Work-Life Balance

It’s Wednesday, Besties!

Which means we’re back with another round of questionable corporate speak, HR hot takes and one story that may have you wondering if you should start traveling with your own emotional support human (or “wubby”). In this week’s episode:

• Intro Story: You’ve heard of emotional support animals… but what about emotional support people? Jamie shares the story of an executive who never traveled alone - because they literally couldn’t function without their “human security blanket.”

• Corporate Cringe Speak: This week’s phrase is one of those that sounds very fancy (So definitely try and use it at work today)

• Hot Topic – Work-Life Balance: Is it possible… and who’s responsible for it? We’ve all heard the phrase “work-life balance,” but after Emma Grede’s interview on the Diary of a CEO podcast where she called it the employee’s “problem,” we had thoughts. Is balance even realistic? What’s the employer’s responsibility versus the employee’s? And how can you set boundaries - or help your team do it - without sabotaging your career (or your sanity)? We break it all down with real talk and real tips.

• Questions & Comments: One Bestie gives the others an etiquette lesson (which may or may not actually be real, but she now swears by it). And each Bestie shares the nicknames they’ve had at work (and in life).

Discussion Guide – For Your Next Podcast Group or Team Chat

• Travel Tag-Alongs: How does it change a work presentation or travel if you have someone by your side? Is it helpful, or does it hold you back from trying new things or meeting new people?

• Balance or Boundaries: What does work-life balance mean to you?

• Who’s Responsible: Should organizations be responsible for protecting work-life balance - or is it truly up to the team member? And what can leaders and team members each do to make it happen?

ChatGPT Prompts of the Week

Professional:

• What’s a message I can share as a leader to promote healthy boundaries without overpromising what the organization can do?

• What can I actually do to set boundaries for myself and have some work-life balance - without dropping the ball on my job?

Personal(ish):

• If I were an emotional support animal for a colleague, what animal would I be and why?

Heads Up, Besties!
In the spirit of practicing what we preach, we’re taking a little work-life balance break ourselves. We’ll be off for the month of July and back with new episodes starting August 6. But don’t worry - we’ll be posting content and highlighting some favorite past episodes on our social media, so keep following along and reliving the chaos fun with us there.

Send us your ChatGPT answers, stories and corporate jargon requests using the Contact button below, or DM us on Instagram!

Happy “Travel Buddy Optional” Wednesday,
Your HR Besties - Jamie, Leigh & Ashley. XOXO!

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