As 2021 winds down, our EntertainHR blog approaches its seven-year anniversary next month. Therefore, in homage of what not to do in the workplace (based on examples of from television, film, and other popular media) and in the vein of shameless self-promotion, we contributors to EntertainHR have decided to regale our readers with a top 10 list.
Following are the top 10 EntertainHR posts of the past year in terms of viewership. If you haven’t had a chance to read them, just click away below.
Drumroll please…
10. Workplace Words of Wisdom from Ted Lasso
While Ted Lasso is a show about many concepts, one of the main concepts is to be curious, not judgmental, and part and parcel of this is to show empathy toward others. While this show specifically revolves around a professional soccer organization, the relationships are akin to your standard workplace setting with coworkers, superiors, and owners. The open communication and caring shown by these individuals toward each other help elevate them to do their job and to be committed to the organization as a whole.
9. Goodbye to Good Girls: A Lesson on Avoiding Retaliation Claims
Clearly, Good Girls’ Rio is not the model of upper management behavior in the face of employee complaints on whistleblowing activity. If Rio were a legitimate business owner, his actions would have left him vulnerable to the obvious jail time, as well as the less obvious administrative complaints and lawsuits. So, what can legitimate businesses possibly learn from a criminal gang leader?
8. Sha’Carri Richardson and Workplace Drug Testing
My view of the situation can be summed up as follows: Thems the rules, but the rules are really, really stupid. According to the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), marijuana use is banned in part because it enhances performance. Of course, many are skeptical of this view.
7. Wilson et al. v. The Avengers as Successor to Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, and Logistics Division
The Marvel movies are fantasy after all, and the suspension of disbelief lets us forget about the more pedestrian aspects of the heroes’ daily lives, like paying bills or buying groceries. Seeing Sam Wilson, a hero, embarrassed in such workaday fashion was a neat plot device that generated conversation around some timely issues and went a long way toward humanizing its heroes. But I’m an employment lawyer, so, just as a hammer thinks everything is a nail, my insolent Internal Monologue cried, “Someone’s getting suuuuuuued!”
6. Naomi Osaka Shines Further Light on Mental Health Issues in the Workplace
Tennis star Naomi Osaka is not the first high-profile professional athlete to put mental health front and center in the public realm, but considering the timing and today’s climate, she may become the most significant.
5. Amazon’s The Expanse Raises Issues Concerning Workplace Romances
Early in The Expanse, a romance develops between Holden and Nagata, which they initially keep from the rest of the crew. They ultimately decide to disclose their relationship to Kamal and Burton, who kind of knew all along and had a bet as to when their colleagues’ romance began. Of course, there was the potential for things to go bad following Holden and Nagata informing the rest of the Rocinante crew of their involvement. Workplace romances are fraught with various landmines of both the legal and the morale variety.
4. The New Captain America
Everyone knows that it is hard to fill Steve’s shoes (Don’t forget that Steve actually caught Thor’s hammer, Mjölnir!), but citizens of the Marvel Cinematic Universe are looking for a new hero after all they’ve been through. But is John Walker the right choice? The comics ultimately reveal that Walker is “U.S. Agent,” an anti-hero, but will the series stick to the comics?
3. Don’t Let Unreasonable Expectations Doom Your Workplace Like It Almost Did to WandaVision
WandaVision somewhat suffered under the burden of expectations (some reasonable and some unreasonable) that have plagued other similar watercooler-type shows. This same issue can often cause problems for employers, particularly when employees are not provided proper expectations in the workplace.
2. Can You Keep a Secret: Bridgerton and the Need for Employee Confidentiality Agreements
Bridgerton is a period drama set in Regency-era London, and it has a lot to teach HR about employee confidentiality. Employees are in a unique position to be privy to highly sensitive information that, if revealed, could have significant business consequences.
1. ‘My Favorite Murder’ Podcast: Workplace Disasters and the Rise of OSHA
Between their edge-of-your-seat retellings of murder investigations and heroic survivor tales, the hosts of My Favorite Murder podcast have dedicated several episodes to some of the most infamous workplace disasters in American history, including the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire of 1911 and the Radium Girls litigation of the 1920s through the 1930s. Both of these incidents sparked widespread outrage and calls for workplace reform to address unsafe working conditions and occupational disease.