Hosts: Steve Boese and Trish Steed

Guest: Meisha-ann Martin, Ph.D., VP of People Research at Workhuman

Summary

In this episode of the HR Happy Hour Show, Steve and Trish are joined by Meisha-ann Martin, VP of People Research at Workhuman, for a conversation about moving beyond stated values and getting a clearer picture of how culture actually shows up across an organization.

The conversation explores one of the biggest sources of cultural disconnect: what organizations say they value versus what they actually reward and reinforce. A company may say it values efficient execution while celebrating heroic firefighting. It may promote innovation while only recognizing successful outcomes, unintentionally discouraging thoughtful risk-taking. Or it may tolerate harmful behaviors because an employee delivers strong business results.

Meisha-ann shares how recognition data can give leaders a much richer view into these patterns. She also explains how advances in people analytics and natural language processing are making it possible to uncover insights that traditional engagement surveys alone could not provide—from identifying differences in how employees are recognized to detecting language that may serve as an early warning signal for burnout.

Ultimately, Meisha-ann encourages HR and business leaders to approach culture with greater intentionality: define the outcome you want, understand the behaviors that lead to it, measure what is actually happening, and continually refine the system based on what the data reveals.

Topics include:

• Why culture is more than the values written on the wall
• The gap between organizational intentions and employee experiences
• How organizations can unintentionally reinforce the wrong behaviors
• The relationship among vulnerability, recognition, and psychological safety
• How language data can uncover burnout risk, bias, and cultural misalignment
• Why recognizing behaviors—not just outcomes—can improve performance
• Connecting leadership behaviors to organizational outcomes
• Why measurement should come before analytics

Thank you for joining the show today! Remember to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts!

Workhuman is a proud supporter of the HR Happy Hour Network.

Nearly every HR leader knows the feeling: Teams are stretched thin, priorities keep shifting, and it's getting harder to see what's really going on beneath the surface. That's the subject of Workhuman's new documentary, Spotlight: The Leadership Reset, an investigation into why managers are losing visibility into their teams, and what it takes to see clearly again. Featuring Harvard’s Professor Amy Edmondson, crisis leadership expert Dr. Syra Madad, and bakery-owner-turned-business-leader Joanne Chang. The Leadership Reset premieres September 29th. Register for free today at workhuman.com/spotlight.

Ghosting the Ghost Jobs: Navigating Today’s Hiring Nightmare

Hosts: Jack McFarlane and Nicholas Schlemmer

Summary

In this episode of The Play by Play, Jack and Nick dig into the increasingly complicated world of modern job hunting, beginning with the rise of ghost jobs - job postings that remain online even when an organization may not actually be hiring for the position.

Jack shares his own experiences navigating job postings and discusses why organizations may keep positions listed, while Nick offers a different perspective from the golf industry, where professional credentials and industry-specific hiring networks can make the recruiting process much more targeted. Then the conversation turns to AI.

With job seekers able to automate applications at massive scale and employers relying on applicant tracking systems and AI tools to sort through growing applicant pools, Jack and Nick explore what happens when hiring becomes a bot-to-bot cycle. The result can be frustrating for everyone: candidates struggle to stand out while recruiters face enormous volumes of applications from people who may not actually be qualified. So what can job seekers do differently?

They talk about the continued value of human connection in the hiring process, from referrals and networking to directly contacting an organization or hiring manager. They also discuss why demonstrating an actual body of work, accomplishments, and professional presence may become increasingly important as AI makes traditional resumes easier to create and harder to evaluate. And, of course, it wouldn’t be The Play by Play without a little competition. Jack puts Nick to the test with a round of Real or Fake Job Posting, featuring some job descriptions so outrageous that figuring out which ones are legitimate turns out to be much harder than expected.

Takeaways

• What ghost jobs are and why they create frustration for job seekers
• How AI is changing both sides of the recruiting process
• Why AI-powered screening can make hiring feel like AI competing against AI
• How networking and direct outreach can help candidates stand out
• Why a visible body of work may matter more in an AI-driven hiring environment
• Why staying human may be one of the most important advantages in the modern job search

Thank you for joining the show today! Remember to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts!

Workhuman is a proud supporter of the HR Happy Hour Network.

Nearly every HR leader knows the feeling: Teams are stretched thin, priorities keep shifting, and it's getting harder to see what's really going on beneath the surface. That's the subject of Workhuman's new documentary, Spotlight: The Leadership Reset, an investigation into why managers are losing visibility into their teams, and what it takes to see clearly again. Featuring Harvard’s Professor Amy Edmondson, crisis leadership expert Dr. Syra Madad, and bakery-owner-turned-business-leader Joanne Chang. The Leadership Reset premieres September 29th. Register for free today at workhuman.com/spotlight.

Hosts: Steve Boese and Trish Steed

Guest: Saima Rashid, Chief Marketing Officer at Workhuman

Summary

It’s easy to point to a careers page, recruiting campaign, company values, or social media presence. But ultimately, an employer brand is shaped by something much harder to manufacture: what employees actually experience inside the organization.

In this episode of the HR Happy Hour, Steve Boese and Trish Steed welcome Saima Rashid, Chief Marketing Officer at Workhuman, for a conversation about the evolving role of employer brand and how recognition data can provide a much more authentic view of workplace culture. Saima describes employer brand as the external expression of the internal employee experience. That means organizations need real examples that demonstrate how people collaborate, contribute, support one another, and live company values every day - and recognition data can help uncover those stories.

Because recognition happens in the flow of work and comes from employees across teams, roles, and functions, it can provide leaders with real-time insight into the behaviors, skills, relationships, and contributions shaping the organization. It can also reveal where recognition is missing - giving leaders an earlier indication of potential disconnects before they appear in traditional measures such as engagement, retention, or employee referrals.

Steve, Trish, and Saima also explore how recognition can help new leaders understand their teams, bring greater context into performance conversations, strengthen employee advocacy, and give organizations authentic stories that employees actually want to share. And with AI making it possible to analyze large amounts of unstructured recognition data, organizations have an opportunity to uncover even deeper insights about skills, leadership, culture, and whether business values are truly showing up in the way work gets done.

Topics include:

• Why employer brand is ultimately shaped by the lived employee experience
• The difference between promoting company values and demonstrating them
• How recognition data provides real-time, human insight into how work gets done
• Why specific employee stories can be more powerful than traditional employer-brand messaging
• How recognition can help leaders uncover skills, contributions, and relationships they may not otherwise see
• Why authentic employee advocacy must be earned rather than orchestrated
• How organizations can compare their stated values with the behaviors employees actually recognize
• How AI can help uncover new insights from recognition data

Thank you for joining the show today! Remember to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts!

Workhuman is a proud supporter of the HR Happy Hour Network.

Nearly every HR leader knows the feeling: Teams are stretched thin, priorities keep shifting, and it's getting harder to see what's really going on beneath the surface. That's the subject of Workhuman's new documentary, Spotlight: The Leadership Reset, an investigation into why managers are losing visibility into their teams, and what it takes to see clearly again. Featuring Harvard’s Professor Amy Edmondson, crisis leadership expert Dr. Syra Madad, and bakery-owner-turned-business-leader Joanne Chang. The Leadership Reset premieres September 29th. Register for free today at workhuman.com/spotlight.