Hosts: Steve Boese and Trish Steed

Guest: KeyAnna Schmeidl, Chief Human Experience Officer at Workhuman

Summary

Work has outgrown the org chart. Today, work moves across teams, projects, functions, technologies, and informal networks that traditional workforce metrics were never designed to capture. Headcount, turnover, productivity, and performance data still matter - but they rarely tell the full story of how work gets done or who is making it possible.

In this episode of the HR Happy Hour, Steve and Trish welcome KeyAnna Schmeidl, Chief Human Experience Officer at Workhuman, for a conversation about what leaders can learn when they look beyond traditional reporting and start paying attention to the human signals inside everyday work. She explains why reporting relationships and job descriptions often reveal far less than the connections, contributions, expertise, and informal influence that move work forward. The conversation explores how organizations can move from backward-looking dashboards toward more dynamic workforce intelligence that helps leaders understand what is happening now, and make better decisions about what should happen next.

One of the richest sources of that insight may already exist inside the organization: recognition data. Because recognition captures what people notice and value in one another's work, it can reveal contributors who remove roadblocks, share expertise, mentor teammates, strengthen collaboration, and influence outcomes in ways that may never appear in a traditional performance metric.

Topics include:

• Where traditional HR and productivity metrics fall short
• The shift from reporting what happened to understanding what is happening
• Why simply replacing a departing employee with the same role may no longer make sense
• How recognition data can uncover hidden contributors, connectors, mentors, and emerging leaders
• The role recognition can play in succession planning, internal mobility, and identifying future leadership potential
• What "dark spots" in recognition can reveal about culture and employee visibility
• How leaders can build workforce dashboards that combine historical, real-time, and forward-looking information

Thank you for joining the show today! Remember to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts!

Workhuman is a proud supporter of the HR Happy Hour Network. 

Nearly every HR leader knows the feeling: Teams are stretched thin, priorities keep shifting, and it's getting harder to see what's really going on beneath the surface. That's the subject of Workhuman's new documentary, Spotlight: The Leadership Reset, an investigation into why managers are losing visibility into their teams, and what it takes to see clearly again. Featuring Harvard’s Professor Amy Edmondson, crisis leadership expert Dr. Syra Madad, and bakery-owner-turned-business-leader Joanne Chang. The Leadership Reset premieres September 29th. Register for free today at workhuman.com/spotlight. 

Host: Sabrina Baker

Summary

What happens when your top individual contributor gets promoted to manager but receives zero training on how to actually manage people?

In small and mid-sized businesses (1 to 500 employees), "accidental managers" are created every day. While these star performers have great intentions, placing them in management without guardrails creates massive legal, financial, and operational risks, from wage-and-hour violations to undocumented performance issues and mishandled medical disclosures.

In this episode of The HR Connection, host Sabrina Baker breaks down the hidden costs of untrained managers, walks through real-world "wrong way vs. right way" scenarios, and shares a 3-step framework to sneak high-impact leadership development into your managers' daily routine without spending a dime.

Topics include:

• Why high-performing employees aren’t automatically prepared to become effective people managers
• Three major risks created by untrained managers: wage and hour violations, documentation gaps, and mishandled accommodation or leave conversations
• How seemingly small manager decisions can create significant legal and financial exposure
• The difference between how trained and untrained managers respond to common workplace situations
• How to create a simple set of first-30-day manager compliance guardrails
• Why 15-minute tactical micro-training sessions can be more effective and realistic for small organizations than traditional leadership programs
• How consistent manager training can improve the way performance, employee concerns, and compliance issues are handled across the organizatio

Thank you for joining the show today! Remember to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts!

The HR Happy Hour Network is sponsored by Workhuman.

