The holiday season is fast approaching, and workplaces can help to keep spirits high by staying clear of potential issues surrounding gift-giving in the office. What may seem like a simple gesture between coworkers can also lead to a variety of legal pitfalls, from discrimination and harassment claims to tax implications. Business counselors Chad Ayers and Christina Hynes Mesco dive into those issues by sharing stories of their own holiday experiences at work. In this episode, we'll share suggestions for success when giving gifts to colleagues.

Chad and Christina will discuss:

• The potential implications of a manager giving gifts to subordinates
• Whether the typical "Christmas bonus" or high-value gifts should be considered as wages
• How the public and private sectors differ in their approaches to accepting gifts
• What kinds of gifts may have tax implications
• How workplaces generally treat holiday celebrations outside of gift-giving
• Inclusive alternatives to a gift exchange

To make the most of this time of year, streamline your organization's gift-giving and holiday celebrations. Tune in to hear our recommendations for how employers can show they care while also avoiding liability.

Stay Connected and Learn More

Read Chad's blog post on gift-giving

Listen to a related episode: Ep. 13 – "How Can You Throw a Safe and Appropriate Holiday Party?"

Chad Ayers

Christina Hynes Mesco

The Prinz Law Firm

Many business leaders think that a healthy workplace culture is important, but they don't always know what it takes to have one. Some companies may simply restate their values at every annual meeting and call it a day. Others may not know what their culture looks like at all. Improving the health of your workplace isn't a one-and-done thing—for as long as your company remains open, learning what is and isn't working must be an ongoing process.

Business counselor Kristen Prinz is joined by Michelle Aronson, founder of Culture + Strategy Lab and host of the True Stories at Work podcast, to dive into what it really takes to bring your workplace culture to life. By sharing real scenarios that business clients have navigated, our hosts provide insight into the link between the strength of a company's culture and its response when something goes wrong.

Michelle and Kristen explore:

· Whether culture can be measured accurately with quantitative metrics

· The responsibilities that both leadership and employees have in creating company culture

· The root causes of most culture issues

· The link between employee engagement and customer engagement

· How our personal biases cloud our ability to assess claims of workplace harassment

· What companies with the strongest cultures are doing to invest in their health

If you're aware of problems that exist in your work environment and aren't sure how to respond—or if you want to learn how to identify problems before they arise—this episode will be well worth the listen.

About Michelle Aronson

Michelle Aronson is a recovering HR executive, executive coach, and business school professor turned founder of Culture + Strategy Lab. She helps growing companies turn culture into a competitive advantage—using real strategy, not fluff.

Michelle once managed both employee and customer experience (a.k.a. half of the CEO's bonus) and learned firsthand how to uncover the invisible forces shaping culture and driving results. Today, she designs custom, measurable strategies that align leadership, culture, and business outcomes.

She also hosts True Stories at Work—a podcast sharing the best leadership stories you've never heard, from hilarious to heartbreaking, plus a few workplace confessions.

Stay Connected and Learn More

Connect with Michelle on LinkedIn

Check out Culture + Strategy Lab

Kristen Prinz

Culture audits at The Prinz Law Firm

It's an unfortunate statistic, but most people have seen or experienced some form of misconduct at work at least once in their careers. As employment attorneys and workplace investigators, Christina Hynes Mesco and Laura Feldman have seen the full gamut of these types of matters and know that even the most cautionary tales can teach us valuable lessons about how to approach these difficult, and often highly emotional, cases.

Using a recent and very public corporate scandal, Christina and Laura explore how a prominent corporation properly responded to misconduct claims and use that example as a springboard for providing their best practices for organizations faced with similar complaints.

