gratitude season
Hiiii,
It’s a short week stateside, so here’s your reminder: you do not need to cram 5 days of work in 3.
Just circle back, it’ll be fine.
But before I’m OOO this week for a long weekend for Thanksgiving, a few things:
📺 December’s HR Therapy is also quickly approaching!! Is performance management dead? What a loaded question as a bunch of us (including me) are heading into final review season. But what will emerge from the performance management ashes? Join me and Jamie Aitken as we talk about the future of performance management, she’s even authored a book about it!
🎧 Shooting the sh*t on the pod with my direct report. What happens when Madison (my direct report) interviews me? Well guess you’ll have to listen to this week’s pod episode to find out!!! We share an inside look at our working relationship, what I'm like as a manager, and several of our bits. I guarantee you will laugh because this episode was a riot. And if you love it and want more, lmk and we can make it a regular thing!
❤️ And don’t forget to send a little extra love & kindness to the frontline workers who don’t get every holiday off!
Now, today’s edition is in honor of gratitude season, may I present 3 things your HR team is grateful for, vol 3!!!
CULTURE
3 things your HR team is grateful for:Copy anchor linkCopied
Every year around this time, I find myself doing a little gut-check.
Not the “How many PTO days do I have left?” gut-check (though…relevant), but the one where I pause long enough to remember that gratitude is one of the few things that has actually kept me sane in this work.
Gratitude is one of my 3 core values for a reason!! It’s the thing that steadies me when work feels harder than ever before, when life feels heavy, and when HR feels like a never-ending game of what’s the next dumpster fire.
Intentionally practicing gratitude has made me a better leader, a better sister, a better friend, and honestly, a better person.
And I’ll say it again this year: I’m deeply grateful for you.
✨ Yes, you!!! ✨
The person out there trying (against all odds) to make work kinder, clearer, and a little less chaotic.
HR doesn’t get enough credit, but you still show up. And that deserves to be seen.
So today’s edition is a little tradition I love: celebrating the small but mighty things we get to be grateful for!
The things that keep us going. The things that make us laugh. The things that remind us that even in the height of burnout, there’s still joy to be found in this work.
Let’s get into it!
Here are 3 things to be grateful for in VOL. 3.
And if you want to catch up on previous editions:
#1: Leaders who realize AI can’t do it allCopy anchor linkCopied
📣 Shoutout to the leaders who didn’t drink the full “AI will solve everything overnight” Kool-Aid.
You're my kind of people!
I’m super grateful for the leaders who get that AI is powerful, yes BUT it’s not a magic productivity wand that lets you 3X output.
These leaders understand something super critical:
Just because AI can make things faster doesn’t mean humans should be doing more.
They know:
- AI drafts ≠ final deliverables
- more tools ≠ less strategy
- automation ≠ instant clarity
- efficiency ≠ “let’s double everyone’s workload"
👀 I mean AI workslop is actually hurting productivity…
These leaders don’t use AI to justify unrealistic expectations. They don’t turn every meeting into “How can we do more with less?” (My least fave phrase EVER!!!!)
And they do not assume your HR team now has infinite bandwidth just because ChatGPT exists.
You can catch these leaders asking questions like:
“Where does AI genuinely help, and where does it create more noise?”
“What work still needs human judgment, empathy, or context?”
“What systems need fixing before we layer tools on top?”
They understand that adopting AI isn’t about squeezing every last drop of output but thinking more holistically about how AI can help improve the quality of work.
It’s about building smarter, healthier systems… not working faster at any cost.
❤️ Yeahhhh I’m grateful for those leaders today and honestly every day for the foreseeable future as we navigate how AI will continue to disrupt work.
# 2: Employees who read the emails and actually do the thingCopy anchor linkCopied
I’m about to launch our winter reflection otherwise known to folks as performance reviews… This can be heaven or hell for any HR person for various reasons.
So I want to take a moment of gratitude for the employees who:
📩 read the email
🧠 absorb the information
📝 follow the instructions
⏰ meet the deadline
🙌 without being reminded twelve times
A true miracle!!
The rarest of species.
A joy to support and be their HR person.
You know the ones… they fill out the form, hit the link, take the training, upload the doc, complete the task…
ON TIME.
Without HR having to send increasingly desperate reminders like:
“Friendly reminder :)”
“Following up again!”
“Final reminder!!!”
“Hey… checking in, is everything okay?”
“HELLO?”
These employees give HR the gift of time, sanity, and belief in humanity.
❤️ So I'm incredibly grateful for the employees who read the emails and DO THE DANG THING, thank you from the bottom of HR’s heart.
# 3: A community that gets it Copy anchor linkCopied
Working in HR can feel soooo lonely.
Some days it feels like you’re carrying the emotional baggage of your org while still trying to lead with compassion, patience, clarity, and restraint.
The real gamechanger? Having a strong community.
A place where people genuinely understand your work, your frustrations, your wins, and your “I cannot believe this happened today” stories?
To me, that’s everything.
There isn’t really HR for HR and that’s something that inspired Safe Space.
Communities like Safe Space remind HR that:
- You’re not alone
- You’re not being unreasonable
- You’re not the only one experiencing the chaos
- And yes, someone else has dealt with that exact scenario before
- There’s probably a template for what you already want to do
- Connection is one of the greatest feelings in the world
🎁 Having thousands of HR folks who show up, share, support, guide, vent, laugh, and build together is the rarest gift.
A hella powerful one at that.
And one I'll never take for granted. Safe Space has helped me get recommendations, make IRL besties, learn from smart people and continue to have the courage and strength to do this job!!
❤️ I believe that HR isn’t meant to be done in isolation, it’s meant to be done in community.
Have you found your people this year?
If not, Safe Space is always waiting to welcome you.
What’s next:Copy anchor linkCopied
All quarter long I’ve been talking about energy drains and energy boosts.
Well, I can’t fully cover that topic without discuss the #1 thing that impacts your day to day at work…
YOUR MANAGER.
Yup, buckle up babes it’s time to talk about one the least supported groups at work and what that means for energy.
(HUMAN) RESOURCES
- Inside the chaos that is SHRM
- Wicked for good premieres and smashes the box office records
- Kohl’s interim CEO becomes the permanent choice
I wrote the 2026 prep guide ChartHop helps bring to life*
- Mercedes F1 team is valued higher than some professional teams
*This one is brought to you by one of my amazing brand partners
WORK-LIFE BALANCE
- 📚 What I’m reading: Brimstone by Callie Hart. This is the second book after Quicksilver. I’m gonna be sooo honest… I remembered like 0% of the plot of Quicksilver and had to remind myself via recaps what had actually happened. Now that I'm in Brimstone I’m still not quite sure I remember everything.
- 📺 What I’m watching: Stranger Things! The new szn comes back this week so I started rewatching from S3 to catch up fast. I think I’m ready for the end of this show, finally.
- 🍪 What I’m obsessing over: the best tasting gluten free food. I recently posted on insta about the gluten free pumpkin ravioli and someone slid into my DMs to say there’s better pasta out there. So now, I'm collecting recommendations. If you’ve got them, let me hear them!!
SONG OF THE WEEK
🎧 So Unfair, Sophia James Copy anchor linkCopied
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Ummm lately i’ve been discovering more music on Tiktok than Spotify.
Like this song!!!
Enjoyyyy.
That's all for this week!
Reminder: Take care of yourself and know that I support you.
