In episode 41 of The HR Famous Podcast, long-time HR leaders (and friends) Tim Sackett, Kris Dunn, and Jessica Lee discuss the impact of the new Florida minimum wage passed in the November election cycle and the passing of the Zappos’ CEO Tony Hsieh, including his impact on the world of company culture and HR.
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2:45 – The HR Famous crew opens the pod by sharing their Black Friday deals. Tim is the main shopper of the group and he bought four pairs of shoes, seven pairs of pants, lots of quarter zips, socks, and Christmas gifts for his family.
6:10 – First topic of the year: Florida passed an increase in the minimum wage to $15 (from $8.60) by the year 2026. About 60% of voters voted to pass the raising of Florida’s minimum wage.
8:40 – Tim thinks that they had an easy job to pass this proposal because the increase is several years away. He also notes studies that show minimum wage increases reduce suicide attempts.
10:00 – JLee thinks this opens up an interesting conversation since some people may have crossed the aisle and split their ballot to vote for the minimum wage raise.
11:30 – Tim notes that he saw this ticket splitting in many different areas across the country between candidates and proposals or plans.
14:00 – Tim and JLee think that a raise in minimum wage will become a consumer tax instead of a job decrease.
14:40 – KD disagrees and thinks that this may actually hurt small businesses and benefit big corporations since they have more ability to handle that increase.
17:00 – KD also thinks that compression in wages may happen with a pay increase, and the impact of compression is something most don’t think about with minimum wage increases.
20:00 – Last topic of the day: Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh passed away on Nov. 27. He has been responsible for a lot of important HR principles that are used today.
21:30 – Tim says his biggest takeaway from Tony Hsieh is allowing HR to test just about anything. Tim wrote this post about Tony Hsieh in 2009 and he commented.
24:00 – JLee notes the importance of Tony Hsieh as a very visible Asian-American leader.
26:00 – KD, JLee, and Tim share their favorite contributions to the HR dialog that came from Zappos. Conversations include hiring people that don’t act like the norm at your company, holacracy and paying people to leave!
