lord of the titles
Finding a diff title on the org chart than what you expected, eh?
Hi ya party people,
Feeling great today, and ending the week on a high note! 🥳
I’m enjoying it while it lasts, which means I should probably ignore my inbox for a couple of hours this morning.
Let me have this, okay!
You know what we can’t ignore, though? Q&A time. 🤓
First up: how do you learn enough about insurance to negotiate better options for your employees without accidentally embarking on a second career as a broker?
Then, we’ve got an employee who wants to keep “Manager” in his title and a Japanese parent company that says it doesn’t fit. What is HR’s opinion on it?
Let’s get into our questions, and if you have any this week, you can submit yours here!
ASK AWAY
🧠 titles & renewalsCopy anchor linkCopied
✍🏾 It's renewal time-"YAY"said no one ever! I am lost in the insurance/broker/provider maze. Does anyone know where I can go to get more knowledge to help my organization? I really don't want to be an expert, but I would like to be able to negotiate for our employees the best option/rates.
Thanks (yours truly stuck in Data land!)
Context: We 105. Level funded-Utility Vegetation Management.
📣 Janet Goris, HR Manager @ The SEED Foundation:
My biggest recommendation is to find a knowledgeable benefits broker who will advocate for your organization. Your broker should be educating you on your options and, most importantly, negotiating with carriers on your behalf.
We always start our renewal discussions by telling our broker, "We're looking for a 0% increase!" 😂 While we all laugh and know that's wishful thinking, it sets the expectation that we want the best possible rates for our employees.
You don't need to become an insurance expert. That's why you have a broker! But don't be afraid to ask questions, challenge recommendations, and explore alternatives.
📣 Megan Shiflett, Sr Manager, People Ops @ Empact Technologies:
Echoing this! Your broker can make or break your experience overall and if you find yourself unsatisfied or distrustful of your broker, find a new one!! There's a ton of brokers out there and it is absolutely worth the time and effort to find one that you work well with and that fits your needs.
Safe Space members can join this discussion here. Not a member yet? Apply to join here.
✍🏾 An employee is very attached to a title, but our parent company doesn't recognize it, what do I do?
Context: We are the US branch of a Japanese company, world wide we've got 700ish employees, with manufacturing in the US and Japan. Our us branch is small, 30 people, and manufacturing makes up half those employees. We had an employee at our south manufacturing location recently move out of a role that had direct reports, to a role titled "Product Excellence and Safety Manager" with no direct reports. That role was approved by our parent company in Japan. But, the next time I met with our parent company liaison in person, they told me this employee could not be called a manager, that when translated to Japanese it has a very different context that doesn't match the lower level of responsibility this employee has. We just had our mid year review, and as soon as it was done, I get a message from the employee asking why his title on the org chart is Product Excellence and Safety Supervisor, and not manager. I apologize for the miscommunication (I had thought the liaison had spoken with him on their last visit), and explain the reason. Left on read. Later in the day, I get an ominous email from his manager warning me to "tread carefully" and that being called a manger is a hill this employee is "willing to die on". I've looped in my manager, (One of three people I was expressly told to call a "Manager" by Japan), but he feels my explanation was enough. Where do I go from here?
📣 Christine McCallum-Randalls, Director of People @ Test Double:
I would want to speak with the employee directly (with their manager present if it helps the employee feel more comfortable) as to why the manager title is a hill they are willing to die on. I would make sure they understand that you can't guarantee it will lead to changing the title back to manager since that's not your call. But knowing where they are coming from may give you the context you need for a better conversation with the employee and/or with the parent company in Japan. If nothing else, the employee will know you are willing to hear them out.
📣 Alex White, Regional Director, HR @ Washington Duke Inn & Golf Club:
I think the bigger issue here isn't necessarily the title itself, but how the change was communicated. Titles may not mean everything, but they certainly mean something to the people who have worked hard to earn them.