Nearly 9 in 10 HR leaders say they don't have a strong leadership bench. Workhuman's Future Leaders gives organizations a smarter way to build one. Future Leaders is the first talent intelligence solution to identify high-potential VP+ talent already within your workforce—up to four years before promotion. Using proprietary AI and real-time recognition data, it uncovers the leadership signals hidden in everyday work long before traditional succession planning can. It's a smarter, data-driven approach to building tomorrow's leaders. Learn more at Workhuman.com. Thanks for joining us.

Hosts: Steve Boese and Trish Steed

Summary

In this episode of At Work in America, Steve and Trish return to Netflix’s America’s Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders to unpack the workplace lessons found throughout Season 3.

Following significant changes to DCC compensation, the conversation moves beyond whether these highly visible performers are being paid fairly and into deeper questions about the employee experience. Steve and Trish explore the tension between longtime leaders and a largely Gen Z workforce, the importance of meaningful feedback and recognition, and what happens when leaders listen to employee input without truly changing how they lead. They also examine the DCC selection process, the emotional weight of hiring and termination decisions, the role experienced employees play in supporting newer team members, and the “invisible work” that often holds teams together but goes unnoticed by leadership.

Along the way, Steve and Trish don’t always agree - particularly when it comes to how much credit DCC leadership deserves for adapting. But their debate raises an important question for every organization: Is changing a process enough if the underlying leadership behaviors and culture haven’t changed with it?

Topics include:

• Why listening to employees is only meaningful when leaders are willing to act on what they hear
• The growing expectations Gen Z employees have around feedback, recognition, connection, and leadership
• Can longtime leaders successfully adapt as workplace expectations change
• The danger of asking employees for input when the final decision consistently ignores their perspective
• What the DCC audition and selection process can teach employers about recruiting, evaluation, rejection, and candidate experience
• How peer leaders and experienced team members often perform critical coaching, encouragement, and culture-building work
• Why some of the most valuable contributions employees make may be invisible to traditional performance measures

Thank you for joining the show today! Remember to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts!

The HR Happy Hour Network is sponsored by Workhuman.

Nearly 9 in 10 HR leaders say they don't have a strong leadership bench. Workhuman's Future Leaders gives organizations a smarter way to build one. Future Leaders is the first talent intelligence solution to identify high-potential VP+ talent already within your workforce—up to four years before promotion. Using proprietary AI and real-time recognition data, it uncovers the leadership signals hidden in everyday work long before traditional succession planning can. It's a smarter, data-driven approach to building tomorrow's leaders. Learn more at Workhuman.com. Thanks for joining us.

Seeing the Future: Prediction Markets on the Rise With Gen Z

Hosts: Jack McFarlane and Nicholas Schlemmer

Summary

In this episode of The Play by Play, Jack and Nick break down the growing world of prediction markets and explore why platforms like Kalshi and Polymarket have captured the attention of Gen Z. They discuss how these markets work, the appeal of their stock-market-like experience, and the combination of instant gratification, financial anxiety, and easy access that may be fueling their popularity. But with the excitement comes real financial risk. Jack and Nick dig into the potential downsides of speculative trading and gambling, including the danger of dipping into savings, chasing losses, and betting money that someone can't afford to lose. Their takeaway: if you're going to participate, understand the risk and keep it to money you can genuinely afford to lose.

Then the guys lighten things up with the debut of the Play by Play Prediction Market — using imaginary coins instead of real money to make their picks for the upcoming college football season. From Ohio State and Michigan to Utah, BYU, LSU, Miami, Clemson, Indiana, and Georgia, Jack and Nick put their predictions on the record for conference champions, playoff contenders, and the national championship.

It's part financial trends, part Gen Z perspective, part college football preview — and 100% Play by Play.

Takeaways

• What prediction markets are and how they work
• The connection between Gen Z, financial anxiety, investing, and instant gratification
• The financial and behavioral risks associated with gambling and speculative trading
• Jack and Nick's approach to responsible betting
• The first-ever Play by Play Prediction Market
• College football conference and national championship predictions
• A football-themed final Quote of the Show

Thank you for joining the show today! Remember to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts!

