Office Hours at The Alignment Lab

A podcast about expanding how we think about work and closing the gap between the values we hold and the systems we actually build in organizations. In Office Hours, we translate ideas about work into practical insight through empirical research and philosophical inquiry, weaving together evidence, real-world practice, and diverse perspectives. Solo episodes unpack our thinking and explore new concepts, while guest conversations surface insights from practitioners doing the work. New episodes drop every three weeks on Tuesday.

Office Hours at The Alignment Lab is a business podcast hosted by Hannah Yung-Boxdell, with 9 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80. PitchCentric scores this show on Booking Probability, Listen Score, and live audience signals refreshed every 24 hours.

Hannah Yung-Boxdell hosts Office Hours at The Alignment Lab, a business show with 9 episodes published.

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  Episode #9

  9. Skilled Trades Workers from a Talent Management POV with Victoria Frerichs

  Aug 11, 20261h 2mS1

  Skilled trades workers make up over 20% of the U.S. workforce. They are highly educated, technically skilled, and essential to entire industries and sectors. And yet they have received remarkably little attention from the people management practices, research frameworks, and organizational systems designed to support workers. In this episode - the first guest conversation in the Overlooked Workers series - Hannah talks with Victoria Frerichs, a talent management professional who supports a skilled trades workforce including shipbuilders, welders, ship fitters, crane operators, electrical and mechanical integrators, and more. Victoria brings a practitioner's perspective on what it actually takes to hire, assess, develop, and retain this workforce, and where the standard HR playbook falls short. Topics covered include: Who skilled trades workers are, and what most people in HR and talent management get wrong about them The business case for prioritizing this workforce Where standard hiring and assessment systems break down for skilled trades candidates, including the limits of automated screening and résumé-based evaluation The challenge of capturing and evaluating expertise that is embodied, not easily articulated Micro-documentation and continuous performance data as alternatives to traditional performance management The culture gap between office and production environments, and what it takes to bridge it Language and terminology: why "blue collar" doesn't land well, and what to say instead Retention levers that actually work in skilled trades contexts, including creative approaches to schedule flexibility Workforce pipeline challenges and the part-time mentor model as one response to mitigating loss of institutional knowledge amidst our current retirement boom and shrinking skilled trades talent pool ————— Music : “Feel Good (Instrumental Version)” by PØW via Epidemic Sound ————— Victoria Frerichs on LinkedIn : https://www.linkedin.com/in/vfrerichs/ ————— References Once again, we don't have quite enough space provided on this platform. The full list of references is available on my website here: https://www.alignmentlab.online/podcast/s0aqj1wqedmt4skysdj499259w4xyv

