Someone on Reddit won't go to any happy hour where HR will be. Their reasoning: HR is there to protect the company, and they're snakes. Meanwhile, Lisa from HR just wants to make friends.

In this Reacting to Reddit at Work episode of Why Does It Feel So Wrong to Be Human at Work?, host Bree Bartos and Lottie Bazley swap stories about the labels we put on people at work: friends, coworkers, and snakes. There's the HR happy hour standoff, a manager who repeated what was said in a one-on-one (she turns out to be the head of HR), a coworker who was corrected on their last day that they were never actually friends, and a round of first-day-at-work advice.

Along the way, Bree and Lottie share their own stories about pay transparency, chasing a promotion for four years, and why every department might benefit from its own internal comms person.

In this episode, they discuss:
• Whether HR is really out to get you, and poor Lisa
• Adjusting how you act around senior leaders at work events without avoiding them entirely
• What an internal comms person in every department could look like
• Lottie's lesson from training frontline engineers: why nobody watched the videos, and why podcasts in the van worked
• Getting told off for talking about pay, and what that usually means
• Four years of "next year" on a raise or promotion, and knowing when it's time to go
• Why you don't have to want to be a people manager
• The Venn diagram between coworkers and friends
• First-day tips: a notebook and pen, a desk sweater, and assessing the snack situation
• Lottie's story of the new hire, the free noodles, and the director

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Have a story or question about work you want to hear the hosts discuss on the podcast? Write in to our subreddit: r/humanatwork

Watch full video episodes on YouTube.

Connect with Us
Bree Bartos – LinkedIn | Local Wisdom

Pinaki Kathiari – LinkedIn | Local Wisdom

Chris Lee – LinkedIn | Gallagher Communication

Lottie Bazley - LinkedIn
Edited by Dave Casto - Linkedin

Special thanks to digital communication agency Local Wisdom (www.localwisdom.com) for really believing in our mission and making this podcast possible.

If this episode made you think differently, laugh, or even yell out loud, we want to hear about it! Connect with us on LinkedIn, and don’t forget to rate, review, and share – maybe with your work bestie… or even your boss if you're feeling bold.

Taking PTO but still checking email. Bringing the work laptop on vacation, just in case. Sending a company-wide email on the way to a family funeral. It all sounds ridiculous out loud, and at some point it became normal.

In this episode of Bree Has Questions on Why Does It Feel So Wrong to Be Human at Work?, Bree Bartos and Pinaki Kathiari ask: why have we normalized burning ourselves out? The question started as "why does it feel so wrong to admit we're burned out," until Kelsey Buckholtz pointed out that we've normalized it in the name of hustle culture and grindset.

Joining them are Dr. Matt Zakreski, clinical psychologist, co-founder of the Neurodiversity Collective, and author of The Neurodiversity Playbook, on his third visit to the show, and Kelsey Buckholtz, Director of Communication Strategy at Local Wisdom and author of Strong, Calm, Confident You, a book about the cycle of pleasing, perfecting, and performing.

In this episode, they discuss:
• Getting burned out by something you love, and why it's harder to admit
• Dialectic thinking: loving your kids and finding them exhausting at the same time
• Why even good stress can lead to burnout
• Why everyone thinks they can multitask, and why nobody can
• Side hustles, passive income, and the pressure in our algorithms to keep grinding
• How employers can support people when raises aren't on the table
• Leaders who actually log off, and Local Wisdom's monthly round table kudos
• Imposter syndrome that forms in silence
• Why burnout gets treated like proof you're working hard
• Flow state: what happens when the challenge meets your skill level
• Spotting burnout before it turns physical
• Small things that help: boundaries, a real lunch break, and asking people what they actually expect

Connect with our guests:
Dr. Matt Zakreski - https://www.linkedin.com/in/drmattzakreski/
Kelsey Buckholtz, https://www.linkedin.com/in/kelseybuckholtz/

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Have a story or question about work you want to hear the hosts discuss on the podcast? Write in to our subreddit: r/humanatwork

Watch full video episodes on YouTube.

Connect with Us
Bree Bartos – LinkedIn | Local Wisdom

Pinaki Kathiari – LinkedIn | Local Wisdom

Chris Lee – LinkedIn | Gallagher Communication

Lottie Bazley - LinkedIn
Edited by Dave Casto - Linkedin

Special thanks to digital communication agency Local Wisdom (www.localwisdom.com) for really believing in our mission and making this podcast possible.

If this episode made you think differently, laugh, or even yell out loud, we want to hear about it! Connect with us on LinkedIn, and don’t forget to rate, review, and share – maybe with your work bestie… or even your boss if you're feeling bold.

Bree usually brings the Reddit stories and watches everyone else react, and she got a little jealous. So Lottie Bazley brought stories of her own, and the two of them ran a bracket to crown the biggest work jerk.

In this Reacting to Reddit at Work episode of Why Does It Feel So Wrong to Be Human at Work?, hosts Bree Bartos and Lottie Bazley trade four stories from Reddit's Am I the Jerk threads: a pregnant coworker who keeps eating OP's food, a manager who told her friend that her suspension was deserved, Goldfish George and his habit of snatching things out of people's hands, and a newly promoted manager who didn't show up to open the shop.

Along the way they get into managing a friend, why so many work problems are about food, the work version of you that the people at home rarely see, and spoon theory, with Bree explaining what it means and how she talks to her own manager about low-energy days.

In this episode, they discuss:
• A labeled tiramisu, a pregnant coworker, and "the baby really wanted tiramisu"
• Lottie's own stolen pudding story
• Why managing a friend muddies the water, and when to bring in a third party
• Goldfish George, the pen, and the bag of chips that split open in the break room
• Why people lose their manners around work food
• The work version of you, and Lottie's husband watching her host a town hall
• Why nobody tells the engagement person they're miserable
• Spoon theory, mental health days, and why you still need to send the text
• Crowning the biggest work jerk

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Have a story or question about work you want to hear the hosts discuss on the podcast? Write in to our subreddit: r/humanatwork

Watch full video episodes on YouTube.

Connect with Us
Bree Bartos – LinkedIn | Local Wisdom

Pinaki Kathiari – LinkedIn | Local Wisdom

Chris Lee – LinkedIn | Gallagher Communication

Lottie Bazley - LinkedIn
Edited by Dave Casto - Linkedin

Special thanks to digital communication agency Local Wisdom (www.localwisdom.com) for really believing in our mission and making this podcast possible.

If this episode made you think differently, laugh, or even yell out loud, we want to hear about it! Connect with us on LinkedIn, and don’t forget to rate, review, and share – maybe with your work bestie… or even your boss if you're feeling bold.