The HR Happy Hour Network is sponsored by Workhuman.

Nearly 9 in 10 HR leaders say they don't have a strong leadership bench. Workhuman's Future Leaders gives organizations a smarter way to build one. Future Leaders is the first talent intelligence solution to identify high-potential VP+ talent already within your workforce—up to four years before promotion. Using proprietary AI and real-time recognition data, it uncovers the leadership signals hidden in everyday work long before traditional succession planning can. It's a smarter, data-driven approach to building tomorrow's leaders. Learn more at Workhuman.com. Thanks for joining us.

Hosts: Steve Boese and Trish Steed

Guest: Tom Libretto, President at Workhuman

Summary

AI is only as powerful as the data behind it. As organizations race to deploy new AI tools, they may be overlooking one of the richest sources of workforce intelligence already available to them: the everyday moments that reveal how work actually gets done.

In this HR Happy Hour episode, Steve and Trish welcome Tom Libretto, President of Workhuman, to explore why traditional HR data often tells only part of the story, and how recognition data can provide a more human, contextual view of skills, collaboration, influence, leadership potential, and organizational impact.

Tom explains the value of zero-party data: information employees voluntarily share in their own words about the contributions they see happening around them. When recognition is specific and meaningful, those messages can become a powerful source of intelligence about the workforce—capturing signals that transactional HR systems were never designed to see. The conversation also explores how AI can turn those signals into actionable workforce insights. Tom shares how Workhuman is using recognition data to identify potential future leaders years before promotion, surface “talent magnets” who consistently develop others, and help organizations better understand whether employees' work is actually aligned with strategic business priorities.

Topics include:

• Why organizations need to think as carefully about what they feed AI as they do about the AI technology itself
• The limitations of transactional and declarative HR data
• What zero-party data is and why recognition can provide an unusually rich source of human intelligence
• How recognition reveals skills in action, collaboration patterns, influence, values, and contribution
• Why the quality and specificity of recognition messages matter when using the data with AI
• How AI and recognition data can help identify future leaders years earlier than traditional succession planning
• What HR leaders should consider as they build a richer, more trustworthy data foundation for AI-powered workforce decisions

Thank you for joining the show today! Remember to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts!

The HR Happy Hour Network is sponsored by Workhuman.

Nearly 9 in 10 HR leaders say they don't have a strong leadership bench. Workhuman's Future Leaders gives organizations a smarter way to build one. Future Leaders is the first talent intelligence solution to identify high-potential VP+ talent already within your workforce—up to four years before promotion. Using proprietary AI and real-time recognition data, it uncovers the leadership signals hidden in everyday work long before traditional succession planning can. It's a smarter, data-driven approach to building tomorrow's leaders. Learn more at Workhuman.com. Thanks for joining us.

Host: Steve Boese

Guest: Jason Lauritsen, Workplace strategist, Executive advisor, Keynote speaker, and co-author of the Human Connection Study

Summary

In this episode of At Work in America, Steve Boese speaks with workplace strategist, advisor, and keynote speaker Jason Lauritsen about the Human Connection Study, a large-scale research project examining how connection shapes the employee experience. The study includes responses from more than 286,000 employees across nearly 1,700 organizations, providing a deeper look at what connection is, how employees experience it, and why it matters to organizational success.

Jason explains why workplace connection extends beyond relationships with managers and colleagues. Employees also need to feel that their work matters and that they understand and believe in the purpose and direction of their organization.

The conversation explores the study’s most surprising findings, including why connection to organizational purpose may be even more influential than having strong workplace relationships—and what HR and business leaders can do to create the conditions where connection can flourish.

Topics include:

• Why connection should be viewed as a driver of performance rather than simply a cultural benefit
• The difference between relational connection and resonance connection
• The four primary dimensions of workplace connection
• Why organizational purpose and direction have such a powerful influence on employees
• How connection affects motivation, retention, inclusion, and advocacy
• How managers can create moments where employees feel seen, heard, and understood

Thank you for joining the show today! Remember to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts!

