power at work
• Why “just set boundaries” sounds great and works terribly in real life

Jenny and Sarah don’t pretend there’s an easy fix. They do argue that modern work is slowly eating everything else and calling it ambition.

If you’ve ever looked at your job and thought, “This is too much, but I don’t see a way out,” this one will feel uncomfortably familiar.

Hit play. Then go close your laptop.

Visit our website: RISE Human Resources

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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 recruiting. From jaw-dropping candidate missteps to the surprising rise of parental involvement in job applications (yes, it’s happening), they break down what’s really going on behind the interview screen. With plenty of humor and hard-earned HR wisdom, this episode serves up real talk on how to stand out—in a good way. Whether you're hiring or job hunting, you'll leave with practical tips, a few "you can’t make this up" moments, and a better sense of what professionalism actually looks like today.

Visit our website: RISE Human Resources

Book a call: 30 Min HR Consultation

Follow us on Instagram: WTF is Business Casual

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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 its own lane and why bundling it into performance reviews quietly wrecks employee growth, engagement, and retention.

This is Part Two of their performance management series, focused on the forward-looking side of work.

What’s inside this episode:

• Why development planning deserves its own conversation separate from performance reviews
• Why tying development to compensation creates false expectations
• What Individual Development Plans are supposed to do versus what they usually become
• Why training is the smallest piece of real development
• How on-the-job learning actually builds skills leaders care about
• The problem with leaders deciding career paths without asking employees what they want
• Why succession planning often ignores human reality
• How lateral moves develop people without inflating titles
• Why growth doesn’t look the same in every season of life
• What leaders owe employees when they say they “care about development”

Listen to Part 1: Performance Reviews Are Broken (Part 1): The Messy Reality of Workplace Evaluation

Want Practical Tools Without Corporate Jargon?

Jenny and Sarah also share details about upcoming free HR training sessions through Rise HR, focused on continuous feedback, development tools, and modern performance management for small and mid-size businesses.

Visit our website: RISE Human Resources

Book a call: 30 Min HR Consultation

Follow us on Instagram: WTF is Business Casual