Category: EntertainHR

Posts focus on what not to do in the workplace, based on examples from television, film, and other popular media.

age

Is Age Simply a Number? Yes, Say the Courts

In fall 2018, Dutch media personality and self-proclaimed “positivity trainer” Emile Ratelband garnered worldwide attention after petitioning a Dutch court to change his age by 20 years. Ratelband was born in 1949 and wanted to change his year of birth to 1969. Why not?

check

Hulu’s Little Fires Everywhere Takes Liberties with Employee Background Checks

My wife and I are currently binge-watching Little Fires Everywhere, a Hulu miniseries based on a book of the same name. Set in Shaker Heights, Ohio, during the late 1990s, Fires stars Reese Witherspoon as Elena Richardson (a white, married, upper-middle-class newspaper reporter with four children) and Kerry Washington as Mia Warren (a black, single mother who works as an artist and supplements her income through other part-time jobs).

fail

Work-from-Home Fails

The COVID-19 situation has left us all scrambling to maintain our professional lives as much as possible. We’re coming up with alternate work situations: social distancing when we must be at work, working from home when we can, and stretching our resources and creativity when we must.

family

Hopeful Family-Friendly Movies Should Make Us Think About a Post-COVID Workplace

In the midst of today’s climate, it somehow seems trivial to write about “entertainment” and how it pertains to the world of HR and employers. After all, countless individuals and families in this country are being affected by COVID-19, including those brave men and women who are on the front lines and continue to provide […]

tiger

HR ‘Don’ts’ Inspired by Netflix’s Tiger King

In the midst of our pandemic-induced self-isolation and, in many cases, mandatory shelter-in-place orders, some of you have probably used this time to better yourselves. Perhaps you’ve tried out some new recipes or began an exercise regime or learned to knit or played Monopoly with your housebound children. If that is you, I say bravo! […]

good

The Good Place?

A few months ago, my favorite blogger introduced me to a Netflix series entitled The Good Place. She gave no description of the show but highly recommended it and praised the writers’ creativity. With all the coronavirus coverage in the news, we could all use a healthy dose of The Good Place.

rules

The ‘Unwritten Rules’ of Employment

I like watching baseball. Few things in life beat going to a weekday day game during the summer at Oracle Park (or even the Oakland Coliseum). Yet sadly, due to the coronavirus/COVID-19 outbreak, Major League Baseball has canceled the remainder of its spring training games and the 2020 regular season will be delayed by at […]

Barbie

Celebrating Black Barbie’s 40th Anniversary and a Workplace D&I Victory

This year marks the 40th anniversary of Mattel’s very first black Barbie®, which debuted in 1980 and was designed by fashion pioneer Kitty Black Perkins, a native of Spartanburg, South Carolina. Perkins’ hard work and determination made her not only an icon of the fashion world and Mattel’s first African-American designer but also a champion […]