What does loyalty look like in 2025? In a climate of low wage growth, how can you keep employees motivated and engaged? As warnings come of retirement ages potentially rising above 70 years old, how can employers foster opportunities for skills development for older workers? And are organisations missing a vital growth opportunity by not investing enough in ‘green skills’?

CIPD Reference Content Manager, Holly Ivins, is joined by Chief People Officer at Caxton, Jane-Emma Peerless; Head of People and Culture at Dowds Group, Rob Rees; and Chief People Officer at the Bank of Ireland, Matt Elliott. 

Recorded: 17 October 2025

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Organisations face constant and increasingly complex change, making it critical to bring people along on the journey. But can L&D play a more proactive role in enabling successful transformation by fostering buy-in, anticipating resistance, and building change capability? How can learning professionals go further than training, positioning themselves as strategic and operational partners who build change capability across the organisation?

Join Nigel Cassidy and this month’s guests – Melanie Franklin, CEO at Capability for Change and Founder of Change Capability Community; Nick Baker, Senior Lead: Learning Design and Digital Innovation at The Football Association; and Paul Hodgkinson, Learning and Development Business Partner at CIPD.

In this episode we explore:

-         How L&D can be used to empower voice, solicit input and buy-in to change?

-         What can be done to anticipate and address blockers and barriers before they surface?

-         What tools does L&D have at its disposal to build ‘change capability’ and prepare the conditions for successful transformation at both individual and organisational levels?

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Is the introduction of digital ID cards using a ‘nut to crack a sledgehammer’ in the effort to curb illegal work, and what impact might this have on UK employers? Are grievances against HR simply an occupational hazard, and how can HR professionals best manage the emotional and personal toll – especially when they’re in the firing line? Finally, is it reasonable for employers to incentivise employees to use their personal social media to promote the company?

CIPD Trust Senior Programme Manager, Leah De Silva, is joined by Chief People Officer at Effective Energy Group, Jo Carlin; Principal Consultant at Healix People Solutions, David Balls; and Founder and Managing Director at Campbell HR Consulting, Janet Campbell. 

Recorded: 8 October 2025 

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Just how important are team dynamics and psychological safety in driving organisational performance? What behaviours do leaders need to model to create an environment of high performance? 

In the second and final episode, CIPD Director of Profession David D’Souza is joined by best-selling author and broadcaster Matthew Syed to explore the role of organisations in driving and enabling high-performance.

Recorded: 11 August 2025

Listen back to the first episode with Matthew Syed here:

https://www.cipd.org/en/knowledge/podcasts/hr-people-pod

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Should AI be used to resolve conflict in the workplace? Are over-sensationalised stories of ‘eye-rolling’ leading to legal issues masking deeper problems in the workplace? Does ‘lifelong learning’ apply from hire-to-retire for employees? And what lessons can we take around succession planning from a messy football transfer saga?  

CIPD Director of Profession David D’Souza is joined by Founder and Managing Director at Haylo HR and CEO of Resolution at Work, Trish Hewitt, and Chief People Officer at Lore Group, John Dawson. 

Recorded: 5 September 2025 

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Is loneliness at work the hidden crisis no one is talking about? The CIPD’s Good Work Index 2025 report revealed that more than a third of working adults say they sometimes, often, or always feel lonely at work — a feeling that carries serious consequences for organisations. But what can be done? Is it an inevitable by-product of modern working life, exacerbating feelings of isolation, or can organisations take meaningful action?

Join Nigel Cassidy and this month’s guests – Caroline Woolland, Director of HR at The King’s Fund; Liggy Webb, award-winning author, consultant and wellbeing expert; and Stephanie Davies, Founder, CEO and Head of Happiness at Laughology – as we explore how to tackle workplace loneliness head-on. Could your culture or job design be exacerbating feelings of loneliness, and what are the signs you should be alert to?

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Are we seeing a trend in the merging of HR and IT functions, and how could this reshape the role of the profession? Where’s the line between healthy openness and harmful oversharing in the workplace? Do we still need hard-and-fast, rigid rules for triggering absence management conversations? How do we make accountability a collective standard, rather than a top-down directive? 

CIPD Director of Profession David D’Souza is joined by Alix Bolton, Chief People Officer, Europe at Advantage Smollan, and Mark Pavlika, Chief People and Purpose Officer at Bicycle London. 

Recorded: 22 August 2025 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.