“Transparency” sounds like a good thing…but is it always? When should you share personal info with your boss? What if you know a layoff is coming? This week, Jen and Sara look at tough situations about disclosing information—and help two listeners with very different scenarios decide whether spilling the tea is the right thing to do, or if it’ll cause more harm than good. 

Links:

• Explore the depths of WaterTok
• Episode 8: Why you gotta be so rude?
• The Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978 (USA)
• The Equality Act of 2010 (England, Scotland, Wales)

Got a work situation eating away at you? Send it to us! Submit your dilemma at 

PMLEshow.com

What do you do when your burnout doesn’t just feel like exhaustion, but more like disillusionment—and maybe even cynicism? In today’s episode, Sara and Jen tackle questions from listeners who are struggling to keep afloat amid job search burnout, career malaise, and the kinds of communication breakdowns that leave us questioning, well, everything. 

Links:

• Layoffs.fyi is tracking aggregate numbers of tech industry layoffs.
• According to Techcrunch, we’re probably past the worst of it.
• You don’t have to love networking, but you probably need to make peace with it. Jennifer Kim’s guide can help.

Got a work situation eating away at you? Send it to us! Submit your dilemma at PMLEshow.com. 

Managers being paid less than their ICs, punitive raise structures, cryptic pay bands…this week’s submitters are really going through it. But how do you start the compensation conversation when information is hard to come by? And what do you do when you’re told that there’s no way you’ll get a raise—just accept being paid less than your peers forever? This week, Sara and Jen tackle questions of pay inequity, when it’s time to fight, and when it might be time to move on.   

Links:

• Curious what other people in the field are making? Take a look at the Global UX Compensation Database!
• For Equal Pay Day, Survey Monkey polled users on their beliefs about pay equity. It found that “men and younger Americans are the most likely to incorrectly believe that genders are paid equally for similar jobs.”
• Join Rachel de Jong for Own Your Impact with StrengthsFinder

Got a work situation eating away at you? Send it to us! Submit your dilemma at 

PMLEshow.com.

For many of us, our work identity and sense of self have become tied in a big knot. When your job has become your identity, it's easy to get stuck. How do you know when it’s time to stay and fight for change, or move onto something new? This week, Sara and Jen work through dilemmas from folks looking for a way forward—without losing themselves in the process.

Links:

• If Books Could Kill: Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus
• Join The Courageous Leadership Program

Got a work situation eating away at you? Send it to us! Submit your dilemma at 

PMLEshow.com.

It shouldn’t be this hard to find a job that pays you well, fulfills you, and keeps your values intact. But when disillusionment and burnout strike, it can be hard to deal with workplace tradeoffs. Is the answer simply to strike out on your own?

Navigating uncertainty, building your identity outside of work, and juggling passion projects: this week, Sara and Jen tackle dilemmas from folks looking for ways to align work with their values—without going broke.  

Links:

• Schedule a strategy session with Sara or Jen 

Got a work situation eating away at you? Send it to us! Submit your dilemma at 

PMLEshow.com.

Ever dealt with someone demanding that you find them a new job? Or have a friend and colleague go cold and ghost you the moment you get laid off? What about getting berated and then iced out by the head of your org? 

Other people’s unkind, over-the-top, and just plain rude behavior can make you question everything—even yourself. So how do you find a path forward? That’s what Sara and Jen tackle in this week’s episode. 

Links:

• Post-pandemic incivility on the rise
• Meet your shadow self
• Nonviolent communication and the “Four Ds of Disconnection”

Got a work situation eating away at you? Send it to us! Submit your dilemma at 

PMLEshow.com

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Dehumanizing hiring processes, swoop-and-poop bosses, and maybe the biggest question of all: does my design work even matter if I don’t care about propping up capitalism? This week, Sara and Jen answer dilemmas about pushing back against exploitative requests, working around a faux-inclusive boss, and managing disillusionment with design. And through it all, a theme emerges: How do you handle the tension between two conflicting truths? 

Links:

• The 2023 Content Design and UX writing survey results Sara worked on 
• Ask a Manager: Should you do free work as part of a job interview?
• How to use “job crafting” to make your work more meaningful

Got a work situation eating away at you? Send it to us! Submit your dilemma at PMLEshow.com

Canceled 1:1s, unrecognized accomplishments, meetings that drag on for eternity…oh my. When you have a conflict with your manager, it can feel incredibly risky to speak up. But having the courage to broach a difficult topic can be the first step toward real change. In this episode, Sara and Jen talk self-advocacy: how to identify your needs, outline desired outcomes—and actually START the conversation! 

Links:

• Read up on how the Wage Gap Shortchanges Mothers
• Can you believe working moms get 58 cents for every dollar dads earn?
• Check out this study from Gender Action Portal
• More on how work from home is increasing bias against working mothers
• Required reading: Women in the Workplace 2022 study by McKinsey & Company and Lean In
• How do you create a culture of psychological safety? Learn from Amy Edmonson’s Ted Talk and Alla Weinberg’s book A Culture of Safety. (Psst—you can download the book for free!)
• Go get that COIN (Context, Observations, Impact, and Next Steps, that is)

Got a work situation eating away at you? Send it to us! Submit your dilemma at 

PMLEshow.com.

Layoffs are on a lot of people’s brains right now—but the challenges and complicated feelings aren’t limited to those who were laid off. In a bit of a companion to last week’s episode, Sara and Jen help listeners work through how to move on after others have lost their jobs, how to find your footing if your role has changed in a post-layoff reorg, and how to be present and supportive to loved ones who are struggling when your own work is going well.

Links:

• Identify your needs with BICEPS
• We’re SURE you deserve to ask for what you need at work
• Let’s all “sit in the shit” with Samira Rajabi

Got a work situation eating away at you? Send it to us! Submit your dilemma at PMLEshow.com

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From the surprise notice, to the advance tipoff, to the not-even-one-year-in-your-role dissolution, layoffs take many forms. But hardly any of us give ourselves the space to grieve the loss before we throw ourselves back into the job search. This week, Sara and Jen discuss how to be kind to yourself after a layoff, build a sustainable action plan even in a tough job market, and avoid sinking into panic mode along the way. 

Links:

• Tracking tech layoffs with layoffs.fyi 
• We ❤️ a feelings wheel
• Is it just grief, or is it institutional betrayal? (CW for sexual assault)

Got a work situation eating away at you? Send it to us! Submit your dilemma at 

PMLEshow.com.