Hiiii,

Happy Wednesday, chaos wranglers! I’m still waiting for my caffeine to kick in, so if this intro feels coherent, please know I’m exceeding expectations. ☕

I do feel like a good substitute for coffee is roasting SHRM instead, so that’s what we’ll be doing today.

They’ve given us a $400K convo starter that requires very little warming up on my part! 🤷‍♀️

We’re also talking global hiring and why your managers might need actual support before being asked to lead everyone through the next corporate plot twist.

Sound good? Cool, let’s unpack!

🗞️ Here's the Tea:Copy anchor linkCopied

🐕 SHRM loses service dog trial, owes former job applicant $400K

The TL;DR: SHRM, the trusted authority on all things work (lol), just got a $400K reminder to check its own homework. A jury found it unlawfully failed to accommodate a job applicant who requested a service dog to manage her Type 1 diabetes and rescinded her offer because of the need to accommodate her. SHRM disputes the verdict and is considering an appeal, marking its second employment-related jury loss in under a year.

My POV: The org selling HR guidance keeps becoming the cautionary tale, and believe me…I’m being generous with my words right now. 😒

What stands out here: The jury found SHRM engaged in the interactive process but still failed to provide a reasonable accommodation.

Having the convo doesn’t mean you’ve solved the problem, especially if the alternatives you’re offering don’t meet someone’s actual needs!

🎙️Mic Drop Moment:Copy anchor linkCopied

“The challenges in the world are not finite.”Copy anchor linkCopied

On the mic this week: Sagar Khatri is the co-founder and CEO of Multiplier, a platform that helps companies hire and manage international teams. He started his career in finance before moving into startups, where leading international expansion at Hmlet exposed him to the bureaucratic hellscape of global employment. Today, he leads a team spread across 50 countries, so he’s personally familiar with the problems his company helps solve.

Pin this:

• Your hiring radius might be filtering out your next best employee before they ever apply.
• A prestigious résumé isn’t proof someone can do the job anymore. Stop letting company logos conduct the interview.
• Global hiring requires local knowledge. A U.S. employment agreement doesn’t magically become compliant when you email it overseas.
• Sagar sees AI helping companies expand internationally sooner, giving HR another reason to get ahead of global workforce planning.

My H*ly Sh*t Moment: I keep thinking about how many orgs say they can’t find great talent when what they actually mean is they can’t find it in the handful of places they’re willing to look!

▶️ Press Play

📊 Data Is My Love Language:Copy anchor linkCopied

Stat: Although company leaders are critical to org growth, only 17% said they feel confident anticipating and reacting to change

My spiral: A leadership title doesn’t come with a magical ability to navigate whatever fresh chaos the exec team announces on a Tuesday!

What gets me is that we expect managers to give employees clarity while they’re still trying to figure out what’s happening themselves. 🫠

HR needs to push for leaders to have time to ask questions and understand the decisions they’re being asked to explain.

Getting your team on board is a hell of an assignment when nobody’s told you where the boat is going.

🗣️ UNMUTE YOURSELF

Sometimes HR gets handed a decision that’s already been made and asked to make it sound caring.

It’s even worse when you feel like it’s a decision that’s screwing over employees. 🫣

What’s one people-first decision you’ve seen that was really profit-first?

🛠️ TRY THIS TOMORROW:

Nobody understands how thankless invisible work can be more than an HR manager.

Unfortunately, that feeling isn't exclusive to our role, and may be worth surfacing with your team from time to time.

Tomorrow, ask someone: “What part of your work feels invisible?”

👂 OVERHEARD IN SAFE SPACE

Sooooo many orgs have this habit of letting tasks run on autopilot, then never questioning their usefulness again.

I legit get triggered when I hear "that's how we've always done it."

OKAY AND MAYBE WE SHOULDNT?!

Read what members had to say here.

IT'S HUMP DAYYYY. Counting down the seconds until the weekend. I'm spending this weekend with my BFFs. There's good weather on our horizon so I am especially excited!