Please Mute Your Trauma: Workplace Trauma & the Human Side of Work

Tiffany Collins
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Welcome to Please Mute Your Trauma, a podcast about workplace trauma, dignity at work, toxic workplace culture, and what happens when organizations forget that employees are human. Hosted by Tiffany Collins—a Navy veteran, HR professional, doctoral researcher, and recovering overthinker—this show explores the messy intersection of trauma, leadership, organizational culture, burnout, meaningful work, employee well-being, and the experiences people carry into the workplace. Through humor, research, personal storytelling, and real-life workplace experiences, Tiffany examines the issues many organizations would rather rebrand than confront: organizational betrayal, emotional suppression, unhealthy leadership, workplace identity, belonging, retaliation, trust, and the pressure to remain productive while quietly falling apart. Each episode asks difficult questions about the way people experience work: What happens when professionalism requires employees to become smaller? Why do people spend more energy surviving work than finding meaning in it? What does dignity look like when someone is struggling, questioning authority, setting a boundary, or making a mistake? And what would change if organizations stopped treating humanity as an inconvenience? This podcast is for employees who have survived unhealthy workplaces, leaders who want to create more human-centered organizations, HR professionals questioning traditional workplace practices, and anyone who has ever replayed a meeting, questioned their worth after a performance review, or received a pizza party instead of meaningful support. Because organizations do not have a people problem. They have a humanity problem. And work becomes meaningful when dignity is protected.

  1. Oct 22

    They Watched It So You Didn't Have To: TikTok, Trauma & the Human Cost of AI

    Every time you scroll through TikTok, there's something you don't see. And sometimes, that's because another human being had to see it first. Behind the algorithms, viral videos, and endless entertainment are content moderators tasked with reviewing some of the internet's most disturbing material. But what happens when protecting millions of users comes at the expense of the people doing the protecting? In this episode of Please Mute Your Trauma, we're talking about TikTok's content moderators, secondary traumatic stress, workplace dignity, and the growing role of artificial intelligence in content moderation. We explore the invisible emotional labor behind social media, what organizations owe employees exposed to traumatic material, and why replacing human work with AI doesn't erase the human consequences of how that work was managed. Because innovation shouldn't require sacrificing the people who made it possible. If you've ever wondered who's protecting the people behind the technology, this episode is for you. Listen, follow, and share Please Mute Your Trauma: Workplace Trauma & the Human Side of Work. Work becomes meaningful when dignity is protected. We want to hear from you! Support the show If you have ever sat through a meeting wondering whether anyone was listening, received a pizza party instead of meaningful support, or been told to “bring your whole self to work” only to discover there were terms and conditions attached, you belong in this conversation. Please Mute Your Trauma explores workplace trauma, psychological safety, dignity at work, meaningful work, and employee well-being through humor, research, and honest workplace stories. Explore more episodes and resources at: PleaseMuteYourTrauma.com Have a workplace story, question, or random Wednesday thought? Leave Tiffany a message at: 888-629-5081 Because work becomes meaningful when dignity is protected.

  2. Oct 13

    You Can’t Fire a 12-Year-Old: Leadership Lessons from Middle School Volleyball

    My daughter didn’t want me coaching her volleyball team. Somehow, I still ended up coaching middle school volleyball—after twenty years away from the sport, with joints that had absolutely not agreed to participate. I thought I was signing up to teach passing and serving. Apparently, I was also signing up for a leadership course taught by twelve-year-olds. In this episode of Please Mute Your Trauma, I’m taking you inside a season of big feelings, creative motivational hats, difficult conversations, and the ridiculously good feeling of watching a team finally put it all together. Somewhere between explaining rotations again and celebrating our first win, I found myself thinking about how much of this follows us into the workplace. What do you do when your team isn’t responding? How do you hold someone accountable without humiliating them? And have you actually taught people what you expect—or just repeated the expectation louder? This isn’t a story about turning kids into perfect little employees. It’s about what coaching them taught me about leading humans: building trust, adjusting your approach, and recognizing that expecting improvement isn’t the same as helping someone improve. Come for the volleyball stories. Stay for the parts that sound suspiciously like your last staff meeting. Follow Please Mute Your Trauma for honest conversations about leadership, workplace culture, and why meaningful work happens when dignity is protected. We want to hear from you! Support the show If you have ever sat through a meeting wondering whether anyone was listening, received a pizza party instead of meaningful support, or been told to “bring your whole self to work” only to discover there were terms and conditions attached, you belong in this conversation. Please Mute Your Trauma explores workplace trauma, psychological safety, dignity at work, meaningful work, and employee well-being through humor, research, and honest workplace stories. Explore more episodes and resources at: PleaseMuteYourTrauma.com Have a workplace story, question, or random Wednesday thought? Leave Tiffany a message at: 888-629-5081 Because work becomes meaningful when dignity is protected.

