Improve Your HR

These Law Schools Just Banned AI in the Classroom. Smart Employers Should Take Note

Evil HR Lady — Thu, 16 Jul 2026 10:33:46 +0000

A few universities are cracking down not only on AI but on computers in general, and if you’re looking to hire people who can think, you should throw your support toward these schools. And then, perhaps, other schools will follow suit.

It’s starting with the law schools, which makes sense, because if you want someone who can think through a problem, it’s a lawyer. AI is never going to give you a unique legal strategy, as it will just pull in what others have done.

Inside Higher Ed reports that law schools such as the University of California, Berkeley, which said students are prohibited from using AI in “conceptualizing, outlining, drafting, revising, translating, or editing any work submitted for credit,” and the University of Chicago Law school which takes it a step further and said it “will ban laptops, tablets and phones in the classroom for first-year law students beginning this fall as part of its broader strategy of adapting legal education for the AI era.”

I’m 100 percent on board and wish schools would expand this to other areas.

To keep reading, click here: These Law Schools Just Banned AI in the Classroom. Smart Employers Should Take Note

The post These Law Schools Just Banned AI in the Classroom. Smart Employers Should Take Note appeared first on Improve Your HR.

TODAY: Stop repeating yourself: Make accountability stick

Evil HR Lady — Thu, 16 Jul 2026 09:27:29 +0000

Accountability does not fail in the moment of correction. It fails in the moments leading up to it.

Accountability is often treated as a communication issue or a performance issue. Leaders are encouraged to be clearer, more direct, or more consistent in delivering expectations. Those adjustments help at the surface level, yet they rarely solve the underlying problem. Conversations improve, but results do not always follow.

The disconnect exists because accountability is not built through communication alone. It is built through a sequence of leadership behaviors that must happen consistently before, during, and after expectations are set.

Most accountability breakdowns begin with incomplete listening. Leaders respond quickly, often with solutions or direction, before fully understanding what is happening. Important details are missed. Assumptions fill the gaps. The conversation moves forward without a complete picture.

The next breakdown occurs in how questions are used. Leaders often ask general or surface-level questions that confirm agreement but not understanding. Employees respond in ways that sound aligned, yet do not reflect true clarity around expectations or execution. Agreement is mistaken for commitment.

The final breakdown happens in follow-up. Expectations are set, and conversations end without a structured plan to revisit progress. Leaders assume the work will be completed as discussed. Employees interpret the lack of follow-up as flexibility. Over time, this creates inconsistency in execution and weakens the perceived importance of deadlines and standards.

These three breakdowns create a cycle of repetition. Leaders restate expectations. Employees adjust temporarily. The behavior returns. The conversation repeats. The pattern continues.

This course introduces a structured approach to interrupt that cycle.

The focus is on three core behaviors that define effective accountability. Leaders learn how to listen in a way that surfaces gaps early. Leaders learn how to ask questions that require clarity and ownership. Leaders learn how to follow up in a way that reinforces both execution and behavior change.

Don’t miss it! Register now: Stop repeating yourself: Make accountability stick

The approach is simple, yet it requires discipline. Each step builds on the previous one. Listening creates awareness. Questions create clarity. Follow-up creates consistency. When those elements are applied together, accountability becomes part of how work is managed rather than something that is addressed after problems occur.

Participants will learn how to apply this approach in common leadership situations, including missed deadlines, incomplete work, unclear ownership, and repeated performance issues. The emphasis is on practical application. Leaders are given specific ways to structure conversations, confirm understanding, and establish follow-up that holds.

The outcome is a shift from reactive leadership to intentional leadership. Leaders spend less time repeating themselves and more time directing performance. Employees operate with clearer expectations and stronger ownership. Work progresses with fewer corrections and greater consistency.

Accountability becomes less about enforcement and more about alignment.

When alignment is present, execution improves. When execution improves, leadership becomes more effective.

This course is designed to create that shift. Leaders stop stabilizing chaos and start preventing it.

Leaders stop managing personalities and start leading strategy again.

Manipulation loses its power the moment leadership becomes unmistakably clear.

Clarity changes the environment.

Structure changes behavior.

Authority re-centers naturally.

This course does not teach leaders how to fight people.

This course teaches leaders how to restore leadership where influence went underground.

Because when manipulation runs unchecked, leadership becomes decorative.

When clarity returns, leadership becomes commanding again.

How manipulation actually shows up at work when it is hidden inside cooperation, concern, and politeness
How to recognize the early warning signs before authority is damaged
How confusion is created in conversations and how to restore clarity
How information gets filtered and how that shifts decision-making power
How influence is applied quietly without open disagreement
How emotional pressure is used to steer outcomes
How to tell the difference between real cooperation and strategic compliance
How loyalty shifts away from leadership without being announced
How victim language blocks accountability and reshapes responsibility
How compliance can look like agreement while hiding the truth
How emotional narratives replace performance standards
How authority erodes internally before it erodes externally
How to regain control of conversations without confrontation or escalation
How to restore calm authority without becoming aggressive
How to reclaim ownership of decisions and outcomes
How to stop carrying responsibility for choices you did not shape
How to prevent manipulation from forming instead of cleaning up after it
How to restore leadership gravity inside the team
How to stabilize trust before damage becomes culture
How to move from reactive leadership back into strategic command
This session walks leaders from awareness to control to restoration, giving them a clear, structured way to see manipulation, stop it cleanly, and put leadership back where it belongs.

