HR Yoga in Mental Health May

A little  less jaded episode for you this week...
Ways to improve your mental health at work
Warren should do yoga
Bad bosses
Toxic environments

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:03

Had you actually read the email, you would know that the podcast you are about to listen to could contain explicit language and offensive content. These HR experts' views are not representative of their past, present, or future employers. If you've ever heard, my manager is unfair to me, I need you to reset my HR portal password.

SPEAKER_00 0:24

Or get rid of my employee for crying too much. Welcome to Portal Password. Welcome to HR.

SPEAKER_03 0:54

Welcome to Jaded HR, the podcast by two HR professionals. Want to help you get through the workday by saying all the things you're thinking, but say them out loud. I'm Warren. And this is Feathers. All right. So this might not be, well, it'll be jaded to some extent, but May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and I thought it would be a good idea to talk about it a little bit, but and we can get a little jaded about it as well. But overall, I I think a lot of the discussion, at least what I have planned, is serious. But then of course I'm gonna go go awry at some point, I'm sure. I I honestly have not looked to see if we've had any more reviews lately, but if you follow our Instagram, you will know we have fallen out of the rankings in Swaziland. We got as high as number one in Swaziland of all comedy podcasts. We were there for a couple of weeks, and then we slowly took the took the slide and we fell out of the the top 50 podcasts in Swaziland.

SPEAKER_04 1:55

Where did our person our person must have moved somewhere? We got to figure out where they moved to.

SPEAKER_03 1:59

Where where did you move to? Get in touch with us, let us know. But yeah. So we until that picks up, we're we're we'll be finished talking about Swaziland for a little while. But one thing we're not going to be finished talking about is Hallie, our original Jaded HR rock star who supports us on Patreon. You can be like Halley and support us on Patreon. So just shoot, hang on over there. The links are in the show notes. You can buy us a beer, all way all sorts of ways to support us there. But also leaving a review does wonders, telling friends. And if you have an idea where you just want to be a guest, get in contact with us. We can I I I had to reschedule some guests because of everything that went on earlier or in April. So I'm going to try and get those people rescheduled, and we're going to have some great guests coming on board soon. But I've been reading a lot about May Mental Health Awareness Month, and it is an important topic. I'm it is extremely important. I went online, did a lot of research and ways to support your mental health at work. And the number one Google result was from a company, and I'm going to butcher this name, Zienden. They're out of London, X-E-I-N-A-D-I-N. They're out of London, and they put out an article that says some of the ways are to keep mentally healthy at work, fresh air and physical exercise. Yes. Plan and organize your day. Yes. Eat healthy, stay hydrated. Yes. Keep things in perspective. Allocate times for the things you enjoy. Balance your work and personal life. And then another website I went to, Sound Mine, they added they had basically the same list, but they said ask for help when needed. So I'll hit a couple of those. I mean, physical health and exercise, man, it does feel good. Just get out, take a walk. If you're having a stressful day, don't eat your lunch at your desk. Get out, drive your car to the local closest park or something like that. And get out, get some fresh air, get away from the office. And it it does clear your mind. Walking around, I did it at all the time at a place where Patrick and I work together. We we we would take walks together and just shoot the shit, among other things. But uh yeah, getting out doing a walk is really good. Me personally, the planning and organizing is huge for me. I am Mr. ADD on steroids, and if I just clean up my desk and get things where they belong and organize, it becomes it becomes a lot easier. I I just think it's so much easier. So that that alleviates some stress. Diet nutrition, obviously, a key factor in anything. If you're eating junk, you're gonna feel like crap. So, anyways, I I thought that was a pretty good list. But I went to another website, one everybody's actually heard of, called Forbes. They had a long list, and some of them repeated some of the things that we said before. But they said, first and foremost, begin your day with mindfulness, mindfulness. Don't start your day by looking at your cell phone and reading your social media feeds. Use that time for reading, yoga, meditation, and things like that. So yeah, I I can absolutely agree with that because social media is a scourge, especially if you're trying to stay mentally.

