Truth, Lies and Work

Welcome back to Truth, Lies & Work, the award-winning workplace podcast where behavioural science meets workplace culture. This week we’re deconstructing the "cockroaches of the employment world," exploring a new AI tool that helps you nail your next interview, and digging into the data to see if hiring for "culture fit" is actually a good idea.

🔥 Stories Covered

1. The $75 Lunch That Beats Any Exit Interview
Headhunter Nick Corcodilos calls exit interviews the "cockroaches" of the employment world—they serve little purpose, yet they never die. Because departing employees often fear burning bridges, they give safe, generic answers.


The Alternative: Wait six months after an employee leaves and invite them to a casual lunch.


The Benefit: Time changes the dynamic. Former employees are more objective and willing to provide grounded feedback for the price of a meal.


Source: Inc. Magazine - https://www.inc.com/suzanne-lucas/the-75-lunch-that-beats-any-exit-interview/91319277

2. Stop Guessing, Start Coaching: HowToJob & Interviewly
Al explores HowToJob, an all-in-one platform built by HR veteran Milo Sevelj to help candidates navigate a brutal job market.


Interviewly: A standout feature that generates role-specific interview questions and provides structured feedback on your recorded answers.


The Impact: It moves beyond practicing in a mirror by giving candidates real-time data on what landed and what didn't.


Connect with Milo Sevelj: https://www.linkedin.com/in/milosevelj/

3. The Power of Intergenerational Teams
New research suggests that age diversity isn't just something to "manage"—it’s a competitive advantage.


The Findings: Older workers feel more employable and capable when they regularly interact and share knowledge with younger colleagues.


The Key: It’s not just about sitting next to each other; it’s about a two-way flow of experience and new skills.


Source: Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology - https://bpspsychub.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/joop.70061?af=R

🧠 Truth or Lie: You Should Hire for Culture Fit
Around 80% of employers prioritize "culture fit," but Leanne digs into the evidence to see if it actually predicts success.


The Truth: Fit does predict job satisfaction (19%) and organizational commitment (26%).


The Lie: It is one of the weakest predictors of actual job performance, accounting for less than 1% of the variance.


The Verdict: "Culture fit" is often a subjective "airport test" that lets bias in the back door. Instead, look for "Culture Add."

💬 Workplace Surgery
This week, we tackle three tough listener dilemmas:


The Policy Trap: How do you enforce a 5-day return-to-office mandate when you don’t believe in it yourself?


The Complicity Crisis: If your employer treats you well but treats others poorly, are you complicit by staying?


Scaling Culture: How do you move from "being the culture" to building a culture that works without you as the team grows?

📬 Connect with Al & Leanne
– LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/truthlieswork
– Al Elliott: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thisisalelliott
– Leanne Elliott: https://www.linkedin.com/in/meetleanne
– Email: [email protected]
– Book a call: https://savvycal.com/meetleanne/chat

Mental health support
UK & ROI — Samaritans Call 116 123 or visit https://www.samaritans.org
UK — Mind Call 0300 123 3393 or visit https://www.mind.org.uk
US — Suicide & Crisis Lifeline Call or text 988 or visit https://988lifeline.org
Australia — Lifeline Call 13 11 14 or visit https://www.lifeline.org.au
Global helplines
https://findahelpline.com

🎧 Truth, Lies & Work is part of the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals. Listen to all the shows here: https://www.hubspot.com/podcastnetwork

Fifteen years ago, Jeffrey Fermin co-founded OfficeVibe, one of the world's first employee pulse survey platforms. Since then, the HR tech market has exploded with over 200 similar tools, yet global employee disengagement remains stubbornly high.

In this very honest episode, Jeffrey joins Al and Leanne to explain why the industry he helped create hasn't solved the problem it promised to fix. We dive into the "subscription economy" traps of HR Tech, the rise of "job hugging" in 2025/26, and why your fancy engagement dashboard might actually be making things worse.

🔥 What we cover this week:


The "Vitamin" vs. "Painkiller" Problem: Why most engagement tools only show you the problem but provide no help in actually fixing it.


The Ethics of AI in HR: How AI should act as an "amplifier, not a replacement" for human relations by removing manual tasks and surfacing contextual themes.


Job Hugging: Why employees are clinging to roles out of fear in the current market, and why this is actually the best time for employers to double down on culture.


Stop Building for the Dashboard: Jeffrey’s biggest regret from his early startup days and why we need to stop building for HR metrics and start building for the employee experience.


The Difference Between Engagement & Relations: How to distinguish between general culture "vibes" and serious employee safety or compliance issues that require platforms like AllVoices.

🎙️ Guest Information

Jeffrey Fermin is the Head of Demand Generation at AllVoices and the host of the People First podcast. He is a pioneer in the people analytics space and a vocal advocate for ethical, actionable HR technology.