  3. Sep 30

    The 99.9% Problem: Amazon, Pregnancy Accommodations & Workplace Dignity

    Amazon says it approved more than 99.9% of pregnancy-related accommodation requests over the past year. So why are former employees describing something very different? That number sent me down a research rabbit hole. In this episode of Please Mute Your Trauma, we look at a new proposed class-action lawsuit involving former Amazon warehouse workers who allege they struggled to get basic pregnancy accommodations like chairs, additional bathroom and water breaks, time for prenatal appointments, and support during pregnancy-related medical emergencies. But this isn't really just an Amazon story. Once I started looking, I found similar pregnancy-accommodation cases involving hospitality, manufacturing, steel, security, and other industries. And suddenly the bigger question became impossible to ignore: Can an organization have a technically accurate metric, a legally compliant policy, and a functioning HR process—and still completely misunderstand what employees are actually experiencing? We dig into the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, the PUMP Act, reasonable accommodations, medical documentation, attendance systems, delays, workplace culture, and the very real social cost employees can experience when they need something from their employer. Because “approved” and “accommodated” are not necessarily the same thing. And sometimes the workplace policy says yes... while everything around it says no. This episode is about pregnancy, employee dignity, leadership, HR systems, and what happens when organizations design work around an imaginary employee who never gets sick, never needs flexibility, never has a body, and never becomes inconvenient. Maybe your dashboard isn't lying. Maybe you're just asking it the wrong question. We want to hear from you! Support the show If you have ever sat through a meeting wondering whether anyone was listening, received a pizza party instead of meaningful support, or been told to “bring your whole self to work” only to discover there were terms and conditions attached, you belong in this conversation. Please Mute Your Trauma explores workplace trauma, psychological safety, dignity at work, meaningful work, and employee well-being through humor, research, and honest workplace stories. Explore more episodes and resources at: PleaseMuteYourTrauma.com Have a workplace story, question, or random Wednesday thought? Leave Tiffany a message at: 888-629-5081 Because work becomes meaningful when dignity is protected.

  4. Sep 22

    AI at Work: We Automated First. Now We Want Guardrails

    AI was supposed to make work easier. So why are so many workers experiencing it as uncertainty, surveillance, job insecurity, restructuring, and the persistent question: Am I training my replacement? This episode started with something much smaller. An AI system moved my Tuesday appointment to a Sunday. I showed up. The building was locked. The automated phone and text systems kept me from reaching an actual person. And when I finally got inside? There was no appointment. It was annoying. Slightly ridiculous. And it left me asking a much bigger question: Where did the human go? From there, we get into AI-driven workplace monitoring, restructuring, layoffs, Microsoft’s approach to human-led AI, the EU’s attempt to put guardrails around high-risk workplace AI, and the increasingly strange reality that some of the companies building the technology are now asking governments for stronger oversight. The question isn’t whether AI is good or bad. It’s whether organizations can chase efficiency without making human beings absorb the cost. Because technology doesn’t decide how workers are treated. Leaders do. And if we’re going to redesign work around AI, dignity cannot be something we remember after the damage is already done. We want to hear from you! Support the show If you have ever sat through a meeting wondering whether anyone was listening, received a pizza party instead of meaningful support, or been told to “bring your whole self to work” only to discover there were terms and conditions attached, you belong in this conversation. Please Mute Your Trauma explores workplace trauma, psychological safety, dignity at work, meaningful work, and employee well-being through humor, research, and honest workplace stories. Explore more episodes and resources at: PleaseMuteYourTrauma.com Have a workplace story, question, or random Wednesday thought? Leave Tiffany a message at: 888-629-5081 Because work becomes meaningful when dignity is protected.

  5. Sep 15

    Disney Changed the Deal: Employee Benefits, Health Insurance & the Cost of Cutting Coverage

