Hiiii,

Happy Wednesday, my fav HR people! 👋 WHAT A TIME 2 BE ALIVE!!!

We've got plenty to discuss and so little time…so if you’re feeling overwhelmed this week, I’m sending virtual hugs your way. 🫂

Speaking of hugs…have you heard of habit hugging???

We’ll be discussing the term today and why employees keep reverting to old processes + why they feel pressured to bluff their skills.

Something fun before we dive in:

If open enrollment has personally victimized you this year, consider Friday your group therapy session. My friends RyanMae McAvoy + Rachel Ackerman are hosting an Open Enrollment Recovery Room to unpack the good, the bad, and the “I sent you SIX reminders” moments of this OE season. We’ve also been playing Open Enrollment Bingo in Safe Space all month, checking off the painfully predictable things HR deals with every year. Join ussss!

🗞️ Here's the Tea:Copy anchor linkCopied

😮 Workers are ‘habit hugging’ despite new training, survey finds

The TL;DR: Fewer than half of employees consistently use new work methods after training, according to TalentLMS. Researchers call sticking with familiar processes “habit hugging.” Adoption was higher when managers used the new methods too: 49% versus 22%.

My POV: Isn’t it kinda interesting how we gave falling back into old habits a cute lil name before figuring out why the new process isn’t sticking???

Before HR gets assigned another training module to fix this, ask whether employees even have time to practice and whether the new method makes the work easier.

A completion certificate can’t carry your entire change strategy! 📣

🎙️Mic Drop Moment:Copy anchor linkCopied

“Many unspoken things are happening in the workplace today where individuals are trying to mitigate the risk of their health being an issue in order to get their work done.”Copy anchor linkCopied

On the mic this week: Kevin Fyock leads innovation for Aon’s Health Solutions business. His work explores emerging tech, and the problems employers need help solving. He brings a focus on how better healthcare support connects to sustainable careers.

Kembre Roberts works in health transformation at Aon, supporting clinical strategy and employee well-being. She brings 25 years of experience in the field. Her work focuses on helping employers support employee health across life stages, with attention to how benefits and workplace practices affect career growth.

Pin this:

• Fertility benefits cover one chapter of women’s lives. Your strategy needs to cover the others.
• Taking care of your health shouldn’t quietly disqualify you from your next promotion.
• Measure retention, career progression, and productivity alongside benefits utilization.
• Ask women what support they need before buying another solution they have to figure out themselves.

My H*ly Sh*t Moment: How messed up is it that caring for your health could potentially take you out of consideration for a promotion? It’s like any time away is seen as a career penalty!

▶️ Press Play

📊 Data Is My Love Language:Copy anchor linkCopied

Stat: About 1 in 3 workers say they’re faking their skills

My spiral: Companies keep adding skills to the must-have list like they’re ordering unlimited appetizers, then act scandalized when employees straight-up lie to keep up! 🤷‍♀️

I’m not handing out permission slips to lie, but if admitting you need training lowkey feels like volunteering for the next layoff, what the hell did we expect?

HR needs an honest picture of what people can do, and that gets a lot harder when every skill gap becomes a referendum on whether someone deserves their job!

You have to give people time to learn before demanding expertise in whatever leadership discovered on LinkedIn this week.

🛠️ In Your Toolkit Copy anchor linkCopied

How many hours a week do you think you spend chasing a hiring manager around for answers???

And that’s literally one of DOZENS of tasks that can eat up your precious time! 😭

On Nov 17th, join me for HR Therapy: Where Did the Week Go? An HR Time Audit.

We’ll look at where hiring and admin swallow your hours, then compare what’s worth automating, delegating, or killing entirely.

Bring your calendar…we’ll compare what’s working and find one thing you can take off your plate!

🗣️ UNMUTE YOURSELF

I gotta say, we’re basically experts at keeping a straight face through some deeply disrespectful BS.

Sometimes we’re so focused on handling it well that we barely notice what swallowing it is doing to us.

Think about a moment you were proud of how you handled yourself, but went home feeling smaller:

When did being professional cost you something real?

🛠️ TRY THIS TOMORROW:

Somewhere in your workflow is a report nobody reads, and someone is very excited to have AI generate it faster.

Please don’t give that nonsense a longer life expectancy. A task surviving three HR directors doesn’t mean it deserves a fourth.

Before automating a task, ask: “Should this exist in the first place?”

👂 OVERHEARD IN SAFE SPACE

Everyone gets a coach except HR, who just gets character development instead! 😅

Read what members had to say here.

See ya on Friday!