In this episode, you will learn:

• The key role that senior leadership and even boards of directors play in addressing misconduct in the workplace and the kinds of training that both should receive

• How to ensure that senior leadership has a pulse on what's going on in an organization

• How to spot retaliation and best prevent it

• When employment insurance can impact an organization's response to misconduct claims

• Whether a complaint needs to be formally filed to treat harassment claims seriously

• Practical considerations when conducting an internal versus an external investigation

• Why culture audits are recommended for preventing and even responding to harassment claims

This episode will be a valuable guide for senior leaders, HR professionals, and managers navigating harassment claims, as well as attorneys who may be advising individuals in bringing these claims forward. Tune in to learn which practices will help you identify and prevent harassment within your team.

Stay Connected and Learn More:

Read Christina and Laura's blog on managing misconduct

Christina Hynes Mesco

Laura Feldman

The Prinz Law Firm

It's no secret that the American workplace is constantly changing. The last few years alone have witnessed major trends, from "job hugging" and a focus on mental health at work to Gen Z entering the labor force amidst a backlash against DEI initiatives. Such shifts have left business leaders struggling to navigate their new reality in a way that promotes business, inspires employees, and makes us all feel better about our jobs.

Business attorney Katie Rinkus welcomes Beth Ridley, a workplace culture consultant and the CEO of Ridley Consulting Group, to dissect these various workplace trends, explaining their effects on businesses and employees alike. Together, they shine a light on how some leaders have responded to new trends—and it's not always for the better. Often, businesses have "over-rotated," or dramatically course-corrected in ways that have had toxic effects on company culture.

In this episode, Katie and Beth explore:

• The new focus on productivity as opposed to a "culture of belonging"
• What a "belonging" looks like and why it's important at work

· Over-rotation vs. a "both/and" long-term sustainable approach to change

• The underlying factors of the "leadership trust crisis"

• How workplace trends like "quiet quitting" and "job hugging" affect employee morale

• Questions that leaders can ask themselves about the impact of their work

• What it means to prioritize "workplace emotional safety"

• Generational tension at work and ways to manage it

If you're an employee who feels overwhelmed by the uncertainty of the current climate, Beth and Katie provide a new perspective. If you're a business leader feeling the same, this episode offers insight on how to sustainably respond to the changes and still reach desired results. Tune in for a few tips on problem-solving, even when you don't have all the answers.

Beth Ridley

Beth Ridley is a former corporate executive turned workplace culture consultant, speaker, author, and CEO of Ridley Consulting Group. She helps organizations turn culture into a true competitive advantage.

Drawing on 25 years of global leadership and management consulting experience—and expertise in change management and positive psychology—Beth equips HR teams and people managers with practical roadmaps and tools to build resilient, change-ready, high-performing teams without burning people out. A recognized thought leader on leadership and workplace culture, Beth's insights are featured in national publications, on television, and from stages at events worldwide.

Beth holds degrees from the University of Virginia, Tufts University, and Columbia University, and has lived in London, Tokyo, Johannesburg, and Bangkok. She now calls Milwaukee, Wisconsin home, where she lives with her husband and three children.

Stay connected and learn more

• Follow Beth Ridley on LinkedIn

• Join Beth's newsletter

• Visit Beth's Holistic Performance Management System website

• Read Beth's article, "The Leadership Trust Crisis: Why Employees Are Tuning Out—And How to Win Them Back"

• Learn more about Katie Rinkus

• Visit The Prinz Law Firm

In this thought-provoking episode, employment and business attorney Kristen Prinz speaks with NYU Stern School of Business professor, bestselling author, and podcast host Suzy Welch to discuss her book Becoming You: The Proven Method for Crafting Your Authentic Life and Career. An outgrowth of years of research into human values, Becoming You clarifies what values really are—and what they're not—and helps readers better understand themselves and what makes them more authentically happy by finding their "area of transcendence."

Our values influence countless aspects of our lives, from the relationships we form with others to how we approach our work. But when our work is out of sync with our values, it can lead not only to personal distress, but to toxic team dynamics, misunderstanding, and all-around negativity. So how does one get back on track?