    Disney is changing its employee health insurance rules. Beginning in 2027, spouses and domestic partners who have access to medical coverage through their own employers will no longer be eligible for Disney’s medical plan. And yes, healthcare costs are rising. Employers are under pressure. The business case is easy enough to understand. But that isn’t the question I can’t stop thinking about. When an organization reduces its costs, where does that cost actually go? Because it doesn’t disappear. In this episode of Please Mute Your Trauma, Tiffany Collins looks beyond the headline to examine Disney’s spousal health insurance change through the lens of employee benefits, workplace dignity, organizational trust, and the psychological contract between employers and employees. We talk about what happens when a company changes something employees considered part of “the deal,” why access to another insurance plan does not necessarily mean access to comparable or affordable healthcare, and how decisions that make perfect sense on a spreadsheet can land very differently in an employee’s actual life. This isn’t an episode about whether Disney is good or bad. It’s about a much bigger question facing employers everywhere: What does an organization owe its people when the cost of taking care of them becomes expensive? We also explore the HR side of the decision, rising healthcare costs, total rewards, cost shifting, trust, and why leaders should pay attention to what employees hear when an organization says, “We had to make a business decision.” Because organizations may think they’re changing a benefit. Employees may experience it as changing the bargain. Welcome to Please Mute Your Trauma, where we talk about workplace trauma, dignity, meaningful work, leadership, and the very human consequences of decisions that looked perfectly reasonable in Excel. We want to hear from you! Support the show If you have ever sat through a meeting wondering whether anyone was listening, received a pizza party instead of meaningful support, or been told to “bring your whole self to work” only to discover there were terms and conditions attached, you belong in this conversation. Please Mute Your Trauma explores workplace trauma, psychological safety, dignity at work, meaningful work, and employee well-being through humor, research, and honest workplace stories. Explore more episodes and resources at: PleaseMuteYourTrauma.com Have a workplace story, question, or random Wednesday thought? Leave Tiffany a message at: 888-629-5081 Because work becomes meaningful when dignity is protected.

  6. Sep 8

    Workplace Conflict Gone Wrong: The HR “Get-Along Shirt” Case Study

    What happens when leadership makes a decision HR warned would go badly...and then HR inherits the fallout? In this real, anonymized workplace case study, Tiffany takes listeners inside a government agency where a long-planned retirement became a rushed succession decision, two inexperienced leaders were promoted, employees began leaving and transferring, and workplace conflict quickly spiraled. Then came the formal HR complaint. The allegation? Workplace violence. The evidence? An imaginary parenting “get-along shirt.” It is hilarious. But the deeper story is not. This episode explores workplace conflict, HR complaints, succession planning, employee voice, organizational justice, leadership accountability, and the difference between taking a complaint seriously and treating it like a verdict. Because sometimes the complaint isn’t where the problem started. Sometimes it’s simply the moment the organization can no longer avoid looking at what happened before it. Follow Please Mute Your Trauma, share this episode with someone who talks about work with you, and tell me your workplace story at 888-629-5081. We want to hear from you! Support the show If you have ever sat through a meeting wondering whether anyone was listening, received a pizza party instead of meaningful support, or been told to “bring your whole self to work” only to discover there were terms and conditions attached, you belong in this conversation. Please Mute Your Trauma explores workplace trauma, psychological safety, dignity at work, meaningful work, and employee well-being through humor, research, and honest workplace stories. Explore more episodes and resources at: PleaseMuteYourTrauma.com Have a workplace story, question, or random Wednesday thought? Leave Tiffany a message at: 888-629-5081 Because work becomes meaningful when dignity is protected.

  7. Sep 1

    When the People Who Know Stop Speaking: Boeing, Whistleblowers, and the Cost of Silence

    What happens when the people who know the work best stop speaking up? In this episode of Please Mute Your Trauma, Tiffany takes a deeply personal look at Boeing, a company woven into her own family history and the Seattle community she grew up in. Both of her grandparents retired from Boeing, where the company provided stability, opportunity, friendship, and a sense of pride that shaped generations of families. But after watching Netflix’s Freefall: A Reckoning for Boeing, that history collided with a much harder question: How does an organization go from being a source of pride and security to one where employees allege they were ignored, sidelined, or retaliated against for raising serious concerns? Tiffany examines Boeing’s safety culture, whistleblower allegations, Senate testimony, leadership accountability, and what can happen when production pressure, financial priorities, and authority begin to outweigh expertise. She also shares a personal HR story about speaking up when a business owner ignored legal and ethical concerns, why she ultimately walked away, and why “just speak up” is far more complicated when someone’s paycheck, benefits, family, or career are on the line. This episode explores: Boeing’s workplace and safety cultureWhistleblowing and employee voiceWhy employees stay silent even when they know something is wrongThe difference between authority and real leadershipWhat happens when leaders stop listening to expertsHow organizational silence becomes normalizedWhy accountability should move upward, not downwardPractical steps employees can take when they see unethical, unsafe, or potentially illegal behaviorWhat leaders can do to make speaking up saferBecause a healthy workplace should not require heroism just to tell the truth. And if nobody disagrees with you anymore, it may be worth asking: Have you become an extraordinary leader, or have people simply learned to stay quiet? Please Mute Your Trauma explores workplace culture, leadership, dignity, organizational trauma, psychological safety, meaningful work, employee voice, and what it actually means to be human at work. Work becomes meaningful when dignity is protected — and that includes protecting your own. We want to hear from you! Support the show If you have ever sat through a meeting wondering whether anyone was listening, received a pizza party instead of meaningful support, or been told to “bring your whole self to work” only to discover there were terms and conditions attached, you belong in this conversation. Please Mute Your Trauma explores workplace trauma, psychological safety, dignity at work, meaningful work, and employee well-being through humor, research, and honest workplace stories. Explore more episodes and resources at: PleaseMuteYourTrauma.com Have a workplace story, question, or random Wednesday thought? Leave Tiffany a message at: 888-629-5081 Because work becomes meaningful when dignity is protected.