SPEAKER_04 5:32

No, it's the devil. But right now I'm trying to mentally image you doing yoga in the morning. Oh yeah. Yeah, not a pretty image. That's what I that's what my brain is right now. As I talk because my yoga mat is literally right behind me. And I do actually take yoga breaks during the day, and I will do where from a 10-minute yoga to a 30-minute yoga thing, depending on how my body's feeling that particular day. Um, but I'm still trying to imagine you do yoga.

SPEAKER_03 5:57

Yeah, I I did we yoga once upon a time, like when the Wii's were big. Uh yeah. Uh I I should do something. That was called Wii bowling. It was just a wrist flipping your wrist. No, I did they had all sorts of fun stuff in the yoga thing. Yeah, but doing something other than social media is awful. It doesn't help anybody's mental health, I don't think. Here, here's one I do definitely agree on. Focus on your strengths. What are you doing well today? And focus on that and remember that. Hey, you know, I knocked this one out of the park. Keep it in if nobody else is going to say anything about it, keep your own it in your own head and just remember that feeling where you helped somebody. Imagine that HR helping somebody. That's a antithesis, what we do.

SPEAKER_04 6:44

Uh uh, can we reference um can can we reference somebody else's book? Can I put a plug in for somebody? Oh shoot, yeah. Okay, so David Goggins, I'm reading one of his books, and he talks about, and I wish I remember exactly how he explained it, but he talked about like your success jar. So he wrote down like hundreds of different things that when he was in a bad spot, could pull out something and be like, man, when I was in a shitstorm and things were awful, I was able to get through this. And so he's like, you know, when I'm when I'm down or I'm struggling, I can go back in there and I can pull out two or three things, be like, Yep, I conquered all those motherfucking things. And boom, he said, mindset changes, starts moving forward. So I really like that practice, and I've started doing that myself where I kind of keep a running list of like things that I have accomplished, either it was in a good situation or a bad situation, but it's still accomplishments that I can take and lean back into and find success or push me forward when I need that mental kick in my ass as well.

unknown 7:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 7:52

My assistant does something similar. She keeps a special inbox folder of emails that she receives that are compliments to her or sort of good jobs, things along those lines. Unfortunately, not enough for me, probably, but uh but she keeps them and when she is feeling down, she references them and she says that picks her up. So I need to do better at contributing to that that list. Yeah, don't be the one that makes her have to go to that list. I I hope I'm not.

SPEAKER_04 8:22

Warren, Warren, you hurt me again.

SPEAKER_03 8:26

Just walking in the front door.

SPEAKER_04 8:29

Go do your yoga, Warren. Just see. Don't hurt yourself. Don't hurt yourself this time.

SPEAKER_03 8:37

Here, here's a huge one, especially for today's social media age. Don't compare yourself to others. Everybody who thinks that they gotta compare themselves to others, and you don't always know. You see what you people portray, but you don't always know what's going on in the background. You don't know you know what else is going on. Don't just stop, or you know, oh, my boss likes feathers more than they like me. Don't compare yourself to others, just you know, live for your own. And they quoted Teddy Roosevelt saying, Comparison is the thief of joy, which is a quote I've heard before and I do like. And actually, a little bit what we were talking about before, start with a culture of gratitude. And what that means is write something down you do well, like you said, or even send an email to someone else that you're grateful for. Hey, you know, I'm so thankful for you doing that. It'll help make other people's day. Here's something that doesn't get enough traction anywhere, talking things out, whether it's with the person that's disturbing you or bothering you, or venting to a friend, family member, coworker, therapist, coach, something like that, talk it out. But now Forbes did mention talking that out on social media, which if you if you're having a problem, social media is like the last place I would go. Let's just pour some gasoline on whatever problem you're you're having. Except rather than just like, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 10:06

No, just go to Reddit. That's the place to go. Just go to Reddit.

