Human Solutions: Simplifying HR for People who Love HR

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May 2026

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Welcome to Human Solutions, a show that simplifies HR for people who love HR. Each week, we’ll showcase a bite-sized conversation dedicated to helping you get your arms around an HR challenge. Who are we? From talent management, training, and compliance to compensation analysis and onsite services, AIM HR Solutions is committed to meeting you and your organizations where you are. The people on this show have decades of experience developing solutions for the issues you’re facing right now. This show is their chance to share.

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June 16, 2026Episode 528 min

Workplace Investigations with Sarah Piscatelli and Tom Jones

Every HR professional knows the feeling: a complaint comes in, and you sense that whatever you do next could be read back to you under oath. This week, Pete Wright sits down with AIM HR Solutions' Sarah Piscatelli and Tom Jones to talk through how to run a workplace investigation that actually holds up — starting with the question employers ask most, "Do I even have to investigate?"From anonymous complaints and he-said-she-said standoffs to the difference between a real policy violation and ordinary workplace drama, the conversation gets practical fast. Along the way: who should hold the pen, when to call in an outside investigator, why you can't promise the confidentiality everyone wants, and the retaliation trap that snares companies even after they've won. Plus, what invisible recording devices and AI note-takers mean for HR in a two-party-consent state.Links & NotesAIM HR Solutionshttps://aimhrsolutions.comHRInfo@AIMHRSolutions.com | 617-488-8321AIM HR Helpline (for AIM members)https://aimnet.org/hr-helpline/800-470-6277 | helpline@aimnet.orgMonday–Friday, 8:30 a.m.–5:00 p.m. ETEEOC — Questions and Answers: Enforcement Guidance on Retaliation and Related IssuesMassachusetts Commission Against Discrimination (MCAD)Massachusetts Wiretap Statute — M.G.L. c. 272, § 99 (two-party consent / interception of wire and oral communications) AIM HR Solutions Training CatalogAIM members can reach the HR Helpline at 800-470-6277 or helpline@aimnet.org for inquiries Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. (EST). Email requests will be responded to within 24 hours.

May 19, 2026Episode 430 min

Pre-Hiring Assessments: Smarter Hiring or Hidden Risk?

Employers love the idea of a hiring tool that does the hard work for them — a test that surfaces the right candidate before the interview even starts. But the gap between a useful assessment and a discrimination claim is narrower than most HR leaders realize, and in Massachusetts, the ground keeps shifting underneath them.This month, Terry Cook and Sarah Piscatelli walk Pete through the real stakes of pre-hiring assessments: what counts as job-related, what the EEOC has already shut down, and why the rise of AI-powered video interviews is creating a brand-new category of legal exposure. If your hiring process leans on any kind of test — physical, technical, behavioral, or otherwise — this is the conversation to hear before you run another candidate through it.Links & NotesAIM members can reach the HR Helpline at 800-470-6277 or helpline@aimnet.org for inquiries Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. (EST). Email requests will be responded to within 24 hours. AIM Blog - Ask the Helpline: Are Your Hiring Assessments Creating Legal Risk?Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures of 1978 Code of Federal Regulations AIM HR Solutions Training CatalogAIM members can reach the HR Helpline at 800-470-6277 or helpline@aimnet.org for inquiries Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. (EST). Email requests will be responded to within 24 hours.

April 21, 2026Episode 330 min

Orientation & Onboarding with Kyle Pardo & Annette Dupree

Here's a question worth sitting with before we get into it: when's the last time a new hire walked into your organization and really landed? Not just completed their paperwork, not just got their badge and their laptop — but actually felt like they understood where they were, why it mattered, and where they fit in it? Because if you're like most employers, you're probably conflating two things that are doing very different jobs. Orientation and onboarding. They're not the same thing, and treating them like they are is quietly costing your people.Today, Kyle Pardo and Annette Dupree from AIM HR Solutions are here to untangle them — what each one is actually supposed to do, where AI can genuinely help and where it absolutely cannot, and how a thoughtful, intentional new hire experience can be the difference between a great long-term hire and a frustrating early exit.AIM members can reach the HR Helpline at 800-470-6277 or helpline@aimnet.org for inquiries Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. EST. Email requests will be responded to within 24 hours. AIM HR Solutions Training CatalogAIM members can reach the HR Helpline at 800-470-6277 or helpline@aimnet.org for inquiries Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. (EST). Email requests will be responded to within 24 hours.

