But First, Coffee
But First, Coffee is a live weekly talk show where Jackye Clayton and John Baldino bring candid, insightful conversations about the world of work, leadership, and all things people. Each episode blends expert insight with real-world experience—covering employee engagement, leadership, inclusion, technology, and culture. It's not just HR theory; it's HR reality, poured fresh each week.
Episodes
May 28, 2026 • 61 mins
Workplace celebrations sound warm and simple until you realize not everyone wants a sheet cake with their name on it. This conversation unpacks how to recognize people at work without overstepping, why the line between a work friend and being friendly matters, and how HR can honor connection while still protecting the organization. The hosts trade real stories about birthday collections, family picnics, dating policies, and the qui...
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May 21, 2026 • 61 mins
John and Jackye sit down with the question every HR pro and parent of a new grad is watching this year. The Class of 2026 is walking into a labor market that does not look like the one their parents were trained for. Hiring is flat, traditional pathways have splintered, and the systems built to filter applicants are aging out faster than the talent they were supposed to find. The conversation moves through what is changing in how n...
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May 7, 2026 • 65 mins
Employers are deploying keystroke logging, screen capture, and AI scoring at record pace, and the result is a workforce that no longer trusts the people signing the paycheck. John and Jackye unpack what surveillance technology is actually measuring, why it backfires on managers who lean on it, and how leaders can rebuild trust without giving up on accountability.
Key Takeaways:
Keystroke and mouse tracking measures activity, not v...
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May 1, 2026 • 26 mins
John and Jackye bring you a taped highlights edition straight from WorkHuman 2026. They unpack the conversations, themes, and on-the-ground takes that defined this year's gathering of HR and people leaders, and translate it all into what it actually means for the way work gets done now.
Key Takeaways:
What HR leaders are actually worried about in 2026, in their own words
The shift from recognition as a perk to recognition as a pe...
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April 23, 2026 • 62 mins
Middle managers are quietly absorbing more pressure than any other layer of the organization. John and Jackye unpack why the role has become unsustainable, what executives are missing when they pile on accountability without authority, and how HR can intervene before the manager class breaks.
Key Takeaways:
Middle managers are being asked to deliver executive priorities while absorbing the emotional load of frontline teams, with...
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April 16, 2026 • 52 mins
Tariffs, supply chain disruptions, and economic uncertainty have landed squarely in HR's lap. John and Jackye talk through what HR leaders are actually doing when the business environment shifts faster than any workforce plan can accommodate, and how to lead teams through decisions that cannot wait for clarity.
Key Takeaways:
Trade policy volatility is not just a finance problem — it forces HR to make compensation, headcount, an...
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April 9, 2026 • 64 mins
Hiring teams did not ask for hundreds of applications per role, but that is the reality right now. John and Jackye dig into what happens when volume becomes the enemy of quality, how AI-generated resumes are distorting the top of the funnel, and what recruiters can actually do to find real candidates inside the noise.
Key Takeaways:
The surge in applicant volume is driven by AI tools that make mass-applying frictionless, not by ...
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April 3, 2026 • 56 mins
Oracle just cut 30,000 jobs before most people finished their first cup, all to fund AI data centers. A new CEO survey reveals AI-driven cuts will be 9x higher than previously projected. This episode digs into what happens when workforce decisions are made by financial models instead of people managers, and what HR leaders need to do about it right now.
Key Takeaways:
Oracle's 30,000-person layoff signals a shift from traditional ...
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March 24, 2026 • 61 mins
What happens when HR's biggest conference meets your favorite coffee-fueled duo? John Humareso and Jackye Clayton hit the Transform 2026 conference floor for a live swag report, grading the best (and worst) vendor merchandise on display.
Key Takeaways:
The swag game at HR tech conferences reveals more about a brand than any booth demo
Best-in-show items that attendees actually kept versus what hit the hotel trash can
Why brand...
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March 19, 2026 • 61 mins
Hiring sounds clean in demos and messy in real life. In this episode, John and Jackye talk about what candidates and hiring teams are actually experiencing right now. Broken systems, tools without ownership, and AI that can organize data but can't replace judgment. This is an honest look at talent acquisition without the vendor gloss.