SPEAKER_03 10:10

Oh, you want to go, you want to feel good about yourself and HR, go to a Facebook HR group and see what happens if I don't have my I9 in three days, or you know, what do I do if my bot my employee has body odor? You know, these sort of stupid again and again and again. Accept rather than judge. You know, use your emotions that are part of your life, but don't let angst be the emotion that that strive that leads you. Be aware of your emotions, accepting them for what they are right now, knowing that they won't last. So you you know, you know, this dude pissed me off. I'm gonna go be hurt for a few minutes, and then I'm gonna get over it and move on. They talked like the other place did about getting outdoors, do other things. Maybe you can switch tasks, maybe you can volunteer in another group or employee assistance organization or something along those lines that can it can help you. I'm gonna skip their next one for now. Learn something new, whether it's personal or professional. It helps raise your self-esteem, boosts boost self-confidence, things you can do like sign up for a course, getting certified in a new skill, or shadowing another staff member. So learn something new. Next one, slow down. And I think this is a huge key as you get all wound up and they want to just buzz through everything. Just slow down when you you're in a situation. Sometimes someone once told me, and I wish I could quote who it was, but you're having if something's going terribly wrong, stop, have a glass of water, and think about it as you're drinking that glass of water. You'll come to it for the fresh mind and you're hydrated and ready to go. Yeah, slow down. But the last one they mentioned was why we're here. Find the humor. They say laughter is the best medicine, and the Mayo Clinic has confirmed that because it increases your oxygen intake, releases endorphins to your brain, and has long-term effects like strengthening your immune system and relieving pain and improving your mood. So find the humor in it. You know, even if it's being jaded like I am and mocking some stupid asshole that's bothering you, that that hey, you know, let them get out the door first before you mock them. But yeah, that'll uh that helps. Then another source that I went to indeed had a blog post. They said, in in addition to things that have already been covered, pack a bagged lunch. This gives you healthier options than going for fast food or things, and healthy food is healthy mind. Snack smart along the same lines, eat smart snacks rather than fatty sugary snacks. Here's one that people are gonna hate. But the fat, but the the fatty sugary ones are so good though. Yeah, it well, you know, they do stimulate all sorts of chemical reactions in the brain, but in sometimes people just need a Snickers bar. Yeah, you just need that Snickers bar, regardless if that one bar is 400 calories or whatever. You just need it. But people watch out. Here's the next one. Decrease your caffeine. I cannot survive without caffeine. I don't drink coffee, but let me tell you, my energy drink consumption is it's gotten a lot better. I was up like two or more a day. Now I'm like one or well, two or three a week, but decrease your caffeine. But I can tell you from another research project I did once upon a time that caffeine is a diuretic, so it makes you pee, so it dehydrates you, which lowers your brain capacity and all the other fun stuff. So yeah. Here's one that I'm very much in favor of using good posture. Uh, if you you won't get backaches and leg aches. If you're sitting at your desk using good posture, you're you're firming up those core muscles rather than slouching over or slopping yourself all over your desk. I think that does a good job.

SPEAKER_04 14:04

Uh taking good breaks. I think hold on, I think I know the title of this episode. It's just gonna be called Yoga HR because everything keeps going back to yoga. Just do your yoga, get a little exercise, get a yoga exercise ball. So there's your desk. Tighten the core muscles all day long, take a yoga break, go outside, get nature. Yeah, I'm I'm feeling it.

SPEAKER_03 14:24

At the university, my right-hand person, she used a yoga ball chair that didn't have a back and forces you to have great posture. But I was like, I have ADD out the yin-yang, I'd be bouncing all over the room and you could just roll off the back.

SPEAKER_04 14:38

Something will happen, and you're just oh yeah.

SPEAKER_03 14:42

I'd be stretching, think I have a chair back to fall back into, and I'd bust my head wide open. Yes.

SPEAKER_04 14:49

Why do we have a why do we have a workman's comp claim where Warren busts his head open? Uh here's the yoga ball. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 14:57