Suzy suggests the difficult task of identifying an overarching purpose, or "area of transcendence." It isn't necessarily simple work—in fact, it can be downright intimidating. But by making it easier to identify our values, Suzy's work aims to give readers the understanding and agency they need to craft a life that truly fulfills them.

In this episode, Kristen and Suzy explore:

· How Suzy's career path influenced the creation of the Becoming You methodology

· Telling the difference between values and virtues or personality traits

· The development of the Values Bridge, Suzy's test for determining one's core values

· Reasons why we might not be living our values

· What it means to live an "A+ life" and why so many people settle for a "B+ life"

· How an authentic life impacts team dynamics at work

Whether you're looking to find work that's aligned with your values, to improve the culture of your workplace, or simply want to live more authentically, Suzy's book is required reading. Dip your toe into the world of human values by listening to this episode—and take the first step toward positive change.

Stay Connected & Learn More:

Becoming You the book

Becoming You the podcast (Apple)

The Values Bridge

Suzy's website

Suzy's NYU Stern profile

Kristen Prinz

The Prinz Law Firm

In this eye-opening episode, employment attorneys Kristen Prinz and Christina Hynes Mesco explore the complex dynamics of harassment among senior executives—particularly how it impacts women in top leadership roles. Executives often have fewer avenues for reporting sexual harassment than other employees, and women continue to face disproportionate scrutiny and higher standards of behavior in the workplace. At the same time, executives are not immune from being accused of harassment themselves.

Kristen and Christina rely on their own expertise in counseling clients and litigating employment claims to explore the unique position senior women occupy in these conversations and how they can protect themselves and their teams.

Our hosts—experienced employment attorneys—discuss:

· Why senior women are often targets

· How miscommunications and unclear boundaries can lead to liability

· Why retaliation is still one of the most common mistakes companies make

· How they advise clients facing these high-stakes issues

· What effective organizational responses actually look like

· The critical importance of documenting concerns early and clearly

This episode will be instructive for C-suite leaders and aspiring executives, HR professionals and legal counsel, and anyone managing workplace culture and compliance. Whether you're an executive navigating a tricky situation or advising leadership from the wings, this episode offers essential insights on how to lead with integrity, manage risk, and promote healthier workplace culture.

Stay Connected & Learn More:

Kristen Prinz

Christina Hynes Mesco

Christina & Kristen's blog on executive harassment

The Prinz Law Firm

Social media can be a great way to stay connected to current events, but we've seen it used more and more frequently as a tool for harassment and retaliation, including in the workplace. The ongoing lawsuit between Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni is just one recent example, which features claims of a social media smear campaign—and the court of public opinion is taking sides.

Employment attorneys Kristen Prinz and Laura Feldman provide an overview of the dispute and unpack the power dynamics between a big director and an even bigger star. Using this legal saga as a test case, they explore the dangers of engaging with traditional media and the pitfalls of using social media campaigns. They also explain how employment attorneys approach retaliation claims and the professional duties of attorneys when it comes to publicizing their work.

Kristen and Laura won't weigh in on who's right or wrong in this particular case, but they will share some of the do's and dont's of using both traditional media and social media in connection with a legal claim.

Stay Connected & Learn More:

Kristen Prinz

Laura Feldman

The Prinz Law Firm

Read the Lively lawsuit

The first 100 days of the new Trump administration have been nothing but unprecedented. From terminating federal agency heads to signing controversial executive orders to the targeting of DEI efforts, both businesses and individual workers are dealing with a lot of change—and likely navigating a lot of confusion.

Prinz's marketing manager Matt Tedeschi welcomes senior associate attorney Mary Charlton to the mic to analyze some of the most significant changes from an employment law perspective and what they mean for workers nationwide. Matt and Mary offer critical insight into the sorts of activity that businesses should steer clear of in the wake of recent developments. But they also provide a roadmap for what businesses can continue to do in the workplace to maintain their values while remaining compliant with a quickly shifting political and legal landscape. This episode is necessary for anyone wondering what is no longer allowed at work—and what still is—in the wake of the Trump administration's first 100 days.