The HR Happy Hour Network is sponsored by Workhuman.

Nearly 9 in 10 HR leaders say they don't have a strong leadership bench. Workhuman's Future Leaders gives organizations a smarter way to build one. Future Leaders is the first talent intelligence solution to identify high-potential VP+ talent already within your workforce—up to four years before promotion. Using proprietary AI and real-time recognition data, it uncovers the leadership signals hidden in everyday work long before traditional succession planning can. It's a smarter, data-driven approach to building tomorrow's leaders. Learn more at Workhuman.com. Thanks for joining us.

Hosts: Mervyn Dinnen

Guest: Nick Holmes, VP of Learning and Culture, and Founder of Culture Nova

Summary

In this episode of HR Means Business, Mervyn Dinnen speaks with Nick Holmes, organizational culture researcher, VP of Learning and Culture, and founder of Culture Nova. Nick is currently completing a PhD focused on developing a clearer, more relevant definition and measurement of organizational culture.

Together, they challenge the common question, “What will AI do to our culture?” Instead, Nick argues that leaders should ask, “What kind of culture do we need for AI to work?”

The conversation explores why organizations often confuse familiarity with genuine understanding, how AI can expose existing weaknesses in trust and psychological safety, and why successful adoption requires far more than introducing new tools. It requires leaders to rethink how information flows, how people learn, how change is communicated, and how work itself is designed.

Key Takeaways

• How an organization’s existing culture shapes AI adoption
• Why AI often amplifies cultural strengths and weaknesses
• What an AI-ready organizational culture looks like
• Why leaders must model responsible and thoughtful AI use
• How AI can increase workload rather than reduce it
• The relationship between AI adoption and psychological safety
• Why frontline and location-based workers must be included in the AI conversation

Thank you for your continued support of the show and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts!

The HR Happy Hour Network is sponsored by Workhuman.

Nearly 9 in 10 HR leaders say they don't have a strong leadership bench. Workhuman's Future Leaders gives organizations a smarter way to build one. Future Leaders is the first talent intelligence solution to identify high-potential VP+ talent already within your workforce—up to four years before promotion. Using proprietary AI and real-time recognition data, it uncovers the leadership signals hidden in everyday work long before traditional succession planning can. It's a smarter, data-driven approach to building tomorrow's leaders. Learn more at Workhuman.com. Thanks for joining us.

Moments That Matter and Shape Employee Trust: Lessons from SHRM 2026

Host: Steve Boese

Guests: Tom Fischer, Marketing Leader

Brian Elfrink, Product Leader

Troy Hupp, Product Leader for Employee Verifications

Erin Derby, Sr. Director, Partners and Alliances

Summary

In this special episode of the HR Happy Hour recorded live at SHRM 2026, Steve Boese brings together insights from four conversations with leaders from Experian Employer Services to explore how compliance, HR technology, and connected systems influence the moments employees remember most. From onboarding and employment verification to workforce compliance and HR technology ecosystems, this episode examines how organizations can reduce friction, build trust, and create better employee experiences during life's biggest moments.

Whether an employee is starting a new job, buying a home, relocating, or navigating changing regulations, the systems supporting those experiences matter more than ever.

Topics include:

• Why compliance has become an essential part of the employee experience
• How employment verification impacts major life events like home purchases and government benefits
• The growing importance of connected HR technology ecosystems
• Why automation should enhance—not replace—human service
• How organizations can balance innovation, compliance, and employee trust
• Practical advice for evaluating HR technology partners
• Why the "back office" increasingly defines the employee experience

Thank you for joining the show today! Remember to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts!

The HR Happy Hour Network is sponsored by Workhuman.