Eight people got injured. Yeah. It could definitely happen. Sufficient sleep, getting sufficient sleep, and reward yourself for good tasks. So I I think those are all awesome ideas, and I do encourage people to take advantage of them and do some things as hell. Everybody knows HR is a stressful job, and we often have to portray the face of having all of our shit together, even when we don't. So, yeah, this these are some great ideas. So take advantage of them. And if you have any ideas that you do, let us know. We'll we'll include them in a future episode. But that leads me to the next thing. And if you noticed, that list is all things you can do for yourself. But here's sort of my discussion point for the the day. Is it the company's responsibility to ensure your mental health? What say you, feathers? No. I absolutely agree. Yeah, it's not the company's responsibility. They can do all sorts of awesome things to encourage it, but ultimately your mental health is completely in your hands. If you work for a suck-ass company, get the hell out. You know, just vote with your feet. There's right now there's more jobs than there are people. I don't think anybody's going to have a hard time getting a job if they really are into if they put the effort into it. But I I think my next thing, because that wasn't much of a discussion, as we agreed. Yeah, the company, you know, they can do certain things. They can give you snacks, they can have a nice environment, comfortable desk, ergonomic desk, standing desks. They can, you know, do all the sort of touchy-feely stuff that that helps. But you even in environments that have all the cool, touchy-feely, nicety things. Look at Google, they have sleep pods and they have game rooms and everything, and apparently it's supposed to be a super toxic environment. So you know, it it you can have all the little uh you know stuff, but it doesn't mean anything. But I think one of the things that does matter the most is your immediate boss. And I I was thinking about what makes a good boss and what makes a bad boss, and I was trying to be completely objective. I wasn't trying to you know be too jaded on this, but I do think it's very subjective, and I have a personal experience that like pinpoints this. So a co-worker and I worked together for I don't know five plus years, became good friends, and under the manager where we both or yeah, we both started under this manager, we both I thrived. I didn't have sort of quote unquote set expectations, it was just get your shit done and do it, and that's where I I live. Don't don't constrain me too much, just say get it done and I'll do it. But my buddy didn't necessarily thrive. They did just fine. I'm not gonna say they were doing poorly, but they did not like the lack of direction, and they constantly told me they didn't feel their their skills were being fully utilized. Fast forward to you know, several years later, we're at the end of my career there for what reasons are about to be defined, but later we get a new manager in, and this manager is ridiculously more structured. I I don't know if I want to say the word micromanager or not, but in my mind they were a micromanager just because you know I had reins put on me for the first time while there. But uh there was also some personal conflict between the incoming manager and me, and I played my role in that. I'd I'm not gonna say I was uh a victim in that situation because Lord knows I'm I I can be a difficult human being. Under that manager, my friend thrived. He started to feel more appreciated, more utilized. It really brought him up, but on the flip side, I struggled. I I went from being valued and even if I dare say important there, to, you know, what's the Latin term? Hostus humani generis, enemy of all mankind. So I anything I did was incorrect, wrong, not done the way the person wanted it. And I also felt under this new management scheme that things I enjoyed doing and did well were intentionally taken away from me. Now, whether it's a fact or not, I don't know, but I felt that way. And then my responsibilities just didn't really align with my role. So it, you know, we had we're friends, we're very similar in many aspects, but they thrived under one manager and I thrived under the other. So bad bosses are sort of subjective in in that regard. So have you worked it under how do you think that it's a subjective whether you're working for a good boss or a bad boss? But of course, there's obviously very bad, you know, you get the assholes who are you know ass grabby on all the ladies or men or whomever. It doesn't matter, I guess, anymore. But uh you get bad bosses out there who you know, they microm a true micromanager, yeah, that that's awful. That's definition of a bad boss, but you know, the boss makes a difference. Oh, 140.

SPEAKER_04 20:29

Well I mean, yeah, it's a subjective, it's a subjective thing to answer because you can like the overall company, maybe like the mission of the company, however, that one particular middle manager is reporting to you, or you're function or you're supporting. Um, yeah, they can make all the difference in the world why it all of a sudden it becomes I don't want to use the word toxic because that's not the right word, but shitty place to work. Yeah. Um, but yeah, you're right. I think it also depends on your own personality type in terms of like how you want to be managed. And I feel like some managers have a one size fits all philosophy. That's because that's all they know how to do. And so they do not bend or flex their own style to meet the needs of the person they're supposed to be managing. I mean, I definitely believe in the philosophy of I'm supposed to make you better. Um, I've had people that I have reported to me who have gone on and they're well past me in terms of where they are, if you want to say title-wise in their career. And I actually take that as a sense of pride. And a lot of them have come back and said the things I did with them earlier in their career helped them get to where they are. Um, you also got to sprink in a lot of different kinds of motivators. My motivators are different than their motivators. So I'm I'm super proud of them. I'm not jealous of their where they are, but I also learned young in my Career that you've got to flex to the person, like the people that I support right now. I have different relationships with them, I have different ways that I communicate with them. Some I can be like, what the fuck are you doing? And some of them like, okay, this we gotta break this down. Um, yeah, so it's it's the manager can make all the all the difference in terms of where you are with wanting to keep that job, and I think you hit something that really hit in the head.

