A VP tells the IT team they have to come into the office on the Fourth of July because, in her words, it's just IT and they don't have lives. So the team lead asks if he can throw an office party to make up for it. She says go wild, and suggests he use the company card. Brisket, pizza, pies, and a bill over $6,000 later, the CEO is yelling at the VP and the company has a brand new expense policy.

In this Reacting to Reddit at Work episode of Why Does It Feel So Wrong to Be Human at Work?, host Bree Bartos is joined by Pinaki Kathiari and Lottie Bazley to react to stories from r/MaliciousCompliance, a subreddit for people who follow the rules exactly as written and watch what happens. Bree reads a Hall of Fame post about that Fourth of July party, then a brand new one that was only hours old when she found it, about an IT guy who was asked to monitor employee productivity and wasn't told to leave management out.

Pinaki calls the first story benevolent compliance, Lottie explains why a rule with no reason attached makes people dig in, and Bree shares a quick tip for keeping your work and personal browsing separate. Two of the three hosts had never even heard the term malicious compliance before this recording.

In this episode, they discuss:
• What malicious compliance means, and why it feels like the work word for petty revenge
• A VP, an IT team, and a $6,000 Fourth of July party that changed a company's expense policy
• Why Pinaki thinks the first story is closer to benevolent compliance
• Why a rule with no reason behind it invites people to rebel
• A VP's job is to lead and grow people, so what if the first move is asking the team what they think?
• A founder who asked for browser history reports on everyone, and the list HR brought IT a few days later
• Why your browsing history and keystrokes can be tracked, and Bree's tip for a separate work browser profile
• The question to ask when a task makes no sense: what problem are we really trying to solve?
• Checking whether a thought you're having is a story you're telling yourself
• Whether internal communicators are guilty of malicious compliance too

The lesson everyone agrees on: be nice to IT. Pinaki also wants a part two on malicious compliance and petty revenge, so tell us if you do too.

Got a workplace story? Share it on our subreddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/humanatwork/

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Connect with Us

Pinaki Kathiari – LinkedIn | Local Wisdom

Chris Lee – LinkedIn | Gallagher Communication

Bree Bartos – LinkedIn | Local Wisdom
Lottie Bazley - LinkedIn
Edited by Dave Casto - LinkedIn

Special thanks to digital communication agency Local Wisdom (www.localwisdom.com) for really believing in our mission and making this podcast possible.

If this episode made you think differently, laugh, or even yell out loud, we want to hear about it! Connect with us on LinkedIn, and don’t forget to rate, review, and share – maybe with your work bestie… or even your boss if you're feeling bold.

We also bring these important conversations to conferences and private workshops, creating space for real, meaningful change. Take the first step at www.whydoesitfeelsowrong.com.

Welcome back for Season 4 of Why Does It Feel So Wrong to be Human at Work?! Bree's kicking off this season with a question: Why does it feel so wrong to post about ourselves online? To help answer that question, she's invited on two of her favorite content creators and social media experts: Yanni Pappas, Growth and Marketing Strategist at Workshop, and Sarah Whittle, founder of Unicorn Social.

Check out Sarah and Yanni:
Sarah Whittle: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahwhittledigital/
Unicorn Social: https://www.unicorn-social.com/
Yanni Pappas: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yannipap/
Inside the Culture: Chili's | A sizzlin' comeback story: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eyqRnroMozg

In this episode, they discuss:
• Dululu is the solulu: being a little delusional to get out of your comfort zone
• Why Yanni switched from trying to sound smart to trying to sound like himself, and that's when people started listening
• You shouldn't use machines to find your human voice
• Embarrassment is a choice, and Yanni stopped choosing it
• Why 40% of LinkedIn posts being AI-generated is actually an opportunity for real voices
• Personal brand as a safety net in the age of layoffs, and Bree's own layoff story
• The difference between real networking and treating LinkedIn like a get-rich-quick scheme
• Read the room: when EGC helps a brand, and when it's a red flag about the company itself

Send in your work story or question: https://www.reddit.com/r/humanatwork/
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Connect with Us

Pinaki Kathiari – LinkedIn | Local Wisdom

Chris Lee – LinkedIn | Gallagher Communication

Bree Bartos – LinkedIn | Local Wisdom

Special thanks to digital communication agency Local Wisdom (www.localwisdom.com) for really believing in our mission and making this podcast possible.

If this episode made you think differently, laugh, or even yell out loud, we want to hear about it! Connect with us on LinkedIn, and don’t forget to rate, review, and share – maybe with your work bestie… or even your boss if you're feeling bold.

We also bring these important conversations to conferences and private workshops, creating space for real, meaningful change. Take the first step at www.whydoesitfeelsowrong.com.

For this one, Bree kicked the boys out.

In this bonus episode of Why Does It Feel So Wrong to Be Human at Work?, host Bree Bartos is joined by Jen Samuel, Senior Account and Strategic Communications Manager at Local Wisdom, and special guest Regine Nelson, principal consultant in employee experience and internal comms, author of The Comms and Culture Devotional, and founder of Rise and Rain, for a conversation Pinaki and Chris were intentionally not part of: why does it feel so wrong to be a woman at work?

The three of them get into hair and appearance at work, the ageism that cuts both ways (too young to be taken seriously, then suddenly too old), the emotional labor of deciding what to filter and what to share, getting diagnosed with ADHD and autism as adults, and why periods, perimenopause, and menopause are still treated as taboo subjects at work despite affecting most of the workforce at some point. The goal isn't to villainize anyone. It's to bring language to the stuff that usually gets filtered out.

In this episode, they discuss:
• Appearance at work: hair, makeup, and the exhausting expectation of explaining your own body
• The double-edged sword of looking young: reverse ageism early in a career, then ageism later
• To thine own self be true, then read the room and act accordingly
• Discernment as a skill everyone can practice, and why fool me once means never a second time
• Getting an ADHD or autism diagnosis as an adult woman, and how masking finally stops working
• Why periods, perimenopause, and menopause are still workplace taboo despite affecting most of the workforce
• Remote work as a quiet equalizer for hair appointments, sick kids, doctor's appointments, and bad days
• Maternity leave, flexibility, and the mental load that doesn't pause just because the job resumes
• Go to therapy. All of you. All the time.

🔗 Got a workplace story? Share it on our subreddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/humanatwork/
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Connect with Us

Pinaki Kathiari – LinkedIn | Local Wisdom

Chris Lee – LinkedIn | Gallagher Communication

Bree Bartos – LinkedIn | Local Wisdom

Special thanks to digital communication agency Local Wisdom (www.localwisdom.com) for really believing in our mission and making this podcast possible.

If this episode made you think differently, laugh, or even yell out loud, we want to hear about it! Connect with us on LinkedIn, and don’t forget to rate, review, and share – maybe with your work bestie… or even your boss if you're feeling bold.

We also bring these important conversations to conferences and private workshops, creating space for real, meaningful change. Take the first step at www.whydoesitfeelsowrong.com.