# hr
68 moments across 44 episodes. Click any moment to jump straight to that part of the episode.
0:00The Vet Analogy: Why HR Leaders Feel LonelyAl Elliott: Tom Emery spent 20 years in corporate HR, the last few years as a Chief People Officer, surrounded by people all day, every day. And he said at times he felt really lonely Tom Emery: The book People People waEP 321 · 23 Jul 2026·interview· 0:00–5:415:41Breaking Out of the 'Outside Looking In' TrapTom Emery: Yes, definitely. I mean, I think there's a mindset thing about working in HR. And I think sometimes that means that we perhaps in HR, we sometimes inadvertently put ourselves on the outside looking in, whereasEP 321 · 23 Jul 2026·interview· 5:41–10:0410:04Getting Commercially Curious: The CHI Zero Impact FrameworkAl Elliott: So, you've used the word curious a couple of times now in the last few minutes. Talk to me. What does it actually look like? Tom Emery: When I wrote my book, People People, I built a model, which you mentioneEP 321 · 23 Jul 2026·interview· 10:04–16:4334:56Humanising Workplace Change in the Age of AIAl Elliott: I don't think we can have a conversation about HR in 2026 without talking about why HR has been so famous and in the news, which is all around the layoffs because of AI. We've got all kinds of things like we'EP 321 · 23 Jul 2026·interview· 34:56–45:2848:13The Book, People People, and Where to Find TomTom Emery: The book People People was written for HR leaders because I thought that there was a gap in the market. I didn't have anything when I was a chief people officer, and I found it really lonely when I first startEP 321 · 23 Jul 2026·outro· 48:13–50:3450:34Top 3 TakeawaysLeanne Elliott: That was Tom Emery. And I think that that analogy is one of the best we've had on the show, actually Al Elliott: I totally agree Leanne Elliott: So, let's wrap up with our top 3 takeaways. Number 1, get cEP 321 · 23 Jul 2026·interview· 50:34–52:3911:02Story 1: The HR rebel calling out unhinged leadersAl Elliott: Pressing that button. Who are we going to do first, Leanne? Should we go to you first? Leanne Elliott: Yeah, you can come to me first. Mine's a bit, a bit, a bit sillier this week, a bit lighter, but also notEP 318 · 14 Jul 2026·news roundup· 11:02–21:0250:55Workplace Surgery: Are exit interviews a waste of time?Leanne Elliott: Yes, there is. Well, yes, there's lots of different things. I still think exit interviews serve a purpose. I think it's difficult when the manager leads the exit interview because that's just an awkward sEP 316 · 7 Jul 2026·workplace surgery· 50:55–55:4640:12Workplace Surgery: Applying psychology in everyday lifeAl Elliott: Very interesting. Okay. I think you, you HR nerds are going to love that. Okay. On to my favorite time of the week, the world-famous Weekly Workplace Surgery, where I put your questions to Leanne. Leah, I havEP 308 · 9 Jun 2026·workplace surgery· 40:12–42:2444:33Workplace Surgery: The hardest workplace problem Leanne has solvedAl Elliott: Right, well, I've got another one for you, Leanne. Uh, question number 2, what's the hardest workplace problem you've ever had to solve, Leanne? Oh, it's a good one Leanne Elliott: It is. I really had to thinEP 308 · 9 Jun 2026·workplace surgery· 44:33–50:2016:22Tech firm fires entire HR departmentAl Elliott: Yeah, yeah, agreed Leanne Elliott: Anyway, that went in a different direction than I expected. What have you seen this week, Al? Al Elliott: Well, this week I saw in, and again, a friend of the podcast, I've EP 306 · 2 Jun 2026·news roundup· 16:22–23:0925:32The wellbeing investment you're overlookingLeanne Elliott: Um, what else have I seen? Wellbeing. Are companies actually missing the one wellbeing investment that actually works? I'll answer this for you. Yes Al Elliott: Excellent. Tell us what it is Leanne ElliotEP 296 · 28 Apr 2026·news roundup· 25:32–30:4058:12Outro / What's coming upLeanne Elliott: Just to say to come back next Thursday. Um, we've got a wonderful episode. Who's it with? Al Elliott: Thomas Waits. Thomas Waits. So I've been looking forward to, to, to publishing this one for a long timEP 296 · 28 Apr 2026·intro· 58:12–59:5642:12Workplace Surgery: engagement surveysLeanne Elliott: Yeah Al Elliott: Be