Nearly 9 in 10 HR leaders say they don't have a strong leadership bench. Workhuman's Future Leaders gives organizations a smarter way to build one. Future Leaders is the first talent intelligence solution to identify high-potential VP+ talent already within your workforce—up to four years before promotion. Using proprietary AI and real-time recognition data, it uncovers the leadership signals hidden in everyday work long before traditional succession planning can. It's a smarter, data-driven approach to building tomorrow's leaders. Learn more at Workhuman.com. Thanks for joining us.

How Leaders Can Build AI-Native Organizations

Host: Steve Boese

Guests: Brian Solis, Head of Global Innovation - Dave Wright, Chief Innovation Officer, ServiceNow

Summary

On this episode of System of Record, Steve Boese is joined by Dave Wright and Brian Solis, co-authors of Infinite: How Leaders Transform Businesses with AI, for a conversation about what it really takes to become an AI-native organization. Rather than focusing on AI tools alone, they explore why successful transformation requires organizations to rethink leadership, redesign workflows, and build cultures that can continuously adapt.

The discussion challenges leaders to move beyond using AI solely for efficiency and begin leveraging it to create entirely new ways of working. From organizational design to workflow orchestration, the episode offers practical insights into what separates companies that simply adopt AI from those that use it to reinvent their business. Whether you're leading HR, IT, operations, or enterprise strategy, this conversation provides a thoughtful framework for preparing your organization for the next era of work.

Topics include:

• Why AI represents a fundamentally different transformation than previous technology waves.
• What it means to build an "infinite company" designed for continuous adaptation.
• How leadership must evolve to support AI-driven organizations.
• Why workflow design is becoming one of the most important competitive advantages.
• The difference between using AI for operational efficiency and using it to drive innovation.
• How organizational culture, trust, and curiosity influence successful AI adoption.

Thank you for joining the show today! Remember to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts!

The HR Happy Hour Network is sponsored by Workhuman.

We talk a lot on this show about where HR is headed — and one of the most exciting developments I’ve seen lately is what Workhuman is doing with Future Leaders. Future Leaders is the first talent intelligence tool of its kind, helping companies identify high-potential VP+ talent already inside their organization — up to 4 years before they step into the role. And it’s not based on gut instinct or visibility. Using real-time recognition data and proprietary AI, it reveals who’s already influencing and elevating the people around them. Future Leaders from Workhuman is setting a new standard for internal talent development. Learn more at workhuman.com. Thanks for joining us.

Leadership Development, No Budget Required

Host: Sabrina Baker

Summary

Small businesses run on homegrown leaders, high performers promoted into management with zero support for the completely different skill set that role actually requires. Sabrina argues that leadership development is already happening in every organization, whether intentional or not, because new leaders learn by watching everyone above them. If those role models are bad, the org just keeps reproducing the same gaps.

With no budget for formal programs, she walks through ways to build leadership development into work that's already happening: asking questions instead of handing managers answers, using real business misses as leadership case studies in team meetings, running one-on-ones that surface what managers actually need, pulling engagement survey data to make the case for support, and running informal lunch-and-learns during meetings that already exist.

None of it requires CEO sign-off or a line item just intention about turning everyday moments into development.

Key Topics

• Promoting from within can enhance morale and engagement.
• Onboarding programs are crucial for small businesses.
• Leadership development can happen informally through daily interactions.
• Assuming individual contributors will be great leaders is a mistake.
• Real business problems can be used as learning opportunities.

Thank you for your continued support of the show and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts!

The HR Happy Hour Network is sponsored by Workhuman.

We talk a lot on this show about where HR is headed — and one of the most exciting developments I’ve seen lately is what Workhuman is doing with Future Leaders. Future Leaders is the first talent intelligence tool of its kind, helping companies identify high-potential VP+ talent already inside their organization — up to 4 years before they step into the role. And it’s not based on gut instinct or visibility. Using real-time recognition data and proprietary AI, it reveals who’s already influencing and elevating the people around them. Future Leaders from Workhuman is setting a new standard for internal talent development. Learn more at workhuman.com. Thanks for joining us.