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  Episode #8

  8. Overlooked Workers Series Introduction

  Jul 21, 202615 minS1

  Every workplace runs on a set of assumptions about who workers are, what they need, and how they operate. Most of those assumptions were built with a particular worker in mind. And for a significant portion of the workforce, that worker isn't them. This solo episode opens a new series on overlooked workers – groups that have been underserved by research, by organizational practice, and by the broader conversations we tend to have about work and workplaces. The series grows out of a panel Hannah organized at the 2026 SIOP Annual Conference: Expanding the Lens: I-O Practice Centering Overlooked Worker Groups – a session designed to raise visibility, share practical approaches, and build community among researchers and practitioners working on these issues. The original panel focused on three focal groups – skilled trades workers, non-traditional caregivers, and veterans. This podcast series aims to be a recap and continuation of that conversation, and a way of opening the door to people who weren't in the room. Hannah also expands the lens beyond the original panel with an episode on the unwritten rules of professional life: the hidden curriculum of workplace norms and the way those rules land as barriers for people navigating stigmatized social identities, including social class and neurodivergence. ————— Music : “Feel Good (Instrumental Version)” by PØW via Epidemic Sound ————— References (partial list) Yung-Boxdell, H., Frerichs, V., Kiproff-Downer, L., Reiley, P. J., & Turner, S. M. (2026, April 30 - May 2). Expanding the Lens: I-O Practice Centering Overlooked Worker Groups [Alternative]. Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology Annual Conference, New Orleans, LA, United States. AARP and National Alliance for Caregiving. (2020, May 14) Caregiving in the United States 2020. Washington, DC: AARP. https://doi.org/10.26419/ppi.00103.001 Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2025a, March 20). Employment situation of veterans. https://www.bls.gov/news.release/vet.htm Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2025b, July 29). Unemployment rate for veterans was 3.0 percent in 2024. The Economics Daily. https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2025/unemployment-rate-for-veterans-was-3-0-percent-in-2024.htm Desilver, D. & Lin, L. (2025, March 31). Blue-collar workers are less satisfied at work, less attached to their jobs than other U.S. workers. Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2025/03/31/blue-collar-workers-are-less-satisfied-at-work-less-attached-to-their-jobs-than-other-us-workers/ Greenberg, E., Schaefer, E., & Weddle, B. (2024, April 9). Tradespeople wanted: The need for critical trade skills in the US. McKinsey & Company. https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/people-and-organizational-performance/our-insights/tradespeople-wanted-the-need-for-critical-trade-skills-in-the-us Lucas, K. (2011). Blue-collar discourses of workplace dignity: Using outgroup comparisons to construct positive identities. Management Communication Quarterly, 25(2), 353-374. Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM). (2024). Best practices for recruiting and hiring veterans: SHRM research report. SHRM Foundation. https://shrm-res.cloudinary.com/image/upload/v1728927785/Foundation/Research_SHRM_Research_Report_on_Recruiting_and_Hiring_Veterans.pdf Spector, P. E. (2024, April 7). It is time we started studying skilled trades workers. Paul Spector. https://paulspector.com/it-is-time-we-started-studying-skilled-trades-workers/ Tyler, K. (2022, March 5). Supporting employee caregivers. SHRM. https://www.shrm.org/topics-tools/news/all-things-work/supporting-employee-caregivers U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. (2024). 2022 PSTAP longitudinal report. https://benefits.va.gov/TRANSITION/docs/2022-longitudinal-pstap-report.pdf ————— Full list of references and episode transcript: https://www.alignmentlab.online/podcast/episode-8-overlooked-workers-series-introduction

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  Episode #7

  Episode 7. Introversion amidst the Extroversion Ideal

  Jun 30, 202626 minS1

  In this solo episode, Hannah takes a closer look at introversion within the extraversion ideal: that we live and work in environments largely built for extroverts – and that this carries costs that most of us haven't fully reckoned with. This episode isn't self-help for introverts. It's a critical examination of the extroversion ideal: the cultural and structural assumption, embedded in workplace design and in over a century of research, that extraversion is the gold standard for showing up at work. Hannah walks through what the research actually says about introversion – what it is, what it isn't, what introverts bring to teams and leadership, what it costs to perform extraversion in environments that demand it, and what organizations and leaders can do. Music : “Feel Good (Instrumental Version)” by PØW via Epidemic Sound Resources and References Note - my references section is too long to fit this week! For the full list of resources and references, you can find it at the following link: https://www.alignmentlab.online/episode-7-introversion-amidst-the-extroversion-ideal/ Note 2 (6-30-26) - due to a website change the provided link may not work for a day or two; feel free to reach out to me directly for the list of references in the meantime!

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  Episode #7

  Episode 7. Introversion amidst the Extroversion Ideal

  Jun 30, 202626 minS1

  <p>In this solo episode, Hannah takes a closer look at introversion within the extraversion ideal: that we live and work in environments largely built for extroverts – and that this carries costs that most of us haven't fully reckoned with.</p><p>This episode isn't self-help for introverts. It's a critical examination of the extroversion ideal: the cultural and structural assumption, embedded in workplace design and in over a century of research, that extraversion is the gold standard for showing up at work. Hannah walks through what the research actually says about introversion – what it is, what it isn't, what intr...

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  Episode #6

  6. Career Development Series Review

  Jun 9, 202628 minS1

  <p>In this solo episode, Hannah wraps up the career development series by synthesizing insights from across the four guest conversations, pulling on a few threads that are still in progress, and looking ahead to what's coming next on the podcast.</p><p>Concepts and Resources Mentioned:</p><p>Career development as a concept Arulmani, Gideon., Bakshi, A. J., Leong, F. T. L., & Watts, A. G. (Eds.). (2014). Handbook of Career Development: International Perspectives (1st ed. 2014.). Springer New York. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-9460-7 </p><p>Experiential development and feedback DeRue, D. S., & Wellman, N. (2009). Developing leaders via experience: T...

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