Send us a text

A quiet Thanksgiving plan turns into a high-stakes HR story: 20-plus fake employees on a real payroll, deepfake executives on urgent video calls, and wire transfers that vanish because the faces on the screen weren’t human at all. We pull the thread on ghost workers, AI-powered impersonation, and the ways remote hiring can be gamed, then rebuild a safer, saner system step by step.

We walk through the modern fraud playbook—deepfakes that mimic CFOs, ghost payroll profiles collecting salaries, third parties secretly doing the job, and criminal networks using “employees” to launder money or open backdoors to sensitive data. Then we get tactical. Identity verification needs more than an I‑9 snapshot: add live checks, secure video verification, and consistent FaceTime during onboarding; align with IT for least-privilege access, device compliance, and anomaly detection; and implement dual approvals with known-key phrases for any financial movement. Trust becomes a process, not a vibe.

Hiring still has to feel human. We take aim at clunky ATS flows that drive away great candidates. Keep applications as quick as placing an online order, avoid duplicate data entry, and use clear timelines and text follow-ups to prevent ghosting on both sides. At the same time, weave in light-touch anti-fraud checks and reference pathways that rely on authentic networks rather than easily faked profiles. The result is a pipeline that respects candidates and protects the business.

We close with practical scripts, small cultural habits, and a reminder to teach basic AI literacy at home and at work. When a request feels “off,” it’s okay to slow down and verify through a second channel. Layered verification, clear communication, and smarter access design take the drama out of hiring and keep your holidays—and budgets—intact.

If this conversation helped, follow the show, share it with your team, and leave a quick review so more HR pros can find it. What safeguard will you add to your onboarding this week?

Support the show

We want to hear from you.
Text us or leave a voicemail (252) 564-9899‬
email: feedback@jadedhr.com

Want to:
* Share a dumb employee question
* Share a crazy story
* Ask us a question
* Share a best practice
* Give us feedback

Our Link Tree below has links to our social media sites, Patreon, Apple podcasts, Spotify & more.
Please leave a review on your favorite podcast player and interact with us online!

Linktree - https://linktr.ee/jadedhr
Follow Cee Cee on IG - BoozyHR @ https://www.instagram.com/boozy_hr/

Send us a text

A Florida beach meltdown, a nationwide cloud outage, and a truly awful Halloween costume walk into a workplace. What sounds like a joke turns into a sharp look at how culture, tech, and judgment collide where people get paid and policies get real. We return from a short break with fresh stories and hard lessons: how a single AWS failure rippled into payroll panic, why “it’s just a costume” can become a harassment case, and what classic scenes from The Office still teach us about influence, uncertainty, and keeping teams steady when the headlines aren’t.

We share candid travel moments that morph into a discussion about public decency and liability, then pivot to an organizational behavior assignment featuring Michael Scott’s surprising competence and Jim’s cooler strategy. The contrast sets up a bigger point about leadership: sometimes you stabilize by dialing in the work; other times you intentionally break the tension. Knowing which move to make is culture management in action.

From there, we unpack real HR mechanics. Outages expose how reliant we are on a handful of cloud rails and how unglamorous continuity planning saves actual paychecks. We talk tokenized mobile payments, vendor dependencies, communication trees, and the simple power of a backup plan. On the talent side, we challenge a common salary myth: it’s not that people never negotiate, it’s that strong recruiters pre‑close early. We walk through pay ranges, must‑have trade‑offs, and how clearer expectations prevent messy last‑minute asks that sour the relationship before day one.

Finally, we lean into the Halloween talk: blackface is never okay, “terrorist” costumes are unacceptable, and sexualized gags at the office invite risk. If you want festive without fallout, set guardrails that are simple, inclusive, and enforced. We keep it snarky, but the aim is practical—help you avoid the next viral moment and build a team that can laugh without crossing lines.

If this mix of real talk and useful tactics helps you navigate your own WTF moments, follow the show, share it with a colleague who needs it, and leave a quick review so others can find us. Which topic should we dig into next?

Support the show

We want to hear from you.
Text us or leave a voicemail (252) 564-9899‬
email: feedback@jadedhr.com

Want to:
* Share a dumb employee question
* Share a crazy story
* Ask us a question
* Share a best practice
* Give us feedback

Our Link Tree below has links to our social media sites, Patreon, Apple podcasts, Spotify & more.
Please leave a review on your favorite podcast player and interact with us online!

Linktree - https://linktr.ee/jadedhr
Follow Cee Cee on IG - BoozyHR @ https://www.instagram.com/boozy_hr/

Send us a text

A Halloween throwback with teeth: we revisit the moments that make HR feel haunted and explain how to handle them without losing your cool. We kick off with a real company memo that tied election outcomes to potential layoffs and unpack where employer speech ends and voter intimidation begins. The difference between context and coercion matters, so we walk through how to communicate policy risk without turning paystubs into campaign flyers or unraveling trust.

From there, we shift to the customer side and the Expensify CEO’s mass political email. Using a product mailing list to advocate a candidate is a masterclass in how to torch goodwill. We talk data stewardship, opt-in norms, and the reputational cost when brands push beyond the purpose of their channels. Then we lighten the mood with remote Halloween ideas that don’t create HR nightmares, and we draw hard boundaries around costumes that cross into racism, sexual content, or glorified violence. A little guidance in advance can spare everyone a lot of pain later.

We also roll up our sleeves for real management work: coaching a leader through their first termination when a remote contractor misses deadlines, hijacks meetings, and submits shaky timesheets. You’ll hear the exact steps we use to document performance, run a clean meeting, and close the loop when someone “resigns” after being let go. And yes, we poke at HR’s own monsters: job titles that confuse more than they clarify. Fun is fine, but titles should map to market norms so candidates, comp, and compliance stay on solid ground.

If you enjoy candid HR insights, practical scripts, and a few spooky laughs, hit follow, leave a review on your favorite podcast app, and tell us your best workplace costume disaster or haunted-office prank. Your stories might make a future show.

Support the show

We want to hear from you.
Text us or leave a voicemail (252) 564-9899‬
email: feedback@jadedhr.com

Want to:
* Share a dumb employee question
* Share a crazy story
* Ask us a question
* Share a best practice
* Give us feedback

Our Link Tree below has links to our social media sites, Patreon, Apple podcasts, Spotify & more.
Please leave a review on your favorite podcast player and interact with us online!

Linktree - https://linktr.ee/jadedhr
Follow Cee Cee on IG - BoozyHR @ https://www.instagram.com/boozy_hr/