It has been another ‘interesting’ year for the HR profession.  The last two years have seen seismic changes in the world of work that would normally take years to evolve such as the move to hybrid working, the great resignation, labour shortages in key sectors and the enormous impact technology is having.  

Also there have been opportunities!  HR has seemingly earned its place at the board table and organisations are perhaps at last seeing the impact the profession can have on organisational performance.

So what can HR professionals expect from 2022 and what can we take away from 2021?  Rob Moss is the Editor of Personnel Today, the UK’s leading independent HR website.  Rob is passionate about the opportunities the past two years have created and believes that the HR profession is in a unique position to make the world of work fairer, more equitable and fundamentally more trusting.

 Personnel Today.com frequently attracts more than 500,000 people per month, mainly from the UK but with a significant international audience as well making Rob uniquely placed to give us his review of the year.

In this episode you'll learn:

• Why Covid-19 has largely been positive for the HR profession
• Rob's HR highlights of the year 
• The employment law cases that continue to impact upon the UK's HR scene
• Rob's opinion of the 'Fire and Rehire' private members' bill
• His frustration with the trend to appoint non HR professionals into senior HR positions 
• The UK's continued pay inequality in terms of frontline and key workers
• Why flexible working is now right up there as a key benefit for employees
• His fears for how learning and development for new joiners is going to be affected by the adoption of hybrid working

Resources:

https://www.personneltoday.com
https://ovenreadyhr.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/podcasthost/
Twitter: @OvenHr
https://blog.feedspot.com/hr_podcasts/

Tell me me what YOU think

Tell me what you think of this interview.  Email me at [email protected]

Oven-Ready Survey

The show is almost a year old and I'd love some feedback.  Here is a link to a very short and anonymous survey: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/MXYMC29

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If you enjoyed this show, please share with your friends and please remember to rate and review!

To listen to the full episode, download a transcript and view all the other Oven-Ready HR podcast episodes or find out more about Oven-Ready HR and Chris Taylor your show host visit https://ovenreadyhr.com

Podcasting is growing at a phenomenal pace with the market expected to reach almost $95 Billion by 2028.  Within this huge market from sports and entertainment shows to true crime and comedy is an increasing amount of 'professional' podcasts with shows featuring HR themes amongst them.

One of the attractions of podcasts is that they can be consumed by the listener in all manner of settings; walking the dog; the commute to work; the school run and working out at the gym.  HR podcasts provide the listener a learning experience that can be consumed whenever the listener chooses to play the episode meaning they are not an interruption in an already busy day.  Think learning on demand.

Internal organisation podcast shows are also increasing in popularity with a number of firms using them to communicate to their internal stakeholders.  Again, the benefit of being able to communicate purpose, values and training in a way that doesn't interrupt a worker's day is proving very effective.

The HR podcasting sector is very broad with shows focused on training, recruitment, reward, leadership and organisational culture meaning listeners can subscribe to any number of shows featuring content that is relevant to the listener.

As HR Podcasts continue to grow in popularity and as this particular podcast is is almost a year old, I thought I'd turn the tables on one of HR’s most popular podcasts and ask hosts Jon Thurmond and Wendy Dailey of the hugely popular HR Social Hour Half Hour Podcast about why they started their show.

 This episode is a bit of a delve behind the scenes of how a podcast is created and some of the challenges involved in producing a show focused on HR and why HR professionals should be consuming podcasts as part of their regular learning.

As full-time working HR professionals themselves, Jon and Wendy were keen to talk about some of the key HR issues they are facing at the moment in the US.  Interestingly.  As Jon says the labour laws might be different in the country where you live but the people issues are much the same wherever you are.

In this episode you'll learn:

• How HR Social Hour Half Hour was conceived
• The popularity of podcasts as a medium to communicate to a wide range of stakeholders
• The importance of original content in HR podcasts
• How successful HR podcasts interact with their listeners and build a community

Resources:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/wendyrhdailey/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonthurmond/
https://hrsocialhourpodcast.podbean.com
https://www.researchandmarkets.com
https://ovenreadyhr.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/podcasthost/
Twitter: @OvenHr
https://blog.feedspot.com/hr_podcasts/

Tell me me what YOU think

Tell me what you think of this interview.  Email me at [email protected]

Oven-Ready Survey

The show is almost a year old and I'd love some feedback.  Here is a link to a very short and anonymous survey: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/MXYMC29

Rate, Review & Share

If you enjoyed this show, please share with your friends and please remember to rate and review!