Stay Connected & Learn More:

Read our blog on the Do's & Don'ts of DEI in the Workplace

Read our blog on Trump's Anti-DEI Executive Orders

Read our blog on Trump's Purge of EEOC Officials

Read our blog on Trump's Purge of NLRB Officials

Read our blog on the Supreme Court's Affirmative Action in Admissions Case

Matt Tedeschi

Mary Charlton

The Prinz Law Firm

Earlier this year, an amendment to the Illinois Freedom to Work Act invalidated non-compete clauses that would make it more difficult for a veteran or first responder to obtain mental health services. Without timely access to proper mental health care, these groups are at a higher risk of developing conditions like PTSD from their line of work.

Partner Amit Bindra unpacks the new amendment with Operations Manager Angelia Salgado, a licensed professional counsel (PLC) who holds a master's in clinical mental health counseling. They discuss the law from the perspectives of both the legal field and the mental health industry. Amit provides background to Illinois non-compete law and explains how exactly this law changes things, while Angelia explores how mental health providers should modify their practice going forward, from introducing new paperwork to educating their teams on the amendment.

Stay Connected & Learn More:

Read our blog on the amendment

Amit Bindra

Angelia Salgado

The Prinz Law Firm

After the Trump Administration issued an executive order targeting Perkins Coie, we signed on to an amicus brief in support of the firm's lawsuit challenging the order. Since then, the administration has gone after three more firms, making collective action even more necessary to protect the rule of law.

Prinz partners Kristen Prinz and Amit Bindra provide context around the executive orders and explain why they decided to add their voices to this critical lawsuit. Why are these firms being targeted? Are these executive orders constitutional? What exactly is an amicus brief? Kristen and Amit will answer all your questions and more.

Stay Connected & Learn More:

Read about Perkins Coie's response to the executive order on their website

Read the amicus brief

Kristen Prinz

Amit Bindra

The Prinz Law Firm

Business attorney Katie Rinkus welcomes Amy M. Gardner to the mic to discuss common ways they see conflict show up in the workplace. Amy is a certified Career and Career Transitions Coach and Team Development and Leadership Consultant and the co-owner of Apochromatik, which offers team and leadership development programs to help organizations resolve conflict and reach their goals.

One of the primary causes of conflict in the workplace is a poor culture: there is a lack of vulnerability-based trust that leads people to feel undervalued and unable to speak up or to ask for help. Conflict is also commonly seen in the hiring and onboarding process. Sometimes decisions to hire are rushed, job duties are not what were originally promised, and communication is simply unclear.

Because culture issues, lack of communication, and conflict can, as Amy says, "cost money and happiness," it's important for organizations to address these issues. Ongoing training—not just for management but for entire teams—can help things run more smoothly no matter the conflict flashpoint, especially when a team is trained on navigating difficult conversations.

Join Katie and Amy as they unpack conflict at work and how to best respond to it so that we all can make work better for each other.

Amy M. Gardner

Amy M. Gardner works with law firms and corporations to reengage teams and help them thrive by utilizing Apochromatik's proprietary Team Driven Leadership approach to build leadership skills, improve relationships, strengthen emotional intelligence, have difficult conversations, and more. She also works with lawyers to advance or transition in their careers.

Her work with teams and lawyers draws on her unique experience as a former Big Law associate, partner at a mid-size Chicago firm, and dean of students at the University of Chicago Law School. She received her MA in Public Policy and Administration from Northwestern University, JD from the University of Chicago, and BA from Luther College, as well as certifications in team and leadership coaching, 1:1 coaching, and various assessments. Her expertise has been featured in media including numerous podcasts, ABA publications, Corporette, Glassdoor, Health, Monster, NBC, and Women's Running magazine. Connect with Amy at [email protected].

Stay Connected & Learn More:

Amy M. Gardner on LinkedIn

Katie Rinkus

Apochromatik

Team Driven Leadership

The Prinz Law Firm