SPEAKER_03 22:33

The managers, a good manager is gonna know how to manage to the individual. You know, you have your team, you have your group that you're managing, but get to know what motivates Warren, what motivates feathers, who's gonna, you know, how are they gonna respond to this? Maybe this is something I need to say in public, uh, or maybe, hey, you know, maybe this is something we should discuss in private, even if it's a good thing. Hey, you know, some people will become, and sometimes it's a cultural thing, like deathly embarrassed if you say, Hey, Johnny, you knocked this one out of the park and you say it in front of everybody. That's like, you know, awful to some people. So it it is it's in it's interesting to to see, but get to know your team and know what motivates them. And sometimes it's just a quick thank you or an email. Maybe they would rather have an email than be recognized in front of the whole team or something like that. So just just know your your team and what motivates them. And what's I don't I want to say a little bit about what's going in the world. I don't want to know everything that's going on in your life, but know what's going on in the world and also know that everybody has a life outside of the work, and you know, if things are going well, then they're going well, so then congratulate them on that. But if things aren't going so well, be there for them.

SPEAKER_04 23:47

No, I think you hit a good point there too. Like celebrate all the successes and and help them. What I mean by successes, so if you've got individual that has um clearly a passion outside of work and they accomplish something strong or important in their own personal life, like celebrate that with them. But I to your point, which is so important, it goes back to the one size fits all. Understand how they want to be recognized. Most of our managers just don't know that, or because they don't know it, they just don't fucking do any recognition at all. Like nothing. I've asked, I've asked employees that I support. When's the last time your manager said something good about your performance? My review. When was that? Seven, eight months ago? No, that's not that's not acceptable.

SPEAKER_03 24:40

Yeah. And little things like a thank you, you know, or thank you. Great job, nice work. Little things like that go a long, long way. No, thank you. No. Thank you. Thank you, Warren. You you don't know what I've dragged you into yet, so don't get too quick to thank me.

SPEAKER_04 25:02

But uh Oh god. Okay. All right.

SPEAKER_03 25:06

No, see if we get see if we can get ourselves canceled today. No, I'm not trying to do that. But uh the the final thing that you've talked about a little bit.

SPEAKER_04 25:13

If we haven't yet, I mean I know ways that we can do it.