interested. Okay, so I think it's on to our world-famous weekly workplace surgery where I put your questions to Leanne. Leanne, I have 3 questions, as would be my wont. Question numberEP 294 · 21 Apr 2026·workplace surgery· 42:12–45:0548:03Workplace Surgery: balancing benefits with sustainabilityAl Elliott: So it sounds like that's unfortunately the end of your friendship, but hopefully the beginning of a new relationship. Okay. So last question here, Leanne. How far should I go with employee benefits? I run a sEP 288 · 31 Mar 2026·workplace surgery· 48:03–52:3321:42Engagement vs. relations — two separate problemsJeffrey Fermin: Going back to that example, because I know it's my third time, employee engagement, employee relations, 2 separate kind of deals. I would say more culture and, uh, you know, dare I say serious shit on theEP 285 · 19 Mar 2026·interview· 21:42–27:0031:19What are we actually measuring in 2026?Jeffrey Fermin: Okay. So my last bit of research, uh, which, you know, full-fledged competitor research came 2018 and I found like not much changed from 2011 to 2018. Uh, and I, I say that because it's all Likert surveysEP 285 · 19 Mar 2026·interview· 31:19–32:1149:42Workplace Surgery: Is employee NPS a good idea?Al Elliott: Love it. Love it. Cool. Okay, Leigh, that's brilliant. Thank you. I've got a 3rd question for you if you've got the appetite for it Leanne Elliott: Sure Al Elliott: Okay. Nice and simple. Is employee NPS a goEP 270 · 27 Jan 2026·workplace surgery· 49:42–54:0544:49Workplace Surgery: Building a competency model from scratchLeanne Elliott: Yes, there are existing models that you can use. It's very cool that you want to build it yourself. Equally, are you sure? Because that's a big old project, that. That's a time-consuming project to build EP 256 · 9 Dec 2025·workplace surgery· 44:49–49:4816:50Amazon's AI-fuelled HR layoffsLeanne Elliott: Well, I'm not sure I'm gonna lighten the mood with this one, but Amazon is preparing another round of job cuts. Um, only this time it's HR that's gonna get the chop. So this is according to Fortune, uh, wEP 242 · 21 Oct 2025·news roundup· 16:50–19:177:58Is workplace humour too risky?Al Elliott: HR Leanne Elliott: HR who? Al Elliott: HR, we want to talk to you about that joke you told at the meeting because it was vastly inappropriate. That is what I've been reading about. I've been reading about beiEP 238 · 7 Oct 2025·news roundup· 7:58–13:343:11Meeting Amy: 30 years in HR, from labor relations to Chief People OfficerAmy Bouque: Nice Amy Bouque: My name is Amy Bouque. I am privileged to serve as Kelly Services Chief People Officer here in the United States, and Kelly Services is a global workforce solutions provider headquartered herEP 233 · 18 Sept 2025·interview· 3:11–6:4237:28Workplace Surgery: Do Engagement Platforms Actually Work?Al Elliott: It's time for the world-famous Weekly Workplace Surgery, where I put your questions to the lovely Leanne. You know by now, if you— that Leanne is a Do you know what? I'm not gonna say it. I say it every week.EP 232 · 16 Sept 2025·workplace surgery· 37:28–44:3744:37Workplace Surgery: Refused Unpaid LeaveLeanne Elliott: Well, I do have some thoughts, but as this starts as a very HR-rooted question, I thought we'd bring in the advice of our friends over at The Curve Group. Um, regular listeners would have heard them beforEP 232 · 16 Sept 2025·workplace surgery· 44:37–48:180:00The James Bond movie that wasn't a movieAl Elliott: Right, imagine you're the head of an HR team and you get asked to present the team's vision for the future workforce of the largest sportswear company in Europe. But instead of sitting down and putting togethEP 231 · 11 Sept 2025·interview· 0:00–3:573:57Tony's story — 20-odd years in a huge sportswear companyTony Cooke: My name is Tony Cooke. Uh, the 20-odd years in a huge sportswear company, so the role was HR. Uh, and interesting enough, the, the, the brand, uh, is a household name. But the interesting thing was that whilsEP 231 · 11 Sept 2025·interview· 3:57–5:515:51Why HR became the pantomime villainLeanne Elliott: I want to carry on with what you were saying there in terms of this stereotype we have around HR people being quite rigid, bureaucratic, probably