Key Takeaways:
The gap between how hiring tools are sold and how they actually perform in daily...
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March 13, 2026 • 26 mins
AI is reshaping how we work, hire, and communicate. But what happens to the human side of branding when algorithms are writing the first draft? In this special Friday edition of But First, Coffee, recorded live from TalentNet in Austin, Jackye Clayton and John Baldino dig into what it means to build and maintain a human brand in an AI-driven world. They explore where AI helps, where it falls short, and why authenticity still wins w...
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February 26, 2026 • 65 mins
Workplace tension is rising as employees bring heightened emotions from social media, politics, and cultural flashpoints into the office. This episode explores how HR professionals and leaders can help teams navigate charged environments, practice self-regulation, and maintain civil discourse without silencing diverse viewpoints.
Key Takeaways:
Gratitude is a powerful tool for resetting emotional reactivity before it spirals
Soci...
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February 19, 2026 • 64 mins
Nobody warns you that leadership is lonely. Jackye Clayton and John Baldino have an honest conversation about what happens when you step into a leadership role and realize that your work friends may no longer be your friends, your decisions will make you a target, and no one prepared you for the isolation. From personal stories about transparent bosses to parenting as leadership practice, they explore why managing loneliness is a c...
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February 12, 2026 • 68 mins
What does real inclusion look like beyond mission statements and policies? Jackye Clayton and guest Kate Johnson of 123 Limited dig into why inclusion fails when it centers comfort instead of belonging. From the beehive model of leadership development to the dangers of treating work like family, they explore how succession planning, feedback culture, and systemic design determine whether people actually feel included or just tolera...
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February 5, 2026 • 64 mins
What happens when loyalty to your employer stops serving you? In this candid conversation, Jackye Clayton and guest Jeremy Roberts unpack the tension between workplace fulfillment and organizational loyalty during an unpredictable economy. From navigating layoffs and fractional work to protecting your professional network, they explore why prioritizing loyalty to yourself, your skills, and your people may be the smartest career mov...
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January 29, 2026 • 64 mins
Clarity and transparency are among the most overused words in organizational culture—yet most companies cannot define them in practice. In this episode of But First, Coffee, Jackye Clayton and John Baldino break down what organizational clarity actually requires, why HR professionals are often the worst at managing change despite owning the process, and how inconsistency silently destroys employee trust. If your company has an open...
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January 22, 2026 • 63 mins
Jackye Clayton and John Baldino close out their two-part 2025 hangover series by examining what leaders are doing instead of actually leading. They explore how leadership has evolved from Mad Men-era control to today's caricatures of yesteryear, and why many leaders mask insecurity by producing word salad instead of defining what success looks like. The conversation challenges annual performance evaluations as inefficient, using th...
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January 15, 2026 • 64 mins
Jackye Clayton and John Baldino dig into why 2026 feels like a continuation of 2025 rather than a fresh start. They challenge the idea that HR is overburdened, arguing instead that HR is under-empowered and has been since COVID gave the function a false sense of importance through compliance tasks. The conversation unpacks how AI and technology tools are dumbing down talent acquisition by reducing it to tool management rather than ...
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January 8, 2026 • 62 mins
Jackye Clayton and John Baldino kick off 2026 with predictions for employees and companies alike. They discuss why retention rates will improve this year but warn that staying does not mean loyalty -- it means safety. The conversation dives into U-Haul migration data showing Texas, Florida, North Carolina, Tennessee, and South Carolina as the top five destination states and what that means for where companies should recruit. They e...
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December 4, 2025 • 63 mins
Jackye Clayton and John Baldino break down what benefits truly mean to employees in 2025 and where the system is headed. They explain why health benefits remain the number one concern for workers, how mental health coverage is now being embedded by dental and vision providers, and why COBRA costs are devastating for displaced workers. The episode tackles age-banding pricing as legalized ageism, the disproportionate impact of layoff...
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