you’re fired (just kidding)
Hiii,
Imagine sipping your morning coffee and seeing an email that says your last working day is effective immediately. 🫠
That’s exactly what one company’s HR team accidentally did after forgetting to flip an automation tool out of test mode! I LIVE in fear of this!!!!
So if you’re having a long week, take this moment to find a little bit of gratitude that you aren’t this org.
This week, we’re talking about trust, tech, and talent. Yay for alliteration!
From “accidentally firing everyone” to over-engineered recruiting and burnout-proofing your team, it’s a good reminder of why the human part of HR still matters most.
So let’s talk about it. Three, two, one, action! 🎬
🗞️ Here’s the Tea:Copy anchor linkCopied
🎪 HR accidentally sends company-wide ‘You’re Fired’ email, including the CEO - chaos and memes follow.
The TL;DR: An HR team was testing a new offboarding automation tool and forgot to switch it from test mode, accidentally emailing all 300 employees (including the CEO) that their “last working day is effective immediately.” Slack melted down, IT had to send an all-caps “NO ONE IS FIRED” message, and the whole thing went viral on Reddit with a mix of memes and genuine panic. It was cleared up quickly, but not before the company accidentally ran a live layoff drill on its entire workforce.
My POV: This is funny…until you remember every single person who saw that email probably felt their stomach drop into their shoes! 🙃
People already feel disposable, and one automated message glitch just confirmed their worst fear.
If you’re rolling out automation around anything sensitive like terminations, performance, or pay, you absolutely NEED real guardrails, second eyes, and crystal-clear crisis comms ready to go.
I always ask for sandboxes to test this type of stuff in where there are fake accounts that I can see what they receive, rather than testing in the main product. Not many systems have this feature, though!
🎙️ Mic Drop Moment:Copy anchor linkCopied
“We have gotten to a point where we have over-engineered recruiting.”Copy anchor linkCopied
On the mic this week: Keirsten Greggs is the founder of TRAP Recruiter, a trusted recruiting leader with 24 years of experience helping organizations hire better and fairer. She’s been named a top recruitment influencer and an HR Unite TA Trailblazer, and she’s built her career around rebuilding trust, fostering real relationships, and driving accountability in hiring.
Pin this:
- The current job market is a different beast, with government, big tech, and adjacent sectors all shedding jobs while people burn through savings just to stay afloat.
- Networking is the true linchpin of a job search. Most people don’t land roles because of a perfectly polished resume, but because of relationships and conversations that started before anyone asked for a PDF.
- A lot of “beat the ATS” content is just fear-based marketing.
- On the recruiting side, long interview processes, poor communication, over-reliance on tech, and ignoring internal talent are self-inflicted wounds, and recruiters do have the power to push back and redesign the process.
My H*ly Sh*t Moment: The moment Keirsten said “recruiting is retention” and called out how rarely we actually start our searches with the people already in our org (or even in our own ATS) made me want to flip a table (in the best way) because it exposes how much talent we leave on the table by defaulting to finding new people!
▶️ Press Play
📊 Data Is My Love Language:Copy anchor linkCopied
Stat: Finding meaning at work can help prevent burnout
My spiral: When people believe their work matters, it’s a literal buffer against burnout.
I mean, that’s a pretty big deal, right???
It means retention, engagement, and well-being all start with helping employees see the impact of what they do, especially when the job feels heavy!
If you have the right people and they’re connected to a purpose they believe in, they’ll weather just about any storm.
🗣️ UNMUTE YOURSELF
We’ve learned that growth comes from mistakes, yet we forget to give ourselves the same grace!
We move from fire to fire, barely pausing to reflect, and just trying to stay “on.”
The whole essence of leadership is learning from mistakes! So that inspired my question this week:
"When’s the last time you failed forward?"
🛠️ TRY THIS TOMORROW:
I won’t lie, I’ve been called impatient more than once. 😅
I like answers fast, decisions faster, and my inbox at zero.
But lately I’ve reminded myself that not everything deserves an instant response, especially if it comes at the cost of calm or clarity!
So here’s my challenge for you:
“Let one email go unanswered for 24 hours and test your need for urgency.”
👂 OVERHEARD IN SAFE SPACE
Exactly this.
HR can’t pour empathy from an empty cup, and I get tired of people forgetting that we’re also employees just trying to survive the same chaos as everyone else!
Read what members had to say here.
What are you waiting for, come join us in Safe Space!
See ya on Friday!