a little bit uninspiring at times. Where does that come frEP 231 · 11 Sept 2025·interview· 5:51–9:429:42Why making the shift matters for business outcomesAl Elliott: Yeah Tony Cooke: We're back of house, we're not front Leanne Elliott: I want to ask you, why is it, why is it important that we make this shift? Why is it, what does it mean to the, to the business commercialEP 231 · 11 Sept 2025·interview· 9:42–15:0515:05What it means to be 'waggish'Leanne Elliott: Can I ask you, I've heard you described, um, HR as waggish. What does that mean? Tony Cooke: The, the, the waggish piece is is, is in a fun sort of way, getting the best out of people by appealing to peopEP 231 · 11 Sept 2025·interview· 15:05–16:0616:06Advice for HR leaders preparing for 2030Leanne Elliott: What's your advice to HR leaders today, how do they prepare for the workforce of 2030? Tony Cooke: Yeah, well, for 2030, embrace technologies by all means. But no matter what organization you're in, thereEP 231 · 11 Sept 2025·interview· 16:06–18:1939:37Tony's golden rule for HR leadersTony Cooke: Well, the golden rule, as, as will always be, collaborate with the HQ or collaborate with seniors or collaborate with the decision makers. Uh, even if I say it to you again, you think you're doing things for EP 231 · 11 Sept 2025·interview· 39:37–41:2646:01Top 3 takeawaysAl Elliott: And here's the proof that Tony's approach actually works. Adidas became known as the talent factory, with a conveyor belt of leaders going to senior roles across America, Amsterdam, Germany, and around the woEP 231 · 11 Sept 2025·interview· 46:01–46:4643:54Workplace Surgery Q1: Resolving deadlock after a serious complaintLeanne Elliott: This is a difficult situation, and unfortunately, there's probably no quick-fix solution. If you're happy that you've dealt with the grievance in the correct manner, so whether it's formal or informal, yoEP 216 · 22 Jul 2025·workplace surgery· 43:54–46:1652:41Wrap-up and summer plansAl Elliott: I feel like I should say other HR agencies are available Leanne Elliott: And not sponsored Al Elliott: It's not sponsored, but I think that this, hopefully this will become a relatively semi-regular thing becEP 216 · 22 Jul 2025·news roundup· 52:41–56:0736:50Workplace Surgery: The DEI overload dilemmaLeanne Elliott: I'm ready. Al Elliott: So question number 1, is it fair to ask diverse employees to do extra DEI work just because of who they are? So this person writes, I'm at a huge company and it says it's committed EP 200 · 27 May 2025·workplace surgery· 36:50–42:0348:19Workplace Surgery: HR and return-to-office mandatesLeanne Elliott: Um, that's like saying, is it normal behaviour from accountants? We can talk about stereotypes and, and what people enjoy moaning about on LinkedIn, That's not my experience of HR, and there are some manyEP 194 · 6 May 2025·workplace surgery· 48:19–53:2840:31Workplace Surgery: Operations Director, Not HRAl Elliott: I've documented what was reported, spoken privately with the supervisor, But now I'm completely out of my depth. We have no formal HR department, just an outsourced payroll service. Our company has never dealEP 184 · 1 Apr 2025·workplace surgery· 40:31–45:4245:29Why HR leaders can't afford to be generalistsLeanne Elliott: And they should be in that boardroom Jeanette Ramsden: Absolutely, they really should. I heard a really disappointing stat the other day that, um, that more and more HR directors are now post-COVID— so duEP 183 · 27 Mar 2025·interview· 45:29–47:5214:38Holiday benefits last longer than you thinkLeanne Elliott: Yeah Al Elliott: Don't say. We can't say. You'll know who they are. Anyway, Leanne, what else have you seen this week, love? Leanne Elliott: Something brighter, something sunnier, AlEP 182 · 25 Mar 2025·news roundup· 14:38–17:2035:19Workplace Surgery: Personality tests ruining teamsAl Elliott: Okay. Right. This is, this is, this, this is a good one. HR is obsessed with personality tests and now everyone is a colour. Oh, Leanne, you are gonna get into this one. Recently, our new Chief People OfficerEP 182 · 25 Mar 2025·workplace surgery· 35:19–43:3445:55Workplace Surgery: The HR battlegroundAl Elliott: This is from— is this from Google? I don't think it's