SPEAKER_03 25:18

Back in 1993, pick a date if we did something stupid. Doesn't matter. Uh thank God plausible deniability. So yeah, you you started leading me into my final topic of the night, toxic workplaces. And I I want to be very careful about labeling things a toxic workplace because once again, it can be subjective. What believe it or not, there are people who thrive under micromanagers. If you're there are some I've worked with them before who love working under micromanagers because they they want to be directed and they're good at doing exactly what they're told. You tell me to do ABC, I'm gonna do ABC, and I'm gonna do it in that order, I'm gonna do it exactly your way. Where me, I'm like, eh, let me try my own. Let me go this way. I'm gonna, you know, some people do thrive under that. So I want to be very careful about discussing micromanagers, but toxic workplaces are are a different thing. I there was a person I worked with once upon a time, I didn't even actually interact with them that frequently, but every time I had to interact with them, it was god-awful. And I remember we I was working in this urban city environment, and I'm a cheapskate, so I didn't pay for parking. But if you paid for parking, you got to park in like the first three floors of the parking garage. If you didn't pay for parking, you had to go to like floors seven through ten or something like that. So, but I would that person paid for parking, just driving around the corner and seeing their car in the parking spot every day. My bubble just burst, right? Then I was like, oh shit, that person's here. And just seeing just seeing their car, I haven't laid eyes on them, and now I'm just like, oh, I got you know, and 99% of the time I didn't have to deal with them. They they were a negative person, a person who couldn't stay in their lane, dramatic, just all the things I really despise in in people. This person embodied basically every trait that I the hypocritical, all every trait I despise, they they embodied. And it was it was really hard. But it's right now everybody wants to talk on social media, LinkedIn, everywhere, they'll talk about oh, I work in the top toxic work environment. You see all these things, and some of the things they're saying, you know, it may not be a good environment, but toxic. There's a difference between a bad environment and a toxic environment. Yeah, nodding your head, it works very well in a podcast, but uh there's a difference between a bad environment and a toxic environment. And just because you work in a bad environment, maybe your manager's over their head, and they're they're a good person, good human being, they're trying the hardest, but they just don't have the skills to do what they need to get done, and that makes everybody suffer. Does that make it a toxic work environment? Maybe, maybe not. But real toxic environments are where you're getting harassed, you're getting assailed, you're getting, you know, bullied, whatever the word is, and it don't bullying is a whole nother thing now. You you say something cross about anything now, and you in in at least the school systems, oh, you're bullying or cyberbullying, or something like that. And it's just like, really? It's it it it that's not it. That's not bullying. I grew up as a nerd in the the 80s and 90s. I know bullying, I know that one pretty darn well. But I know bullying. I was bullied so bad. My parents couldn't afford it. They drew they put me in a private school after in after a certain point of time because I was just I was getting it so bad. Because like I said, a little nerdy, well, I wasn't little, but nerdy kid. It was not nerds weren't cool back then, so anyways. But no, toxic work environments. I I really want people to think twice before they use that phrase because is it toxic or is it just one you don't like? I the one I mentioned it wasn't toxic, it was bad for me, but it wasn't toxic. I think toxic is when you you have really pervasive things going on that and and not liking or manager micromanagement or personality conflicts don't really rise to the the level of toxicity. And I think I think I told you this story before, but once upon a time, I had to sit in on the 11th hour for a storytime with Uncle Warren here. Once upon a time. But once upon a time, I had to sit in at last minute for an interview for Mandrew got called away. And I I couldn't do the technical side of it, but I'm just sitting here talking to him. I'm going through the HR side of things. My recruiter had already done a lot of the screening there. And I asked, okay, well, you're at this job. What why did you end up leaving there? Oh, it was a toxic work environment. Okay, okay. I go to that next place, go and tell me about this. And okay, well, why'd you leave? Oh, they were toxic work environment. Okay. And the last place they just left without another job, uh, why did you leave? It was a toxic work environment. I'm like, okay. Three jobs in a row, you've had a toxic work environment. You're either the most unlucky person in the world or you're probably causing it. And I I reported back to the manager who still did a second review. I said, I wouldn't hire this person. The last three jobs he's claimed has been a toxic work environment. You know, we're one in a million chance that you get three toxic work environments in a row, uh, unless you're like looking for what's the worst company in my area to work for, or something like that. It just doesn't happen. And I think it's a cop-out to a lot of people that that lay on that crutch.

SPEAKER_04 30:55

But have have you ever had line by the legal definition? I'd probably say no. Um, I would say there's definitely been some bad environments that I've either had to deal with from the HR perspective or before I was an HR. I mean, I I worked for that company called Wells Fargo, and that was a pretty bad environment there. Yeah, still kind of I I probably had some things that I could have reported, but I didn't. It's actually the reason why I went into HR full-time, is because how I saw people treated while working for that company. Um well the point I was gonna make is so positive came out of it. Yeah, I know, it's very positive came out of it. Um I'd rather hear somebody say in the interview it wasn't a good cultural fit for me. Because that can also that's a better statement and that's a better understanding because um I've worked for companies that just wasn't a good cultural fit. Like it just it's just the way I operate, way the company operated, or way the manager operated, that's a factual statement. It was not a toxic work environment.

SPEAKER_03 32:03

Right. And I've used this example any number of times.

