{"podcast":{"title":"The HR Life Podcast","slug":"the-hr-life-podcast-7368906","podcast_index_feed_id":7368906,"rss_url":"https://feeds.transistor.fm/the-hr-life-podcast","website_url":"https://thehrlifepodcast.transistor.fm/","image_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/BVjrIn3cLzcZ9amAQWcRnMP_HccdWgMf8DJ0MnI2Q0w/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:1400/h:1400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS9jODk0/MWQzOTZhY2IyMDVi/ODhhMWZmY2EyZTFl/ZGU0Ny5wbmc.jpg","author":"Tony Benjamin","episode_count":61,"summary":"The HR Life Podcast is a show about the work-life experience of those of us in Human Resources and business leadership. This long-form podcast is a conversation, casual, and not always the corporate line. Hosts and guests touch on everything from serious or even controversial topics to the absurdity of modern American business practices. Your hosts are Tony Benjamin, owner and founder of The Grange Strategic HR Consulting, and Steven J. Smith, Author of The Hiring Tree: Laws of Applicant Attraction and all-around important guy. Guests include the best minds in the HR world. Join the show weekly.","last_synced_at":"2026-07-29T00:17:32.802408+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-hr-life-podcast-7368906"},"episode":{"title":"EP 48 May the Fourth, Socks, and Why Performance Reviews Are Stuck in 1955 with Albert Foster","slug":"ep-48-may-the-fourth-socks-and-why-performance-reviews-are-stuck-in-1955-with-albert-foster","published_at":"2026-05-12T12:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-hr-life-podcast-7368906/ep-48-may-the-fourth-socks-and-why-performance-reviews-are-stuck-in-1955-with-albert-foster","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-hr-life-podcast-7368906","url":"https://share.transistor.fm/s/d3dddbe9","audio_url":"https://media.transistor.fm/d3dddbe9/e1bfb7c2.mp3","summary":"Tony and Steve kick off the show in full Star Wars mode — it's May the Fourth, Steve spent $19.77 on themed donuts from Lehi Bakery, and the great AT-AT pronunciation debate is finally settled (hint: Steve is wrong). The real guest of honor is Albert Foster, founder of Express Evaluations. The episode digs deep into one of HR's most stubbornly unsolved problems: why performance evaluations, invented in the 1950's, still look almost exactly the same today. Albert lays out a compelling case for why most companies are doing evaluations wrong. From the one-size-fits-all form that means nothing to the employee who fills it out, to the trap of asking \"how can you improve?\" Finally, how does Steve use Vader's origin story to tie everything together at the end? Tune in to find out! Listen for Opportunity knocking in this episode. Learn more about Express Evaluations at: https://www.expressevaluations.com/ Learn more about Fantastic Tony Benjamin at: https://www.thegrangellc.com/ Learn more about Steven “Big Deal” Smith at: https://thehiringtreebook.com/ Learn more about the books mentioned on the podcast at: https://thehiringtreebook.com/hr-life-podcast Learn more about our sponsor MegastarHR at: https://www.megastarhr.com/ Lean more about Jobs for America's Graduates (JAG) at: https://jag.org/ Learn more about Pucks for Autism at: https://www.pucksforautism.com/ Learn more about the Thrive Life Project: https://www.thrivelifeproject.org/ Albert Foster (MHR, SPHR) is an HR professional and the Founder and CEO of Express Evaluations. His passion in HR is to help employees find joy in their employment and to help employers retain their hard-earned talent. Albert earned a master’s in human resources in 2012 from Utah State and has been in the HR world for the past 15 years as bot…","meta_description":"Tony and Steve kick off the show in full Star Wars mode — it's May the Fourth, Steve spent $19.77 on themed donuts from Lehi Bakery, and the great AT-AT p…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":4635,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-hr-life-podcast-7368906/episodes/ep-48-may-the-fourth-socks-and-why-performance-reviews-are-stuck-in-1955-with-albert-foster/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-hr-life-podcast-7368906/ep-48-may-the-fourth-socks-and-why-performance-reviews-are-stuck-in-1955-with-albert-foster.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}