HR Leader Podcast Network

In this episode of The HR Leader Podcast, a sleep wellness manager unpacks the pros and cons that working from home (WFH) can have on our sleeping routines and the role that employers have when it comes to ensuring that their employees are getting adequate sleep. First-time host Kace O’Neill speaks with Rachel Beard, a sleep wellness manager at AH Beard Sleep Wellness Centre, about her work and insight into how Australian workers can ensure they get the adequate sleep they need. Beard shares her knowledge of how the WFH landscape has changed the way we interact with our sleeping patterns and the potential pitfalls that can arise when workers fail to set routines and boundaries while working from home.

Beard also delves into the role that employers, organisational leaders, and HR teams can best ensure their workers get enough sleep before showing up to the workplace. Beard stresses the importance of sleep and how it can oftentimes be disregarded when we speak about mental health and wellbeing topics – proclaiming that a lack of sleep can be a catalyst for negative mental health conditions. Finally, Beard offers some effective advice and strategies that can assist workers out there who may be struggling to get a good night’s sleep.

Here, the head of people and culture at a Sydney-based law firm unpacks the headline hurdles facing human resources departments in professional services businesses, and how HR can and should manage those issues. Host Jerome Doraisamy speaks with Swaab head of people and culture Angela Sharpe about her work at the mid-sized Sydney-based firm, what motivates her about working in the HR space, navigating talent shortages and increased competition for top candidates, the need to think more creatively about identifying ideal talent, the ever-present mental health challenges in such firms, and the role of HR teams in improving workplace wellness.

Sharpe also delves into the myriad legislative changes that HR teams have to grapple with, including the recently-introduced Right to Disconnect, the corresponding duties that HR teams must undertake, the emergence of new technologies and how HR teams can best adapt, and striking a balance between streamlining processes and ensuring the human touch doesn’t get lost. She also reflects on whether it has ever been more difficult to be in HR in a professional services environment.

There exists, Ilona Charles says, an “ongoing issue” with how human resources is perceived as a business function. Understanding why this is the case and taking the requisite practical steps to address it is the best way for such professionals to meaningfully contribute to the business. In this episode of The HR Leader Podcast, host Jerome Doraisamy speaks with Shilo chief executive and co-founder Ilona Charles about the credibility deficit that human resources teams and professionals currently face and why, the circumstances contributing to such a deficit, how the age of COVID-19 impacted HR’s credibility positively, and how urgent a priority it is to address the existing deficit. Charles also reflects on the starting points to change hearts and minds in the workforce, the need for a more holistic approach and not simply reacting to the world around you, the all-important need for in-person conversations and meaningful communication, further practical steps to take in addressing the credibility deficit, opportunities for HR to redefine itself, and how optimistic she is that HR can turn things around.

The holistic health dangers of being overly attached to one’s tech devices, including smartphones, are well established. Here, we unpack how and why managers will be better placed to not only manage their stress and anxiety by turning off those devices but also be more productive and successful workplace leaders.

In this episode of The HR Leader Podcast, host Jerome Doraisamy speaks with clinical psychologist Leila Gray about her work in the Brisbane hinterland and why it is so rewarding, how and why people – including workplace leaders – become anxious when their mobile phones are not nearby, the flow-on consequences from not being able to disconnect from one’s phone, and the health issues that can and do arise.

Gray also delves into the elevated dangers for Type A personalities, whether workplace leaders becoming too addicted to their devices is a growing problem and why, the need for cultural and mindset shifts from such managers, the practical steps that must be taken to reduce one’s reliance on devices and thus better manage anxiety, the need for incremental changes, and whether she is optimistic that Australia’s workplace leaders can make the necessary adjustments.  

In this special episode of The HR Leader Podcast, produced in partnership with YOUtax, we explore the provision of company shares and related employee incentives, the tax implications for employees, and who bears responsibility for education and upskilling on such taxation matters. Host Jerome Doraisamy speaks with YOUtax founder and director Emma Baxter about the tax and financial wellbeing services that YOUtax offers, the provision of restricted share units in a company to employees, how and why employees are finding themselves with unexpectedly high tax bills, the need to improve financial literacy for employees, and the extent to which such issues are increasingly becoming problematic. Baxter also delves into the responsibility of employers to ensure that their staff are properly equipped to navigate such employee incentive schemes, the practical steps that businesses and HR managers can and should take to ensure that workers know how to approach their financial wellness, the educational webinars that could be utilised, and the role of the executive suite in ensuring such support. To learn more about YOUtax, click here.