SPEAKER_04 32:06

That term the term is used way too often. And it's I mean, we all know if we're HR, if everyone's an HR professional, it's on that's listening to this, we all know when we get that expression, it's like fuck, drop everything. Here we go. All right, let's let's start, let's roll sleeves up and dig in. And then it's like the accuser's like, we have talked to other people. Yeah, I gotta validate this. You can't just drop a toxic work environment bomb on me and think that I'm just gonna be like, You're right, sorry. What what what what can I give you? No, most of the time when somebody claims it, it's not true.

SPEAKER_03 32:44

And a lot of times they're on their way out, they're being managed out in some way, shape, or form. Hey, you're not doing your job. We need you know, here's your pip. And now it's a toxic work environment where it wasn't before, but they got their pip. And that's that's a whole nother thing that gets to me.

SPEAKER_04 33:01

Because you want because you want to know why they got their participation trophy when they were a kid. Everybody's a winner.

SPEAKER_03 33:10

Every yeah. Doesn't life the real world does not work because you're a winner that way.

SPEAKER_04 33:16

I'm losing, I'm losing up my jobs. This is a toxic work environment now. Yeah, bullshit. Amen. What's been once of my best practices? Don't be an asshole. Do your job. Don't be an asshole, do your job.

SPEAKER_03 33:29

And everything will go so much better then. It really is. So that will be our our right. You want to have a mentally healthy environment? Don't be an asshole. That's our best practice of the night. So yeah, do your job, don't be an asshole.

SPEAKER_04 33:44

Hire all introverts, they all just leave, they just all stay away from each other and just do their things. Well, in in this is the no collaboration, collaboration company.

SPEAKER_03 33:55

Uh yeah. Just going back to the top, I do think mental health is an important factor. We don't want to see people, you know, absolutely suffering unnecessarily or you know, deteriorating their quality of life outside of work, but you got to learn to draw lines, draw limits appropriately, not saying I'm not gonna do whatever, but that when you go in with the if you want to readjust the boundary and you start with I'm not going to do this, okay. Maybe that's your second or third round discussion. But your first round is hey, hey, I'm you've asked me to do this. This is I'd prefer not to, and this is why. Talk it out logically. But if you go in blazing guns, I'm not doing this, you can't make me da-da-da-da-da. Or this isn't part of my job. That's the newest, that's another new thing. Everybody, this isn't part of my job. I don't get paid to do this. Okay, don't go in with the guns of blazing. Let's just talk it out. Hey, you know, I think that was one of the the mental health things. Talk it out. Talk to your manager, say, hey, okay, you have me doing this. Can can you help me explain why, or help me understand? Or, hey, I really don't feel good doing this. I don't think I'm the right person. And maybe you'll get some insight. Maybe they want to push you, maybe want to give you a stretch job, maybe challenge you, see how you how you respond. So maybe they can decide all right how long, you know, maybe you want to move you up in the company, and then so they're gonna give you some little little additional responsibility. I don't know, but it it's all how you approach it too. Just don't be that that person who just first thing they rattle up, oh my god, I can't do this, you can't do this to me, you can't make me do that. Yeah, and I think that's what we got a lot of going on today. So, but once again, mental health, very important. I did want to have a mental health episode since it is May and mental health.

SPEAKER_04 35:44

It's still very important. It's still very important.

SPEAKER_03 35:46

It is, it is, and we can still have some fun talking about it, but also it, you know, support your other HR folks out there and your employees, you know, have your EAP information readily at hand. And remember, as HR, we are not psychologists, social workers, psychiatrists, whatever you want to say. We're not that. And even if you were in a past life, you're not being paid for doing that. So don't try and play armchair psychologists with your employees, direct them to a professional because I would not want to be on the receiving end of that conversation if something goes awry. And too many HR people think that's what they are, but you are not. So we already gave you our best practice, so please go online, leave us a review, hit us up on social media. The only one we're really doing right now is Instagram, and otherwise, our intro and outro music is the underscore orchestra song Devil with the Devil, and our voice artist is Andrew Culpa. So, as always, I'm Warren, and this is Feathers, and we're helping you survive HR one what the fuck moment at a time.