  8. Aug 25

    Savannah Bananas and Workplace Culture: What They Get Right About Leadership, Values & Employee Experience

    What happens when an organization actually lives the values it puts on the wall? In this episode of Please Mute Your Trauma, Tiffany Collins takes a closer look at the Savannah Bananas and Fans First Entertainment—not just as a wildly successful sports brand, but as a case study in workplace culture, leadership, employee experience, innovation, and organizational values. The Savannah Bananas didn’t simply ask how to make baseball more entertaining. They questioned the system itself. Why does it have to work this way? What frustrates people? What traditions still make sense—and which ones are being protected simply because “that’s how we’ve always done it”? That same question has enormous implications for the workplace. Tiffany explores what leaders can learn from the Bananas’ “Fans First” philosophy, why organizational values only matter when they influence real decisions, and how cultures either encourage employees to question, contribute, experiment, and speak up—or quietly train them not to. This episode also goes beyond diagnosing bad workplace culture. You’ll walk away with practical tools for identifying unnecessary organizational friction, testing whether company values are actually lived, examining systems before blaming employees, and creating safer conditions for people to bring forward ideas and concerns. And there’s an important caveat: not every employee has enough power or psychological safety to challenge a dysfunctional system. Sometimes the goal is organizational change. Sometimes it’s protecting yourself while you decide what comes next. In this episode: Why “that’s how we’ve always done it” can become one of the most dangerous phrases at workWhat the Savannah Bananas can teach leaders about innovation and organizational cultureWhy fun perks are not the same thing as dignity or a healthy workplaceHow leaders unintentionally train employees to stop speaking upWhy values should change actual business decisionsHow to identify friction inside workplace systemsWhy organizations should examine the system before trying to “fix” the employeeWhat employees, managers, and executives can each do differentlyThe challenge of protecting culture as an organization growsWhy meaningful work becomes possible when dignity is protectedBecause workplace culture isn’t what your website says. It’s what people experience when the meeting starts, the deadline moves, somebody makes a mistake, an employee challenges the process—and leadership has to decide what it actually believes. We want to hear from you! Support the show If you have ever sat through a meeting wondering whether anyone was listening, received a pizza party instead of meaningful support, or been told to “bring your whole self to work” only to discover there were terms and conditions attached, you belong in this conversation. Please Mute Your Trauma explores workplace trauma, psychological safety, dignity at work, meaningful work, and employee well-being through humor, research, and honest workplace stories. Explore more episodes and resources at: PleaseMuteYourTrauma.com Have a workplace story, question, or random Wednesday thought? Leave Tiffany a message at: 888-629-5081 Because work becomes meaningful when dignity is protected.

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Welcome to Please Mute Your Trauma, a podcast about workplace trauma, dignity at work, toxic workplace culture, and what happens when organizations forget that employees are human. Hosted by Tiffany Collins—a Navy veteran, HR professional, doctoral researcher, and recovering overthinker—this show explores the messy intersection of trauma, leadership, organizational culture, burnout, meaningful work, employee well-being, and the experiences people carry into the workplace. Through humor, research, personal storytelling, and real-life workplace experiences, Tiffany examines the issues many organizations would rather rebrand than confront: organizational betrayal, emotional suppression, unhealthy leadership, workplace identity, belonging, retaliation, trust, and the pressure to remain productive while quietly falling apart. Each episode asks difficult questions about the way people experience work: What happens when professionalism requires employees to become smaller? Why do people spend more energy surviving work than finding meaning in it? What does dignity look like when someone is struggling, questioning authority, setting a boundary, or making a mistake? And what would change if organizations stopped treating humanity as an inconvenience? This podcast is for employees who have survived unhealthy workplaces, leaders who want to create more human-centered organizations, HR professionals questioning traditional workplace practices, and anyone who has ever replayed a meeting, questioned their worth after a performance review, or received a pizza party instead of meaningful support. Because organizations do not have a people problem. They have a humanity problem. And work becomes meaningful when dignity is protected.

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