Improve Your HR

Is Showing Some Midriff At Work Inappropriate?

Evil HR Lady — Mon, 03 Aug 2026 11:30:01 +0000

I’m 23 and work in a semi-creative field — we’re hybrid, only in the office two days a week, and it’s a pretty relaxed dress code where we can actually express our personal style. Nothing I do is client-facing either, so it’s not like I’m representing the company publicly.

The other day, my boss (female, in her 50s) called me in and told me my outfit wasn’t appropriate for work. I was wearing low-rise pants and a blouse that showed just a little tummy. Note that I was channeling office siren, not club girl. I genuinely thought the look was stylish and pretty typical among women my age. Plus, some of my older coworkers regularly show cleavage, which — honestly, good for them! — has never been flagged. I don’t recall anything in my contract prohibiting a bit of midriff.

On top of that, a male coworker recently wore shorts, and no one batted an eye. Is there a double standard here? For women, styles and rules are constantly changing: in the ‘70s, it was standard to go braless; in the ‘60s, it was super-short skirts. So how do I know what is tasteful and what is inappropriate, while staying true to my personal style?

To read my answer, click here: Is Showing Some Midriff At Work Inappropriate?

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The First Rule of Litigation PR Is Silence. Here’s Why JPMorgan Just Broke It

Evil HR Lady — Thu, 30 Jul 2026 10:44:00 +0000

A former JPMorgan Chase banker who once earned over $2 million a year refiled a lawsuit alleging racism and sexual coercion. Chirayu Rana claims that “Lorna Hajdini, a JPMorgan executive director, coerced him into sex and demanded his submissiveness as a condition of advancing his career, repeatedly saying she ‘owned’ him.”

This second filing added multiple complaints, bringing the total to 21 against his former employer. If the complaints are true, it’s a completely shocking story, indicating horrible behavior among senior leaders at JPMorgan.

Employees file lawsuits all the time, and we often don’t know the outcome because they settle quietly, and without a trial we don’t get to hear the defendant’s point of view. That’s normally how most claims of racism and sexual harassment end. But this case is different for several reasons.

To keep reading, click here: The First Rule of Litigation PR Is Silence. Here’s Why JPMorgan Just Broke It

The post The First Rule of Litigation PR Is Silence. Here’s Why JPMorgan Just Broke It appeared first on Improve Your HR.

A Netflix Exec Confessed His Depression Treatment at a Retreat. He Was Fired for It

Evil HR Lady — Tue, 28 Jul 2026 12:31:06 +0000

It’s not ketamine that brought about the termination of a Netflix executive. It’s that he foolishly believed a “trust” exercise would be held confidentially.

The New York Post reports Netflix terminated vice president and head of creative at Eyeline (owned by Netflix), Kevin Baillie, in part because he confessed to receiving ketamine at a clinic as part of treatment for depression.

The Post writes:

During what’s called a “Vulnerability-Trust exercise” at a January 2026 retreat at the exclusive Sendero Ranch, a Northern California property owned by Netflix, Baillie shared with his colleagues that he had undergone the [ketamine] treatment, the suit says.

There is so much wrong with this—if any of it is true. It’s a lesson in exactly what not to do, whether you’re acting as a company leader or as an employee—or both.

Stop playing doctor

Baillie should not have shared his medication history with his colleagues, but once he did, no boss or HR person should have questioned what that means.

To keep reading, click here: A Netflix Exec Confessed His Depression Treatment at a Retreat. He Was Fired for It

The post A Netflix Exec Confessed His Depression Treatment at a Retreat. He Was Fired for It appeared first on Improve Your HR.

Get Real Work Done with Claude

Evil HR Lady — Mon, 27 Jul 2026 09:39:15 +0000

My popular webinar on Claude is back! You can register here: Get Real Work Done With Claude

You Have More HR Work Than Hours in the Day. Claude Can Help — If You Use It Right.

Job descriptions to write. Resumes to screen. Performance reviews to draft. Difficult conversations to plan. Manager emails to soften before they hit “send.”

