MESSAGE FROM OUR CEO’S DESK

Let’s talk about work friends. We talk a lot about networking and community in HR, but we rarely talk about what happens when the professional utility fades and the reality of life hits.

When my husband left the venture capital world, he noticed that his “work friends” stopped responding to texts and emails. The second he shifted out of the role that made him useful to them, he became invisible. 

I felt this exact same sting recently. If you’ve been reading this newsletter for a while, you know I went through a messy split from my ex-husband following years of emotional abuse. When the dust settled, I had a number of friends who took the easy way out and kept their distance from me.

One of those people was a service provider-turned-friend. We built what I thought was a real friendship. We went out with our partners, he stayed at my apartment, dogsat for my sister – we were in it. Or so I thought. Then came the divorce followed by almost three years of absolute silence. 

Fast forward to today. He recently got back in touch, and, after he stood me up for an in-person coffee, we hopped on a Zoom. Within minutes, the vibe became glaringly obvious. The real reason he reached out was to see if People Function and I might be a revenue-generating account for his business again. He didn't really want to know how I was doing. He wanted to know if I was a buyer.

It sucks. It’s exhausting. And it makes you look at your network with a cynical lens. But as leaders and human beings, we have to learn to distinguish between two very different groups:

• Friends of Convenience: The people we genuinely like, rely on for daily operations, or service providers who do great work. They are valuable in the context of work, and that’s okay.

• True Friends: The ones who show up when the revenue stops, the job title changes, or your personal life falls apart.

There is nothing inherently wrong with transactional relationships. Business requires transactions. What is wrong is masquerading a transaction as intimacy. It’s lazy, it’s transparent, and frankly, it’s bad business.

I love networking. I love meeting other founders and helping leaders solve ugly problems. But it matters immensely to me that my interactions are genuine. 

Here’s how I live the non-transactional life in my day-to-day at PFunc:

• I refer our competitors. If a prospect isn't the right fit for People Function, I will gladly hand someone else the business. I’d rather a leader get the exact help they need than hoard a relationship that isn't a perfect match.

• I say "yes" to the conversation. I constantly offer to chat with friends, and friends of friends, who want advice on navigating the fractional world or scaling their teams. Though this one has been a major detriment to my calendar lately, and I’m honestly not sure I can sustain it forever…

• I play the long-game connector. I recently helped a client-turned-friend land an incredible Head of Ops role with a celebrity for their family office. Did People Function get a massive placement fee for that? Nope. I did it for free because I wanted to help two great people win.

• Our sales calls are actually valuable. We don’t hold our expertise hostage behind a paywall. Even in our sales calls, we aim to offer value - helping founders untangle their PTO plans, flagging compliance risks, and connecting them to vendors. If you walk away from a call with us with a solution and don't hire us, that’s still a win in my book.

• I set clear intentions early. If I am reaching out to someone for a business reason, I say it upfront. There's no fake catching up, no masking a pitch as a casual coffee. Respecting someone’s time and intelligence by being direct is a form of care.

When you strip away the titles, the contracts, and the corporate armor, all we actually have is our integrity and how we treat people when they have nothing to offer us.

Be honest about what you're selling – or, better yet, be a human first.

THE HR BRIEFING 🗞️

THE LATEST NEWS TO KNOW

HR headlines and stories, curated with our perspective. 🤝

“Emotion AI” tools, designed to monitor employee sentiment and facial expressions during video calls, are surging, with employers potentially exploiting a legal gray area.

• ↪️ PFunc’s Perspective: This would be a cameras-off moment for me, dawg. We make a lot of faces here at People Function, and it is part of the human experience. This technology is too early/new to trust, and likely highly biased.

What’s the #1 stressor for employees at work? Sixty years of data revealed its lack of clarity around role responsibilities. 😱

• ↪️ PFunc’s Perspective: This is a simple one - set expectations from day 1. Audit your job descriptions. Clearly document and communicate changing expectations. When you do your performance reviews if you don’t have expectations for every job, that’s where to start.

A couple of other trending stories:

• HR Dive: Target investors are turning on the company’s leadership because of “strategic missteps” on DEI and ICE.

• 50/50 Women on Boards: Gender parity on corporate boards is falling, dipping below 30% in Q1 2026.

• Entrepreneur: A tech CEO fired his entire HR team. This story has been everywhere – scroll to “Chronically Online” for Emma’s reaction.

COMPLIANCE CHECK

Watch out for these HR compliances going into effect (or hitting deadlines) this month.

• Illinois (eff. 6/1): Companies with 16–50 employees must provide 10 days of unpaid leave if an employee’s child is in NICU, while those with 51+ must provide 20, or face penalties up to $5,000 per violation.

• New York (eff. 6/10): Private employers must include opioid antagonists like naloxone in federally mandated first aid kits.

• Colorado (eff. 6/30): Employers using high-risk AI for hiring must implement formal risk management policies and oversight programs (as discussed in The Briefing).

THE OPPORTUNITY EXCHANGE 📈

ROLES ON OUR RADAR

The PFunc job board is packed with open roles across our client companies, making it easier than ever to tap into our network.

This week, we’re highlighting remote job openings.

• Inspiren, VP of Quality - Lead multiple ISO 13485 certifications from scratch.

• RADAR, Field Deployment Operations Associate - Blend technical grit for hardware troubleshooting and project management chops to lead external vendors and stakeholders.

• Honeycomb.io, Senior Technical Customer Success Manager - Talk OpenTelemetry with engineers and ROI with stakeholders in this high-level role.

See a role you’re interested in? Reply to this email and we’ll try to connect you with the hiring team. Hiring for an open role yourself? Reply to have your job featured in an upcoming PFunc Pulse issue.

RECOMMENDED RESOURCE 💡

Check out this resource for HR leaders, CEOs, and founders like you, vetted and recommended by us!

Merritt.app - Tired of clunky HR tools? Merritt helps managers at growing companies (50–500 people) stay in sync with their teams by providing an easy-to-use platform for setting goals, keeping feedback flowing, and taking the stress out of performance reviews.

WHERE TO NEXT?

Our team is always on the move, popping up at the HR events, conferences, and summits we actually love.

JUNE

• PFunc Plays Hooky: Cooking Class with Sequoia (Taste Buds Kitchen, New York City) – June 3 from 2 to 4:30 p.m.

  • Spots are limited! RSVP for a midweek escape with People Function, Sequoia, and a curated group of execs. We’re trading the boardroom for the kitchen to stir risotto, sip vino, and swap stories. 🍷

CHRONICALLY ONLINE📱

We hope you had a wonderful MDW! This week, Emma reacts to Bolt’s CEO bragging about his company’s problems magically disappearing after he fired his entire HR team.

Join 100,000+ followers across PFunc’s Instagram, TikTok, and LinkedIn, hailed as “one of the best HR accounts online today.” 😉

STAY IN TOUCH 💌

If you’re interested in fractional HR support for your team, reply to this email or contact us to learn more about our offerings, pricing, and how we can support your growing company.

Join the Talent Network here (it’s free!). Whether you’re actively exploring new opportunities or happily employed but open to the right fit, becoming part of our network boosts your profile when roles align with your experience, skills, and career goals.💡

🗣️ Thoughts, feedback, requests? Let us know! 🗣️

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Every Tuesday, The PFunc Pulse delivers the HR news and compliance shifts you actually need to know about, without all the corporate fluff. Emma brings her unfiltered take on the trends keeping CEOs awake at night, served with the gritty, practical wisdom of a founder who’s seen it all. Real talk for better people decisions, week by week. (P.S. Do your work bestie a favor and forward this— friends don't let friends do old school HR. 🫢)