from Google. As an HR director, I'm receiving heated emails from both sides, some claiming it's destroying work-life balance, others saying the previous sEP 176 · 4 Mar 2025·workplace surgery· 45:55–51:3738:45Workplace Surgery: Are All Employee Surveys the Same?Leanne Elliott: That's me Al Elliott: That is her over there. That's the lady woman over there who's my wife, my co-host, and my world. Anyway, just in case you hadn't worked it out yet, Leanne is a chartered occupationaEP 168 · 4 Feb 2025·workplace surgery· 38:45–46:3923:18Ogilvy's flexible work policy — and why HR got it rightLeanne Elliott: However, I have to say, I think Ogilvy HR did the right thing on flexible work. I'll describe our policy very happily. It is 2+1, which is you have 2 core days a week, which are the same for your whole teEP 156 · 24 Dec 2024·other· 23:18–25:5412:22Encore's Overtime Savings Program for Seasonal StaffLeanne Elliott: Um, I came across an article in Fortune and I thought it's kind of timely given the time of year it is. Dare I use the C word? Not that one, the other one— Christmas. Um, it is a-coming. Um, so I thought EP 144 · 12 Nov 2024·news roundup· 12:22–15:5929:46Workplace Surgery: Reevaluating employee benefits packagesAl Elliott: So is it really as simple? I mean, this could be literally the only 2-word reply we've got to a clinic question. Is it really as simple as just going, what do you want? And then here's my secondary question fEP 142 · 5 Nov 2024·workplace surgery· 29:46–33:2432:36Workplace Surgery: Handling mental health leave requestsAl Elliott: Absolutely right. Okay, it's on to my favorite time of the week, which is the world-famous Weekly Workplace Surgery, where I put your questions to Leanne. Lee, I've got 3 questions this week. Are you ready foEP 140 · 29 Oct 2024·workplace surgery· 32:36–38:2245:27Do you need an HR phone-a-friend?Al Elliott: We have talked about how to have difficult conversations, but how about getting the support for this? Do we need a dedicated HR person? And at what stage, as leaders and owners, do we need to start thinking aEP 137 · 17 Oct 2024·panel interview· 45:27–47:1628:12Why MAP built a bespoke employee survey with LeanneLeanne Elliott: But come back Al Elliott: Yeah, come back. Definitely come back because Nudge isn't as good as this. So come back. I'll cut that out. Keep that in. Welcome back. Now, Leanne has worked with MAP for a few EP 127 · 12 Sept 2024·other· 28:12–33:2049:24Louise's Journey from HR to CoachingLouise Kershaw: So I was working in corporate HR for almost 15 years. across 3 different FTSE 100 companies, mainly financial services. And it was a great career. And I really, really enjoyed, you know, a lot of it. And EP 117 · 23 Jul 2024·interview· 49:24–55:3024:12Workplace Surgery: Cryptic meeting invite from HRAl Elliott: Yeah, I really like it. If you've not heard it before, then essentially I take your questions or questions that we've found, just anonymous questions, but usually on the internet, and I put them to Leanne andEP 105 · 11 Jun 2024·workplace surgery· 24:12–27:4121:21Workplace Surgery: Surprise resignations despite great benefitsLeanne Elliott: Yes Al Elliott: Okay, so this person writes, we recently lost another long-term employee who we believed was loyal and engaged. Their sudden resignation caught us completely off guard, and it's not the fiEP 99 · 21 May 2024·workplace surgery· 21:21–26:0826:43Workplace Surgery: What employee engagement actually meansLeanne Elliott: Yeah, it's a bit corporate speak, I guess. Employee engagement is actually a psychological term rather than a corporate term. It basically means how, how much people give a monkey's about your business anEP 99 · 21 May 2024·workplace surgery· 26:43–32:038:11Google's 15-minute onboarding secretAl Elliott: Well, Inc magazine had an article about how Google uses a 15-minute conversation to onboard. So Google did a load of research to understand why some new employees adapted quicker than others. They concluded wEP 95 · 7 May 2024·news roundup· 8:11–12:203:23The origin story of CharlieHRBen Branson-Gateley: I'm CEO and co-founder of CharlieHR, and we're all about supporting small businesses, um, with everything that relates to HR within their