46 - Marrying Up, How HR Leaders Use Conduct Policies in Crazy Times

On episode 46 of The HR Famous Podcast, long-time HR leaders (and friends) Tim Sackett, Kris Dunn and Jessica Lee come together to discuss the art and concept of marrying up, use John Krasinksi and Emily Blunt as their case study, then pivot to something more serious and talk about the use of Professional Conduct Policies by HR Leaders in crazy times. Listen below (click this link if you don’t see the player) and be sure to subscribe, rate, and review (Apple Podcasts) and follow (Spotify)! SHOW HIGHLIGHTS: 2:30 - Two topics on the pod today (but KD is more excited about one than the other!) 3:00 - First topic of the week: marrying up! KD was wondering in the text channel with JLee and Tim if actor John Krasinksi of The Office fame married up when he married actress Emily Blunt (The Devil Wears Prada, Mary Poppins Returns, The Girl on the Train). It rose the level of a pod topic, so they discuss the art of marrying up across partners. 4:30 - JLee thinks Krasinksi definitely married up. She also thinks that her own husband married up but she also thinks she married up because of her low credit score! 5:45 - KD asks JLee to numerically rate Blunt and Krasinski. She thinks Blunt is around an 8.5 and Krasninski is in the 6.5-7 range. He’s not hot enough for JLee! 8:00 - Tim’s initial reaction is that every man marries up, but he realizes there may be some gold diggers out there that will marry down for money. 9:30 - KD asks JLee and Tim to now rate Krasinski and Jenna Fischer’s characters from The Office. They both think it’s a pretty even match. 10:00 - First rule of a happy (heterosexual) marriage: the man has to say he married up. 11:30 - KD asks JLee if a woman could ever say she married down. She says no, but you can say that your spouse married up. 14:00 - Check out the Best Hire Ever episode featuring JLee to hear about her familial experience! 16:00 - Next topic of the day: KD and Tim were both quoted in the HR Executive about how to handle employees that partake in outside events that polarize them to some teammates at their company. 18:00 - Tim thinks in order to create a workforce that has diversity of thought, you have to allow your employees to partake in events that express that thought. However, if it crosses the line into illegal activity, that’s when action must be taken. 21:00 - JLee ponders if it matters what role a person holds in a company when it comes to events like the insurrection on the Capitol. 22:00 - JLee brings up the term ‘doxing’ which refers to outing someone for something they did on social media. She thinks this new practice brings some complexity to this issue. 24:00 - KD thinks that companies and HR leaders must have a strong professional conduct policy to give them the flexibility they need in all scenarios. 26:15 - Business Insider released an article of their premium service about a Github Jewish employee that warned their co-workers in the company messaging channels about Nazis being out in the DC metro area. A few days later, the employee was terminated. While that may seem extreme to some, the team discusses the fact that we don't know the whole situation, and by the way - that's where a great HR leader comes in - to display judgement.