Don’t miss it! Register now: Stop repeating yourself: Make accountability stick

The post TODAY: Stop repeating yourself: Make accountability stick appeared first on Improve Your HR.

Ford Fired an 11-Year Employee for Stealing a $1.95 Cookie. The Problem? He Paid

Evil HR Lady — Tue, 14 Jul 2026 14:52:24 +0000

Ford fired an employee for stealing a $1.95 cookie. It was absolutely the wrong thing to do.

Normally, I’m a big supporter of enforcing the small rules—after all, if you don’t enforce a rule, then the rule doesn’t exist. So, if you catch someone, on camera, stealing a cookie, you can go ahead and terminate.

Except when you can’t. And that is when you don’t conduct a proper investigation.

In this particular case, however, the employee was diabetic, his blood sugar was dropping, and he needed to eat something. Add to that, he did, in reality, pay.

Video doesn’t tell the whole story

When you have a video of something, you may think you don’t need to talk to the people involved. There is video. It’s like you were a live witness.

In this case, the video came from a self-checkout surveillance camera at Ford’s Kentucky Truck Plant in Louisville, so you would think it would be trustworthy, but it didn’t tell the whole story.

To keep reading, click here: Ford Fired an 11-Year Employee for Stealing a $1.95 Cookie. The Problem? He Paid

The post Ford Fired an 11-Year Employee for Stealing a $1.95 Cookie. The Problem? He Paid appeared first on Improve Your HR.

Take HR Surveys, earn money

Evil HR Lady — Thu, 02 Jul 2026 15:12:06 +0000

Most HR and benefits tools sound better in theory than they feel in practice.

If you work in benefits, HR, payroll, compensation, recruiting, or people ops, you know when something actually makes sense for your role — and when it doesn’t.

That’s the feedback companies want before they launch.

With Wynter, you review new HR and benefits software, messaging, workflows, and product ideas in short paid studies.

What to expect:
2–10 minute surveys. No calls. No prep. Fully async.

Compensation:
Specialists: $5–20 per study, equivalent to up to $120/hr
Managers: $15–30 per study, equivalent to up to $180/hr
Senior leaders: $25–50 per study, equivalent to up to $300/hr

No screeners:
If you’re invited to a study, you’re already a fit.

Privacy:
Your answers are anonymous. Only your first name and job title appear, and you’re automatically assigned a name alias. Nothing confidential is shared. No questions about your employer.

No commitment:
Accept or decline any invite. Each study shows the payout and estimated time before you start.

You’ll also get an early look at what HR and benefits companies are quietly building, before it lands on your desk. You’ll probably spot the problems before they do.

Become a participant here and help shape your industry today.

The post Take HR Surveys, earn money appeared first on Improve Your HR.

Fired After 3 Hours: What a Fast-Food Owner’s Viral Move Teaches Us About Training New Hires

Evil HR Lady — Fri, 19 Jun 2026 11:49:40 +0000

“Fired within 3 hours of my first shift at a fast food joint” headlined a now-deleted Reddit post. The original poster went on to explain how the day went badly. They wrote:

“Went there early, dressed properly for the job which was about helping with making burgers in a fast food. They knew it’s my first experience in this field. The place is really dead so I just get expained the ropes and stand around for a hour or so doing nothing but looking around. When customers finally started coming in I do what I’m told, putting the ingredients on the table and preparing the burger while the cook was cooking the meat. I’m slow at learning how to package the burgers properly. The owner warns me that I need to get faster. I told him it’s a matter of getting used to it.

Come the fourth customer or so, after completing the order he pulls me aside and tells me that this job isn’t for me because I lack basic knowledge and this is a job where you’re “supposed to learn on instinct”, calls out several minor mistakes I made and says he doesn’t believe that by Saturday when they’ll have plenty of customers I’ll be ready to help. He apologizes for wasting my time, gives me money for the hours I worked for and I get sent home.

Back to the endless job hunting I guess you’re not allowed to make mistakes or be slow on your first day ever at a new job.”

Now, first I do feel sorry for the original poster. While they write it was the “first experience in this field,” I suspect it was probably their first job, ever. It does sound like the owner wasn’t interested in spending a long time training. Regardless, there are some really good lessons for business owners in this story.

To keep reading, click here: Fired After 3 Hours: What a Fast-Food Owner’s Viral Move Teaches Us About Training New Hires

The post Fired After 3 Hours: What a Fast-Food Owner’s Viral Move Teaches Us About Training New Hires appeared first on Improve Your HR.