The tone of certain disputes between employers and employees is shifting, one lawyer argues, with issues at the executive level being fought harder and businesses looking to be more aggressive about enforcing restraints. In this episode of The HR Leader Podcast, host Jerome Doraisamy speaks with Hamilton Locke partner Timothy Zahara about how and why he became an employment lawyer and why he finds it so interesting, how executive disputes are becoming harder to settle, how the mainstreaming of psychological risks and a broad sense of burnout is contributing to such disputes, the perfect storm of executives feeling burnt out and no oversight of their output, and the broader implications for businesses and firms in navigating such executive-level disputes.

Zahara also delves into the evolving nature of post-employment restraints and how and why there is increased aggression in this space right now, the potential “chilling effect” of such restraints, whether businesses are watching the non-compete debate in the United States and acting accordingly, whether the newfound aggression is a result of post-pandemic environmental trends, what businesses can be doing moving forward to better protect their interests while not constraining employees, what constitutes good leadership moving forward, and what trends might be on the horizon.

In this special episode of The HR Leader Podcast, produced in partnership with global law firm Dentons, we explore the allegations of corruption, bullying and lawlessness at the Construction, Forestry and Maritime Employees Union (CFMEU), the fallout from recent revelations, and what businesses can and must learn from such workplace relations matters. Host Jerome Doraisamy is joined by Dentons partner Persephone Stuckey-Clarke to discuss her employment and safety practice within the global law firm, why such work is so meaningful for her, the recent allegations levelled against the CFMEU and why they are so significant, the professional and political fallout from such revelations, and why all Australians should care about it. Persephone also delves into the professional and political backstory to the recent allegations and revelations, whether the appointment of an independent administrator is a sufficient response, the need for more effective and stringent legislative and regulatory frameworks, the lessons for businesses across the board, the ever-increasing importance of having the right practices and policies in place within the business, why HR professionals need to be paying close attention to this evolving story. To learn more about Dentons and its work in this space, click here.   

Having worked in the hospitality sector for decades, Michelle Pascoe understands what it’s like to lead a workforce with up to half a dozen different generations and the myriad idiosyncrasies of those various workers. Here, she unpacks the importance of identifying optimal approaches to leading such a diverse group of people. In this episode of The HR Leader Podcast, host Jerome Doraisamy speaks with OOPS founder and chief executive Michelle Pascoe about her background in the hospitality sector, why leadership of different generations is an important conversation at this juncture in the market, whether leaders are cognisant of the need to consider how to best manage different generations, and the ever-increasing need to be proactive in one’s leadership. Pascoe also delves into the questions that leaders should be asking of themselves when managing individuals with different needs and ambitions, navigating conflicting views between workers, how leaders can meaningfully make time to work on their management capabilities, lessons she’s learnt over the course of her career, and thinking more creatively about your approaches.

In the face of global skills shortages, it is essential that businesses of all stripes have a clear understanding of where their workforce currently stands and where it needs to be so as to keep pace with the rapid pace of market change. In this episode of The HR Leader Podcast, host Jerome Doraisamy speaks with WithYouWithMe chief customer officer Cia Kouparitsas about skills shortages across the market and how this trend is making hiring decisions more pertinent in the current climate, the “harder skills” that might be more urgently needed at present, whether businesses are sufficiently cognisant of the need to upskill on new technologies, and whether addressing the skills lag is a high priority right now.

Kouparitsas also delves into the questions that businesses need to be asking at present in identifying requisite skills to develop and still stay true to the business’s mission and purpose, the state of affairs for soft skills, how HR professionals can adopt a “skills-first mindset”, leaning more heavily into a candidate’s skills rather than their experience, and what excites her about skills-based hiring in the future.

Research shows that the number of workers who can be described as “fence-sitters” (i.e. those who are quiet quitting) has increased in recent years. It is incumbent on businesses to figure out not just how to retain staff, but to ensure that those who are not as engaged as they could be can rediscover their passion, motivation and, ultimately, productivity. In this episode of The HR Leader Podcast, host Jerome Doraisamy speaks with operational excellence strategist, author and mentor Ishan Galapathy about the state of affairs with workplace engagement, why employers and HR professionals need to be so concerned about “fence-sitters” and winning them back, navigating that which is “volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous”, and the questions that businesses and team leaders need to be asking of themselves when it comes to shoring up workplace engagement.

Galapathy also delves into whether those employees who are already engaged need to take greater responsibility for bringing the disengaged and “fence-sitting” colleagues along for the ride, recounts some case studies about successful engagement of a workforce, how technology can help better engage those sitting on the fence, and how culture will improve from a more strategic focus on workplace engagement.