Email: [email protected]


Website: www.allvoices.co


LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jfermin


Social Media (IG, TikTok, Youtube, Threads): @fermintalkswork


Podcast (YouTube): People First Podcast

📬 Connect with Al & Leanne

– LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/truthlieswork
– Al Elliott: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thisisalelliott
– Leanne Elliott: https://www.linkedin.com/in/meetleanne
– Email: [email protected]
– Book a call: https://savvycal.com/meetleanne/chat

🧠 Mental health support

UK & ROI — Samaritans Call 116 123 or visit https://www.samaritans.org

UK — Mind Call 0300 123 3393 or visit https://www.mind.org.uk

US — Suicide & Crisis Lifeline Call or text 988 or visit https://988lifeline.org

Australia — Lifeline Call 13 11 14 or visit https://www.lifeline.org.au

Global helplines — https://findahelpline.com

Truth, Lies & Work is part of the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals.

Welcome back to Truth, Lies & Work, the award-winning workplace podcast where behavioural science meets workplace culture. This week, we’re diving into the "Corporate Bullshit Receptivity Scale," exploring why a university degree might be holding your hiring back, and debunking the toxic productivity of the 3:50 AM wake-up call.

🔥 Stories Covered

1. The Science of "Corporate Bullshit"
Leanne introduces the Corporate Bullshit Receptivity Scale, a real psychological study from Cornell University.


The Definition: "Corporate Bullshit" is defined as semantically empty jargon used in a functionally misleading way.


The Finding: Research shows that people who find vague, jargon-heavy statements profound often score lower on analytical thinking and decision-making.


The Impact: In the workplace, rewarding this language leads to worse decisions and a culture of performance over substance.

2. The Rise of "New-Collar" Jobs
Al explores a term coined by the former CEO of IBM: New-Collar jobs.


Skills over Degrees: These are highly skilled, well-paid roles in AI, cybersecurity, and tech that don't require a traditional university degree.


The Stats: It's predicted that 60% of new jobs created between 2020 and 2030 will be "new-collar."


The Barrier: Despite the talent shortage, 60% of employers still reject candidates with the right skills simply because they lack a degree.

3. Would You Walk Out of a Messy Interview?
A viral Reddit story sparks a debate on candidate experience.


The Red Flag: A senior professional ended their application process after a recruiter failed to show up for the first interview and was late for the second.


The Lesson: Your hiring process is a direct signal of your company culture. If communication is messy before day one, candidates assume it’s messy on the inside.

🧠 Truth or Lie: Are Morning People More Successful?

Is the 5:00 AM (or 3:50 AM!) alarm truly the secret to success, or are we just glorifying sleep deprivation?


The Truth: Studies show "Larks" often earn 4-5% more than "Owls" and perform better in school.


The Lie: This isn't because morning people are more disciplined. It’s because the world (schools and 9-5 offices) is built for their biology.


The Cost: Forcing an "Owl" into a "Lark" schedule leads to Social Jetlag, higher cortisol levels, and increased risk of depression.

💬 Workplace Surgery

This week, we tackle three listener dilemmas:


The "Silent" Meeting: How do you handle it when the same two people dominate every conversation? Leanne shares tips on balancing participation without it feeling forced.


Check out our deep dive on meetings here: What if meetings were the best part of your day?


The Overwhelmed Founder: Transitioning from "doing the work" to "leading others."


The Toxic High-Performer: What to do when your top talent is quietly damaging team morale.

📬 Connect with Al & Leanne
– LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/truthlieswork
– Al Elliott: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thisisalelliott
– Leanne Elliott: https://www.linkedin.com/in/meetleanne
– Email: [email protected]
– Book a call: https://savvycal.com/meetleanne/chat

Mental health support
UK & ROI — Samaritans Call 116 123 or visit https://www.samaritans.org
UK — Mind Call 0300 123 3393 or visit https://www.mind.org.uk
US — Suicide & Crisis Lifeline Call or text 988 or visit https://988lifeline.org
Australia — Lifeline Call 13 11 14 or visit https://www.lifeline.org.au
Global helplines
https://findahelpline.com

Welcome back to Truth, Lies & Work, the award-winning workplace podcast where behavioural science meets workplace culture, brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network.

This week, we are joined by Bill Yost, a People Analytics powerhouse who has operated at the very highest levels of data-driven culture. Bill spent four years running Googlegeist, Google’s legendary annual survey that consistently achieved a staggering 90% response rate. Now leading analytics at Netflix, Bill joins Al and Leanne to explain why your employee engagement survey is likely failing—and how to fix it.

In this episode, Bill pulls back the curtain on the "snake eating itself"—the cycle of performative surveying that destroys employee trust—and shares the exact framework used by tech giants to turn data into genuine organizational change.

🔥 What we cover in this episode:


The "Goodwill Account": Why asking for feedback without the intention to act is a withdrawal from a bank account you can’t afford to drain.