And then leadership says, “Just use AI.”

Easy to say. But which tool? Used how? With what guardrails?

If you’ve already tried ChatGPT and want to know whether Claude is worth a second look…

If you’ve heard Claude is “the safer one” and want to know what that actually means in practice…

If you want to use AI in HR without creating a compliance, bias, or PR problem…

This webinar is for you.

Join HR expert Suzanne Lucas (aka the Evil HR Lady) for a fast-paced, practical session on using Claude for real HR work — with honest takes on where it helps, where it doesn’t, and how it stacks up against the tool you’re probably already using.

What You’ll Learn

How to Use Claude for High-Stakes HR Work

Write and revise job descriptions, performance reviews, and PIPs that hold up under scrutiny
Plan difficult conversations and rewrite risky manager communications

How to Use Claude for Analysis (Where It Actually Shines)

Review long documents (handbooks, investigations) and extract risks, inconsistencies, and key themes
Compare policies or contracts and clearly identify what changed

How to Work Faster Without Losing Control

Turn survey data, exit interviews, and notes into actionable insights
Use Projects to standardize tone, policies, and internal frameworks

Where Claude Can Get You in Trouble

Bias, hallucinations, and “confident nonsense”
What you should never trust it to do without review

Claude vs. ChatGPT—When It Actually Matters

Side-by-side outputs so you can evaluate the difference yourself

Why You Should Attend

If you’re an HR pro who’s overwhelmed, curious, or already using AI but wondering if you’re using the right one, this session will give you a clear-eyed view — not a sales pitch — of what Claude can and can’t do. Examine

Whether Claude is worth adding to your workflow
When it’s safer than ChatGPT—and when it’s not
How to use either tool without creating legal, ethical, or reputational risk

Who Should Attend?

HR professionals and business partners who write, draft, coach, and review for a living
Managers and supervisors already using AI and wanting to use it better
Small business owners and executives doing HR work without a dedicated HR team
Compliance officers and in-house counsel assessing AI risk in people processes
Operations and team leads looking to cut hours of writing and admin
Anyone who has wondered:
- “Is Claude actually different from ChatGPT, or is that just marketing?”
- “Can I trust this thing with sensitive employee information?”
- “What happens if it gets the law wrong?”
- “Will this make me sound like a robot?”

The post Get Real Work Done with Claude appeared first on Improve Your HR.

When everyone passing a fishing test is a failure

Evil HR Lady — Wed, 22 Jul 2026 13:08:41 +0000

Have you ever wondered if your culture is terrible? Try this fishing test!

Because, seriously, if no one believes that the company is offering a lunch or giving out a gift card, that means you’re not thinking about your employees.

This is not to say that you have to provide lunch or gift cards to have a good culture. You don’t. But when it’s so far out of the realm of possibility that no one falls for it, it’s a sign that your exec team is out of touch.

The post When everyone passing a fishing test is a failure appeared first on Improve Your HR.

This Seemingly Innocent HR Practice Is a Massive Liability Waiting to Be Exploited

Evil HR Lady — Fri, 17 Jul 2026 12:25:44 +0000

If you have employees, you could face an employment lawsuit one day. It isn’t just something that “happens to other people.” Of course, the best way to avoid a lawsuit is not to break the law in the first place, but that doesn’t reduce your risk to zero. How you handle problem employees makes all the difference in how a court will look at your decisions.

1. A findings memo without any reasoning shown

You may know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, what happened. It may be 100 percent clear to you, but without documentation, your court case won’t go well. Coombe writes:

“A conclusion without documented reasoning isn’t a finding—it’s an assertion. Plaintiff’s attorneys never just challenge what you concluded. They challenge how you got there and why. If the file doesn’t show the work, the work might as well not have happened.”

To keep reading, click here: This Seemingly Innocent HR Practice Is a Massive Liability Waiting to Be Exploited

The post This Seemingly Innocent HR Practice Is a Massive Liability Waiting to Be Exploited appeared first on 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

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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.

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