Free Webinar: The Human Side of HR

Evil HR Lady — Wed, 17 Jun 2026 18:19:59 +0000

Join me tomorrow for a free webinar on the human side of HR! Courtney Bock-Hencken and I will discuss the daily realities of HR life and how we keep it human.

The post Free Webinar: The Human Side of HR appeared first on Improve Your HR.

Is Beer at Work a Problem, or Is It a Sign of Something Bigger?

Evil HR Lady — Thu, 04 Jun 2026 10:14:10 +0000

I’m the HR manager, and I report to the company president. I’ve already talked to him about the Friday 4 p.m. happy hours he hosts in the office. I told him I don’t think it’s appropriate and that it could create real liability issues — especially if someone leaves the parking lot impaired. He basically brushed me off and kept doing it. Then, this past Friday, we had a company tailgate on the production floor at 11:30 a.m., and he brought … non-alcoholic beer.

So now I’m wondering — am I overreacting here, or is this still a problem? He didn’t hold the happy hour, so maybe he’ll stop drinking altogether? This isn’t the only issue. He tends to undermine me, leaves me out of important meetings and generally doesn’t seem interested in anything I have to say. I like my job, but I’m really struggling with him as a boss — and I’ve started looking for other opportunities. Am I making too big a deal out of this, or would it bother you too?

To read my answer, click here: Is Beer at Work a Problem, or Is It a Sign of Something Bigger?

The post Is Beer at Work a Problem, or Is It a Sign of Something Bigger? appeared first on Improve Your HR.

Chick-fil-A Franchise Sued by the EEOC Over a Religious Accommodation. Here Are 5 Lessons for Employers

Evil HR Lady — Tue, 02 Jun 2026 14:20:17 +0000

A Chick-fil-A franchise is being sued by the EEOC for allegedly refusing a religious accommodation for a Christian employee. Given Chick-fil-A’s reputation as a faith-based company, that’s probably the last lawsuit you’d expect to see.

Chick-fil-A famously closes on Sundays, a nod back to founder S. Truett Cathy’s devout Christianity and his desire to ensure everyone had a day of rest. The company still sticks to that even though Cathy died in 2014, and people even jokingly refer to the restaurant as “the Lord’s chicken.”

According to a lawsuit filed by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), a particular franchisee, Hatch Trick, Inc, denied a religious accommodation to an employee.

According to the EEOC’s press release, the employee told Hatch Trick in her employment interview that due to her religious faith as a member of the United Church of God, which observes the Sabbath on Saturday, she would be unable to work on Saturday.

To keep reading, click here: Chick-fil-A Franchise Sued by the EEOC Over a Religious Accommodation. Here Are 5 Lessons for Employers

The post Chick-fil-A Franchise Sued by the EEOC Over a Religious Accommodation. Here Are 5 Lessons for Employers appeared first on Improve Your HR.

‘Democracy Dies in HR’ Is Great Clickbait—and Bad Management Analysis

Evil HR Lady — Wed, 27 May 2026 11:09:14 +0000

Amanda Taub’s New York Times piece, Actually, Democracy Dies in HR, centers on the idea that it doesn’t take a whole bunch of evil people to destroy a country, but rather just a few evil leaders at the top and a whole bunch of dummies and paperwork, and voila, the end of democracy. Clearly, the headline states, this is the fault of the Human Resources department.

The article doesn’t state any of that—in fact, HR isn’t even mentioned in the article. It’s simply clickbait because, as The New York Times is fond of telling us, HR makes people miserable, and is not your friend, anyway. And it worked. I clicked because of the headline.

What the reader is supposed to surmise is that all those bad things are the same things that HR does. For instance, Taub writes:

“It turns out that would-be authoritarians don’t need to staff their regimes with ideological true believers, offer extreme enticements or impose draconian punishments in order to make successful power grabs. They just need to figure out how to target their ideal labor pool: the frustrated and mediocre.”

To keep reading, click here: ‘Democracy Dies in HR’ Is Great Clickbait—and Bad Management Analysis

The post ‘Democracy Dies in HR’ Is Great Clickbait—and Bad Management Analysis appeared first on Improve Your HR.

Your HR Person Isn’t Slowing You Down. They’re Telling You the Truth Nobody Else Will

Evil HR Lady — Thu, 21 May 2026 14:00:46 +0000

A lot of people dislike HR. Founders sometimes feel like an HR person is a weight around their neck–always saying no or objecting to new ideas. It’s not because the HR person wants your business to fail. On the contrary, they want your business to succeed.

That success, however, can mean facing some hard truths. Seeing things as they really are, rather than with the rose colored glasses that many people wear, can be a benefit to your company.

Here are five things that your HR person is probably doing, which may seem annoying but are a blessing to your business. Take these warnings seriously.

Naming Reality. This is harder than it seems. What is really going on—not what you wish would be happening or what the ideal reality looks like. So your HR manager may say something like this:

To keep reading, click here: Your HR Person Isn’t Slowing You Down. They’re Telling You the Truth Nobody Else Will

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