What stands out to me is that the title was originally approved by the parent company. If that approval was subsequently reversed without a conversation, I can certainly understand the employee's frustration. What leadership sees as a simple organizational adjustment can feel very much like a demotion to the individual.
I would also challenge the assumption that someone needs direct reports to hold a manager title. Managing a function or process can carry significant responsibility without supervising people, although I appreciate that cultural differences may influence how those titles are interpreted.
My recommendation would be to revisit the decision with the parent company, involve the employee's direct manager, and then have an honest, face-to-face conversation with the employee. Seek to understand why the title matters so much before assuming the issue is simply about ego.
At the end of the day, we can't always give people the answer they want, but we can make sure they feel heard, valued, and respected. And sometimes, how we arrive at a decision matters just as much as the decision itself.
Safe Space members can join this discussion here. Not a member yet? Apply to join here.
🚨 ON YOUR RADAR
🎧 I love a good company party until it assigns me an investigation. In HR Horror Stories, Vol. 4, I’m sharing the after-after-party HR gets to reconstruct on Monday and the employee who ruined Instagram follow requests for me. Check it out on Spotify or Apple Podcasts!
🔮 Are your performance ratings based purely on vibes? Rippling’s free virtual series, The Modern Performance Review, tackles vague feedback and calibration guesswork on Nov 12th and 17th. Learn how to evaluate fairly and use AI to help managers write reviews with usable evidence!*
🕳️ I’d love to do strategic HR work, but first I have to explain where pay stubs live for the 400th time. Join me for HR Therapy on Nov 17th to figure out where our weeks keep disappearing and what we can automate, delegate, or stop doing altogether.
❤️ From ‘I Hate it Here’ to ‘I Love it Here’: Your Culture Transformation Roadmap. HR can influence culture change in any organization, and this course teaches you how. Join the Safe Space community to access it!
*This one is brought to you by one of my amazing brand partners
📝 RESOURCE OF THE WEEK
Each week I feature a resource I love from the Safe Space library that I believe would be relatable to this week's newsletter topic.
Today, we’re talking leadership lessons from Texas. Check it out HERE ⬇️
🫂 COMMUNITY HAPPENINGS
In-person Meet-ups:
DC! PHOENIX! CHICAGO! CHARLOTTE! DENVER! - y’all have IRL meetups in the works and coming soon!! Will be the first and second week of December so keep your cals open for your fav ppl. Stay tuned ⛄
Must Attend Virtuals:
❤️🔥 NEXT WEEK! Meno Hour with Dr. Stacey Fine, OBGYN at Maven, is happening Nov 11 at 12pm EST. Brain fog mid-comp planning, sleep that quit on you, crying at someone else’s performance review? If perimenopause or menopause is showing up in your life (or your team’s), you’re not the only one, so bring your questions, your coworkers + share the event link with someone who needs it. Open to all! Grab your spot 👉 here!!
🛠️ ADVANCED AI WORKSHOP! Live Build: Org Charts Are Dead with Hebba and Kayshia Kruger is happening Nov 13 at 1pm EST. If you came to our first two live build AI workshops, you know you’ll walk away with a wealth of knowledge. This time we’re turning Hebba’s team’s org chart into a work chart, so come with a workflow or org design challenge you want to rebuild. Grab your spot 👉 here!!
☕ November’s Virtual Coffee + Cowork on Nov 18th, at 1:00 PM EDT is now live! HR team of 1? In need of body doubling? Simply want to hang out listening to lofi beats with your fav community? Trust, it’s always a vibe. Come hang with your your ppl, grab your spot 👉 here!
FRIDAY FUN
⏰ let's take... a pause, shall we?Copy anchor linkCopied
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When that someone is your CEO and now you're beefing over how you spend your time because you dared to utter the words "we have no bandwidth."
YAY WE MADE IT TO FRIDAY.
I hope your weekend is relaxing and gives you the chance to unwind. <3