March 17, 2026Episode 231 min

Manufacturing HR Shifts, Safety, and the Weight of Plant Life with Terry Cook & Stacey Wenczel

Manufacturing is one of those environments that exposes every gap in your HR infrastructure fast. When you're covering three shifts, managing safety committees, handling workers' comp, and trying to get information to people who don't have a company email address, "strategic HR" starts to feel like a luxury. This episode, Terry Cook and Stacey Wenczel join Pete to talk about what it actually looks like to do HR in a plant environment — the strain, the workarounds, and the risks that quietly accumulate when no one's watching.The conversation covers a lot of ground: how shift supervisors end up doing de facto HR work on overnight shifts and why that creates its own resentment and risk; why safety committees work best when someone who doesn't work in an area is the one walking through it; and how accommodation requests in physically demanding roles force a more honest conversation about essential job functions than most HR professionals are used to having. Terry also demystifies donning and doffing — the question of whether the time employees spend putting on and taking off protective equipment is compensable — and why the location of your time clock matters more than you'd think.The episode closes with a discussion of safety training cadence, repeat workers' comp incidents, and what it takes to build a culture where employees trust HR enough to actually come to them. Terry and Stacey also share details on AIM's Supervisor Essentials training series, with upcoming sessions available this spring.Links & ResourcesFind the Perfect Training Resource in our updated 2026 Training Catalog!AIM members can reach the HR Helpline at 800-470-6277 or helpline@aimnet.org for inquiries Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. (EST). Email requests will be responded to within 24 hours.AIM HR Solutions Supervisor Essentials Training Upcoming public sessions available in April — virtual format, open enrollment https://aimhrsolutions.com/learning-development/ AIM HR Solutions Training CatalogAIM members can reach the HR Helpline at 800-470-6277 or helpline@aimnet.org for inquiries Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. (EST). Email requests will be responded to within 24 hours.

February 17, 2026Episode 127 min

Taking Family Leave: What People Wish They Knew with Sarah Piscatelli and Mary McNally

Bonding leave sounds straightforward: an employee has a baby, takes time off, and returns to work. But Sarah Piscatelli and Mary McNally from AIM HR Solutions know that the space between a well-intentioned law and its practical implementation is where almost every employer gets stuck. Not because the law is unclear, but because making it work requires navigating overlapping state and federal regulations, measurement periods that don't align, and scenarios the drafters probably didn't anticipate.In this episode, Pete talks with Sarah and Mary about why bonding leave has become one of the most frequently used and most frequently misunderstood benefits in Massachusetts HR. They explore how 12 weeks of bonding leave can combine with medical leave to reach 26 weeks total, how that coordinates (or doesn't) with FMLA and an older state parental leave law still on the books, and what happens when both parents work for the same company or when an employee wants to take leave intermittently rather than all at once. They discuss why there's no standardization in how doctors approve medical recovery time, why taking a vacation during bonding leave isn't fraud, and why a benefit designed to support families requires HR professionals to operate as project managers just to keep everything compliant.Press play to discover why something that sounds simple becomes intricate the moment you try to implement it—and what it takes to get it right.AIM members can reach the HR Helpline at 800-470-6277 or helpline@aimnet.org for inquiries Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. (EST). Email requests will be responded to within 24 hours.Links & NotesMassachusetts Department of Family and Medical Leave (DFML)Official PFML program information and employer resourceshttps://www.mass.gov/orgs/department-of-family-and-medical-leaveU.S. Department of Labor - FMLA InformationFederal Family and Medical Leave Act guidelineshttps://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/fmlaMassachusetts Parental Leave Act (1972)Information on the eight-week unpaid parental leave statutehttps://www.mass.gov/info-details/massachusetts-law-about-parental-leave AIM HR Solutions Training CatalogAIM members can reach the HR Helpline at 800-470-6277 or helpline@aimnet.org for inquiries Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. (EST). Email requests will be responded to within 24 hours.