company. Been doing that for about 7, 8 years. We have a coreEP 89 · 11 Apr 2024·interview· 3:23–5:588:06Addressing HR misconceptionsAl Elliott: Now, TikTok and YouTube Shorts is all full of posts about HR, and it seems that HR are the baddies in the workplace. Ben puts forward a pretty convincing argument that this is not the case. Yes, they have to EP 89 · 11 Apr 2024·interview· 8:06–11:5513:57Cultivating a strong company cultureLeanne Elliott: Let's get to the good stuff— culture. HR is often left to execute, as Al said, the bad and the ugly of people and culture decisions— things like redundancies, grievance investigations, disciplinaries. ButEP 89 · 11 Apr 2024·interview· 13:57–18:4434:53Final nuggets of wisdom and HR adviceAl Elliott: So there is the story of Charlie HR and its founder Ben, and, and a whole bonus heap of advice around culture which is added absolutely free of charge Leanne Elliott: Before we go, let's get another little nuEP 89 · 11 Apr 2024·interview· 34:53–36:165:56The Undercover Candidate project beginsNora Burns: I am Nora Burns. I am based in Denver, Colorado, in the United States, and my area of expertise is workplace culture, very specifically how your hiring process and your onboarding process really sets the stagEP 74 · 18 Jan 2024·interview· 5:56–8:4415:36Leanne's 91-Second Explainer: What is a 360 Review?Al Elliott: So, just for a quick second, Leo, Jodie mentioned 360 reviews there, 360 degrees, I'm guessing. Can you give us the 90-second summary of what a 360 review is for anyone who's not heard of this before? Leanne EP 73 · 11 Jan 2024·interview· 15:36–17:0115:06What exactly are employee insights?Leanne Elliott: So, today we are delving into the world of employee insights, something very close to my heart. Now, what exactly sets them apart from your everyday feedback? And how can insights shape the modern workplaEP 57 · 21 Sept 2023·other· 15:06–20:2918:36Is EDI just HR's job?Leanne Elliott: You might be thinking a lot of this is surely covered by legislation, HR laws and policies. Isn't it HR's job to get this stuff in place? Yes, it is, but that is just a start. As Katherine explained, therEP 45 · 28 Jun 2023·panel interview· 18:36–21:194:58Meet Team Remote: Ross Simmonds & Bethany SamsonAl Elliott: Our second guest is Bethany Sampson. Beth is People Director at Investors in People. That's a community interest company which is calling for organizational change to put people first. Now, If you're from theEP 42 · 7 Jun 2023·intro· 4:58–6:469:26Make a Difference Awards winnersAl Elliott: Definitely, go ahead Leanne Elliott: So a few of the winners: the employer that made the most difference to workplace mental health and wellbeing over the past year, uh, the winner in the large business categEP 37 · 3 May 2023·other· 9:26–10:2717:15Theme 2: Outsourced CPOsLeanne Elliott: Hear, hear Al Elliott: Theme number 2 is outsourced CPOs. CPO's got nothing to do with Star Wars. It stands for chief People Officer. The idea of a Chief People Officer— easy for me to say— is that you'veEP 37 · 3 May 2023·other· 17:15–21:1721:17Theme 3: Individualisation in wellbeingLeanne Elliott: Right? Al Elliott: So I'm qualified Leanne Elliott: Okay?EP 37 · 3 May 2023·other· 21:17–25:2746:32The role of People & Culture in securing investmentLeanne Elliott: More than $1 billion pledged in, in female-led businesses Al Elliott: These are people who know and understand this. So let's forget all this bullshit that you see on, on YouTube of people saying, oh, welEP 27 · 22 Feb 2023·other· 46:32–54:3338:54Why we're in this business and the HR parallelAl Elliott: That was brilliant. And I think that, I mean, we have to remember why we're in this business. What are what us entrepreneurs? What are we doing this for? So we're growing our business because yes, of course, EP 23 · 25 Jan 2023·other· 38:54–47:0212:15A different approach: identifying voluntary leavers before layoffsLeanne Elliott: So I think at this point it's, it's really important that we make a distinction between Twitter and Stripe. It is not a direct comparison. Stripe is responding to an economic downturn. Twitter is respondiEP 13 · 22 Nov 2022·other· 12:15–12:46
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