The Elephant in the Org
The "Elephant in the Org" podcast is a daring dive into the unspoken challenges and opportunities in organizational development, particularly in the realm of employee experience. Hosted by the team at The Fearless PX, we tackle the "elephants" in the room—those taboo or ignored topics—that are critical for creating psychologically safe and highly effective workplaces.
The Elephant in the Org
The Spy Who Slacked Me: Slack Honeypots, Turf Wars, and the HR Tech Hunger Games
🎧 Special Edition – Oh Shit, What’s Happened Now?
This is one of those moments when we pause our scheduled programming because something in the news is just too wild to ignore.
In this special edition of The Elephant in the Org, we dive headfirst into the explosive lawsuit between HR tech giants Rippling and Deel — featuring Slack honeypots, alleged corporate spying, stolen sales data, and actual RICO charges (yes, the kind usually reserved for organized crime).
Rippling says Deel recruited a mole who conducted thousands of unauthorized internal searches to steal client data — all caught via a fake Slack channel set up as a digital trap. Deel says the whole thing is overblown. Meanwhile, the HR tech community is left wondering… who do we trust now?
We unpack:
- What this means for psychological safety in high-growth tech
- Whether surveillance culture is becoming the new norm
- How this could shake employee trust, not just in vendors — but in work itself
And of course, we reflect on what this kind of chaos means for managers, employees, and all of us caught somewhere between hustle culture and HR values. Is this just startup life? Or have we officially entered the HR Tech Hunger Games?
Connect with Us:
- Follow The Fearless PX on Linkedin at The Fearless PX
- Reach out to Marion, Cacha, and Danny at elephant@thefearlesspx.com
- You can find all episodes of The Elephant in the Org here.
We encourage you to subscribe and leave a review if you found this episode enlightening!
From April 2024, all new episodes of The Elephant In the Org will be posted bi-weekly.
Music Credits:
Opening and closing theme by The Toros.
Production Credits:
Produced by The Fearless PX, Edited by Marion Anderson.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are exclusively those of the hosts and do not necessarily reflect any affiliated organizations’ official policy or position.