December 16, 2025Episode 1131 min

Recalibration 2025: Federal Contractors, Remote Work, and the Morale Crisis

The workplace in 2025 feels like it's moving at double speed. Federal contractors saw affirmative action requirements disappear virtually overnight. DEI programs have gone from top priority to barely mentioned in less than a year. AI is racing ahead of regulation, and states like Massachusetts are charting their own course while the federal government pulls in the opposite direction.Pete Wright sits down with Tom Jones and Kyle Pardo to make sense of it all. They walk through what the rollback of Executive Order 11246 means for employers still figuring out what they're required to track, how DEI is quietly shifting toward broader inclusion efforts, and why Massachusetts employers need to watch for changes to state average weekly wage calculations. The conversation also touches on what AI regulation might look like when the technology is evolving faster than lawmakers can keep up, and why remote work mandates are hitting morale harder than many leaders expected.But the biggest revelation comes from AIM's latest HR practices survey: for the first time in years, employee engagement and morale have become the number one priority for employers heading into 2026, surpassing even compensation. It's a signal that something fundamental has shifted in how organizations are thinking about their people. This episode offers a clear-eyed look at the year that was and what HR teams should be watching as they head into the next.AIM members can reach the HR Helpline at 800-470-6277 or helpline@aimnet.org for inquiries Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. (EST). Email requests will be responded to within 24 hours. Links & NotesExecutive Order 11246 (Wikipedia overview) — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Executive_Order_11246 (historical context and 2025 repeal information)I-9 Central (USCIS) — https://www.uscis.gov/i-9-central (comprehensive I-9 compliance guidance)Form I-9 (USCIS) — https://www.uscis.gov/i-9 (current form and instructions)Handbook for Employers M-274 — https://www.uscis.gov/i-9-central/form-i-9-resources/handbook-for-employers-m-274 (detailed guidance for completing I-9)Massachusetts Workers' Compensation Rates — https://www.mass.gov/info-details/minimum-and-maximum-compensation-rates (official state average weekly wage information)Massachusetts PFML 2025 Updates — https://www.fisherphillips.com/en/news-insights/massachusetts-employers-should-prepare-for-2026-paid-family-and-medical-leave-updates.html (state average weekly wage and benefit updates)State AI Legislation 2025 (Future of Privacy Forum) — https://fpf.org/blog/the-state-of-state-ai-legislative-approaches-to-ai-in-2025/ (comprehensive analysis of state AI laws)NCSL Artificial Intelligence 2025 Legislation — https://www.ncsl.org/technology-and-communication/artificial-intelligence-2025-legislation (tracker of AI bills by state)State AI Laws 2025 (White & Case) — https://www.whitecase.com/insight-alert/california-kentucky-tracking-rise-state-ai-laws-2025 (detailed breakdown of enacted state AI laws) AIM HR Solutions Training CatalogAIM members can reach the HR Helpline at 800-470-6277 or helpline@aimnet.org for inquiries Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. (EST). Email requests will be responded to within 24 hours.

November 25, 2025Episode 1030 min

Leaves & Accommodations: The HR Playbook for Getting It Right

There is a specific moment in the life of a Human Resources professional that is fraught with a peculiar kind of tension. It happens when a door opens, an employee sits down, and they say, simply, "I need something to change."We like to think of the workplace as a rational machine, governed by clear inputs and outputs. But what happens when the machine encounters the messy, unpredictable reality of the human body? In this episode of Human Solutions, we explore the "messiest corner of HR": the medical accommodation.Host Pete Wright and AIM HR Solutions’ Terry Cook take us into the labyrinth of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). It turns out, the difference between a lawsuit and a success story often hinges on things we rarely think about—the precise wording of a job description, the speed of a reply, and the strange social dynamics of an office chair.We explore why the most dangerous thing a manager can do is try to be "nice" without a process, why "undue hardship" is much harder to prove than you think, and the uncomfortable silence HR must maintain when the rest of the staff starts asking why that guy got to work from home.It is a conversation about the friction between compassion and compliance, and why, sometimes, the best way to help a human being is to strictly follow the rules.In this episode, we cover:The "Magic Words" Myth: Why an employee never actually has to say "disability" or "accommodation" to trigger a legal obligation.The Interactive Process: Why the answer isn't "yes" or "no," but rather a conversation about what is safe and essential.The Trap of Benevolence: How granting a request off the books can create a precedent that makes future equity impossible.The Paradox of the Chair: A look at how a $1,000 ergonomic chair can disrupt the morale of an entire department—and why morale doesn't count as an "undue hardship".The Manager’s Dilemma: How to train supervisors to handle the frustration of not being allowed to know why their employee is being treated differently.Links & NotesThe Job Accommodation Network (JAN): A critical toolkit for understanding workplace accommodations.AskJAN.orgCompliance Resources:ADA.govEEOC: Employer ResponsibilitiesAIM HR Helpline: For AIM members dealing with complex accommodation scenarios.Phone: 800-470-6277Email: helpline@aimnet.org AIM HR Solutions Training CatalogAIM members can reach the HR Helpline at 800-470-6277 or helpline@aimnet.org for inquiries Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. (EST). Email requests will be responded to within 24 hours.