Confidential vs. Anonymous: The "taboo" of anonymity and why confidential surveys are the gold standard for identifying specific team issues without compromising trust.


Closing the Loop: How Google built an entire new department based on survey feedback, and why you must "close the loop" loudly to maintain engagement.


The Art of the Dashboard: Distinguishing between data "curation" for executives and "exploration" for analysts to avoid the misery of a bad dashboard.


The Return-to-Office Bias: How leaders use their own "personal lens" to interpret messy data to fit their existing biases.

📚 About Bill Yost
Connect with Bill for the best spreadsheet humor and blunt data truths:
– Website: www.billyost.net
– Website: www.billyost.com
– LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/billyost/ (Look for the pirate flag 🏴‍☠️)

Special Offer: If you are in the US and want to try some incredible cookies, visit https://cookiesworthsharon.com/ and use the code TLW for 15% off (valid for two months from the release of this episode).

📬 Connect with Al & Leanne
– LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/truthlieswork
– Al Elliott: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thisisalelliott
– Leanne Elliott: https://www.linkedin.com/in/meetleanne
– Email: [email protected]
– Book a call: https://savvycal.com/meetleanne/chat

🧠 Mental health support
UK & ROI — Samaritans: Call 116 123 or visit https://www.samaritans.org
UK — Mind: Call 0300 123 3393 or visit https://www.mind.org.uk
US — Suicide & Crisis Lifeline: Call or text 988 or visit https://988lifeline.org
Australia — Lifeline: Call 13 11 14 or visit https://www.lifeline.org.au
Global helplines: https://findahelpline.com

Truth, Lies & Work is part of the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals.

Truth, Lies & Work is part of the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals.

In this episode: We explore why "Brand Well-being" is the new secret to a 47% ROI, why a Silicon Valley startup is banning "tech bros" in favour of over-50s, and why the coworking dream is being replaced by the "proworking" revolution. Plus, we debunk the multitasking myth and solve your workplace dilemmas.

🔥 This Week in Work: The News Round-Up


Brand Well-being: The Competitive Advantage
Is your brand just a logo, or a healthy ecosystem? Leanne introduces "Brand Well-being"—the idea that success depends on the health of employees, internal culture, and customers. With research showing a 47% ROI on well-being programmes and the Work Wellbeing 100 outperforming the market, we ask: why is this still treated as an optional extra?
Fast Company Article: https://www.fastcompany.com/91474208/what-is-brand-well-being-and-can-it-give-you-a-competitive-advantage-leadership-brands-well-being


The Silicon Valley "Anti-Tech-Bro" Shift
Startup Snowcap Compute is flipping the script by hiring a team with an average age of over 50. In a hardware industry where one mistake costs nine months of progress, CEO Mike Lafferty argues that "veteran" skepticism beats "youthful" trust in models. We discuss why deep experience is becoming a primary competitive advantage.
Inc Article: https://www.inc.com/kevin-haynes/tech-bros-need-not-apply-a-silicon-valley-hiring-twist/91313738


The Death of Coworking & The Rise of "Proworking"
Is the "Bromad" era over? Al explores why serious professionals are quietly leaving open-plan coworking spaces. As home becomes the default for many, the office must offer something better: quiet, privacy, and "proworking" spaces that offer a door that actually shuts.
Forbes Article: https://www.forbes.com/councils/forbesbusinesscouncil/2025/12/15/the-private-office-revival-why-professionals-are-quietly-leaving-coworking-behind/

🧠 Truth or Lie: Can Some People Genuinely Multitask?
We put the "supertasker" under the microscope. While 2.5% of the population might handle heavy cognitive loads more efficiently, for the other 97.5% of us, multitasking is just expensive "task switching." We also look at how AI isn't making us better at juggling—it’s just taking some of the balls out of the air for us.

🏥 The Workplace Surgery


The "Zero Ambition" Contributor: Is it a problem if a top performer just wants to do their job and go home?


Leading Hard Conversations: Advice for HR pros and managers on staying neutral when things get emotional.


Podcast ROI: Is starting a business podcast in 2026 a smart growth strategy or a vanity project?

📬 Connect with Al & Leanne
– LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/truthlieswork
– Al Elliott: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thisisalelliott
– Leanne Elliott: https://www.linkedin.com/in/meetleanne
– Email: [email protected]
– Book a call: https://savvycal.com/meetleanne/chat

Mental health support
UK & ROI — Samaritans Call 116 123 or visit https://www.samaritans.org
UK — Mind Call 0300 123 3393 or visit https://www.mind.org.uk
US — Suicide & Crisis Lifeline Call or text 988 or visit https://988lifeline.org
Australia — Lifeline Call 13 11 14 or visit https://www.lifeline.org.au
Global helplines: https://findahelpline.com