S9 E10: 50 Shades of Gray Areas in Policy with Stephanie Shuler

Hebba Youssef
Hebba Youssef
September 22, 2025

Look, I love a good policy binder as much as the next HR nerd (okay, maybe sometimes even more). 

But here’s the thing no one wants to say out loud: 

Sometimes the “right” answer on paper is actually the wrong move in real life. 🙃 

In this episode, I sat down with Stephanie Schuler to talk about the messy, gray, can’t-Google-it moments where consistency, fairness, and actual human judgment all collide. 

The easy answers may not always exist, but the better ones do! 

0:02:34 – One Hard Truth About Work

0:04:37 – When Policies Aren’t Written for Edge Cases

0:06:13 – Does Law School Help with HR Practices?

0:07:48 – When Following a Policy Actually Causes Harm

0:11:21 – Who Should Have the Power to Override Policy?

0:15:13 – Consistency Vs Fairness

0:19:21 – Keeping Exceptions From Turning Into Favoritism

0:22:25 – What to Say to a CEO Who Only Wants Things “By the Book”

0:26:53 – Recovering From Broken Trust

0:31:08 – Is HR the Enforcer of Policy, or the Translator?

0:35:48 – Breaking Rules as an HR Manager

0:41:46 – One Policy Stephanie Wishes Never Existed

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Follow Stephanie:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sdshuler/

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YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ihateit-here/videos

LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/hebba-youssef

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Hebba Youssef
Hebba Youssef