October 21, 2025Episode 932 min

Return to Office, Reduction in Force: HR’s Toughest Balancing Act

There’s a moment every HR professional remembers — that first email, that first conversation, that first tremor in the air when “return to office” stopped being a policy discussion and started being personal. Three years ago, the message was simple: Stay home, stay safe. Now it’s: Come back. And in between, everything about how we work — and what we value — has changed.In this episode of Human Solutions, Pete Wright sits down with AIM HR Solutions’ Tom Jones and Annette Dupree to explore the strange, often uneasy middle ground between flexibility and structure, empathy and compliance. It’s a story about the quiet negotiations happening in every workplace — between leaders trying to rebuild culture and employees trying to preserve the balance they finally found.Annette starts with something deceptively simple: mindset. What if return-to-office isn’t about control, but reconnection? What if the message isn’t we need you here, but we miss you here? From that shift, a thousand possibilities open up — from reimagining flexibility to reframing belonging.Tom, meanwhile, brings the legal lens: what happens when compassion meets compliance? When a doctor’s note becomes a line in the sand? He explains the fine print of the interactive dialogue — that delicate conversation between employee, manager, and HR that determines what’s possible and what isn’t. It’s the kind of process that sounds bureaucratic but, done right, can restore trust instead of eroding it.And then there’s the harder truth: sometimes, it isn’t about coming back. It’s about who comes back. Reductions in force test the soul of an organization. Tom and Annette walk through how to make those decisions — how to document criteria, avoid bias, and resist the all-too-human temptation to let frustration drive strategy. Because when layoffs happen, the work doesn’t end. It shifts.This is an episode about the messy, necessary work of being human at work — and the leaders who try, every day, to get it right. AIM HR Solutions Training CatalogAIM members can reach the HR Helpline at 800-470-6277 or helpline@aimnet.org for inquiries Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. (EST). Email requests will be responded to within 24 hours.

September 16, 2025Episode 830 min

Pay Transparency Starts Here: What to Do Before October 29

We like to think numbers are neutral. Post a range, satisfy a rule, move on. But in practice, a salary range is a story: a public promise about who you are as an employer and how decisions get made when nobody’s in the room. With the October 29 go-live for Massachusetts pay transparency, that story becomes visible. In this conversation, Kyle Pardo and Dan Baker map the terrain employers actually face on deadline day—what must change in your postings and internal moves, what “good-faith” looks like in the real world, and why “set-and-forget” quickly unravels once hiring pressure shows up. Then we zoom out. Because transparency is both a superficial checkbox, and also a organizational mirror. Handle it well and you compress time in your hiring funnel, reduce second-guessing inside teams, and earn the trust that makes retention boring—in the best possible way. Handle it poorly and you invite the kind of quiet churn that never announces itself until it’s expensive. This is a practical briefing—mechanics, messaging, and a short countdown plan—but it’s also an invitation to use a mandate to make your culture sharper, fairer, and easier to believe.Links and NotesPay Transparency from the AG websitePrevious podcast episode on Pay Transparency 101 AIM HR Solutions Training CatalogAIM members can reach the HR Helpline at 800-470-6277 or helpline@aimnet.org for inquiries Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. (EST). Email requests will be responded to within 24 hours.

September 2, 2025Episode 754 min

When Policy Meets People: Immigration and HR

We like to think the workplace is a place of routine—a clock in, clock out kind of world. But for many immigrants, and for the employers who hire them, work has become a legal maze. Today, we look at what it means to operate in the shadow of ICE, to lead in the face of changing rules, and to humanize the labor force behind the policy headlines. Welcome to this special episode of Human Solutions: Simplifying HR for People who Love HR from AIM HR Solutions. I’m Pete Wright, and today, we’re pulling back the curtain on one of the most misunderstood and under-discussed aspects of the American workplace: immigration. Our focus is on just policy, sure. But even more important: it's people. It’s fear. It’s the daily decisions business leaders have to make without a clear map. Joining us to help navigate this are two remarkable experts: Ana Cristina Chavez, Corporate Engagement Specialist at MIRA, and AIM's Senior Vice President Employer Services Terry Cook.Links & NotesGovernor's Office Guidance for Employers Regarding Immigration and Work AuthorizationNew Americans in MassachusettsNational Immigration Law Center • What to Do if Immigration Comes to Your WorkplaceModel Workplace Policy for Responding to Immigration and Customs enforcement • Asian Americans Advancing Justice AIM HR Solutions Training CatalogAIM members can reach the HR Helpline at 800-470-6277 or helpline@aimnet.org for inquiries Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. (EST). Email requests will be responded to within 24 hours.