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Employers love to say they support work-life balance and encourage you to take your PTO. But here’s the workplace reality: when employees actually unplug, they’re often seen as less committed, and less promotable. Welcome to the detachment paradox.

In this episode of WTF is Business Casual?!, Jenny and Sarah unpack the HR bias that rewards “always on” employees and punishes those who set healthy boundaries. It’s the messed-up cycle that fuels employee burnout, slows career growth, and leaves leaders scratching their heads about why people keep quitting.

Drawing from corporate HR experience, research from Harvard Business Review, and their own stories, the hosts get candid about how organizations really evaluate “commitment” at work—and why leaders need to rethink what performance looks like.

In this conversation, you’ll hear:

• Why workplace detachment (logging off, PTO, boundaries) helps performance but hurts promotions
• How unconscious HR bias still favors visibility and “green dot” culture over results
• Real stories of burnout, PTO guilt, and leaders who say “set boundaries” but expect 24/7 availability
• The generational clash over hustle culture, career growth, and work-life expectations
• What France’s “Right to Disconnect” law shows us about protecting employee wellbeing
• How commitment bias skews performance reviews and promotability decisions

Jenny and Sarah also get personal about their different leadership styles. One is wired to respond immediately, the other is comfortable letting things wait, and how those differences play out when managing clients, careers, and sanity.

If you’ve ever been penalized for taking a vacation, wondered why promotions go to the loudest hustlers, or debated whether “healthy boundaries” and “career growth” can actually co-exist in today’s workplace, this episode is for you.

We want your take. Have you seen the detachment paradox play out in your own company? Or caught yourself judging employees (or yourself) for unplugging? Share your story with us on Instagram @wtfisbusinesscasual.

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Jenny and Sarah rip into the black hole of modern work life: meetings. Endless updates, back-to-back Zooms, and “quick syncs” that somehow eat your entire day. It’s no wonder productivity is tanking.

They break down:

• Why update meetings are the real productivity killers
• The hidden cost of meetings when you factor in salaries (spoiler: it’s a lot)
• How stripping recurring meetings off the calendar could actually fix workplace culture

With plenty of side-eye for the corporate “I’ll give you three minutes back” lie, Jenny and Sarah also share horror stories of leaders who confused talking with working.

If your team’s working nights and weekends because their days are filled with meetings, you’re not leading, you’re clogging the damn pipes.

And if your meeting could’ve been an email, it probably should’ve been.

Highlights:
[01:57] The one-hour meeting that inspired this rant
[04:39] What if meetings had a running cost ticker?
[09:45] Dropbox’s 3D model for meetings (debate, discuss, decide—or don’t meet)
[13:49] The “no update meetings” rule every workplace needs
[17:27] A company that wiped all meetings—and only brought back what mattered
[23:34] Why recurring meetings are the productivity death spiral
[30:36] Your end-of-year challenge: cancel everything and start fresh

🎧 Hit play, because your workplace culture isn’t broken, it’s just buried under bad meetings.

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Jenny and Sarah lay down the leadership boundaries that keep their teams sane, their workdays functional, and their patience intact.

From bosses who brag about “open door” policies but vanish when the tough stuff hits, to leaders who think skipping lunch is a sign of commitment (spoiler: it’s not), they’re calling out the habits that quietly wreck morale, and the ones that actually build trust.

You’ll get:

• Boundaries that protect your time and your credibility
• How follow-through turns you from “just a manager” into a trusted leader
• HR horror stories about leaders who couldn’t manage a coffee order, let alone a team

Respecting your boundaries is the first step to getting anyone else to respect them too.

Highlights:
[00:02] “Non-negotiables” without the corporate handbook jargon
[08:15] When “availability” turns into a 24/7 leash
[19:45] The follow-up that shifted team trust overnight
[34:20] Why skipping lunch is a terrible leadership flex
[47:10] Red flags that scream “don’t follow this person”

What’s your leadership non-negotiable? DM us @‌WTFisBusinessCasual or send a voice note, we might share it in a future episode.