To listen to the full episode, download a transcript and view all the other Oven-Ready HR podcast episodes or find out more about Oven-Ready HR and Chris Taylor your show host visit https://ovenreadyhr.com

In this season of Oven-Ready I’ve talked a great deal about some of the outputs of HR such as employee engagement, wellbeing and diversity, so I thought it was time to turn the spotlight back on to the profession and spend a little time thinking about us.  After all, it’s been another ‘interesting’ year for the HR profession!

Meet Lars Schmidt.  Lars is an entrepreneur, writer, speaker, podcaster, and advocate for modern HR & people practices.  He is the author of the bestselling book Redefining HR  - an anthology of expert HR practice and founder of Amplify (an HR executive search and consulting firm).

In this episode you'll learn:

• Why now is the best time to work in the HR profession 
• Lars Schmidt's view on the future of work and in particular hybrid working
• The inspiration that led to him publishing his bestselling book 'Redefining HR' and how Lars began his HR career
• The reason why many CHROs today do not come from a classic HR background and why that's good for HR
• The increased role of HR tech in the profession and how roles within HR are changing
• The huge importance of effective on boarding in the new hybrid way of working
• His recommendations for what personal objectives HR professionals should be concentrating on for next year

Resources:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/larsschmidt/
https://www.redefininghr.com
https://amplifytalent.com
https://ovenreadyhr.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/podcasthost/
Twitter: @OvenHr
https://blog.feedspot.com/hr_podcasts/

Tell me me what YOU think

Tell me what you think of this interview.  Email me at [email protected]

Oven-Ready Survey

The show is almost a year old and I'd love some feedback.  Here is a link to a very short and anonymous survey: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/MXYMC29

Rate, Review & Share

If you enjoyed this show, please share with your friends and please remember to rate and review!

To listen to the full episode, download a transcript and view all the other Oven-Ready HR podcast episodes or find out more about Oven-Ready HR and Chris Taylor your show host visit https://ovenreadyhr.com

I read somewhere once that to make a small fortune, start with a large fortune and buy an airline.  Few industries have suffered as much as airlines during the global pandemic.  Literally overnight, airlines grounded their entire fleet, furloughed most of their workforce and the skies fell eerily silent.  Only recently have flights  resumed between Europe and the United States with services starting to return to normal.

For some reason, airlines around the world have a particularly poor record when it comes to employee relations.  Industrial disputes that seemingly drag on for weeks are commonplace.  I realise the sector is hugely competitive and operates on tight margins but surely an airline without a happy, loyal and engaged workforce is hardly going to offer passengers the best in-flight experience.

So imagine my surprise when I came across an airline that by all accounts soars far above its peers when it comes to employee engagement.  Welcome to Porter Airlines!

Telling the story of why Porter Airlines is flying high is Lawrence Hughes, Senior Vice President of People & Culture at Porter Airlines and our friend Dr Fiona Jamison the CEO of Spring International a Philadelphia based  women-owned research analytics and consulting firm.  Spring International  helps organisations like Porter Airlines  throughout the US and internationally build better workplaces, enhance the employee experience ultimately of course to drive business success for all.

Resources:

https://www.flyporter.com/en-ca/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/lawrencehugheshr/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/fionajamison/
https://www.springitl.com
https://ovenreadyhr.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/podcasthost/
Twitter: @OvenHr
https://blog.feedspot.com/hr_podcasts/

Tell me me what YOU think

Tell me what you think of this interview.  Email me at [email protected]

Oven-Ready Survey

The show is almost a year old and I'd love some feedback.  Here is a link to a very short and anonymous survey: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/MXYMC29

Rate, Review & Share

If you enjoyed this show, please share with your friends and please remember to rate and review!

To listen to the full episode, download a transcript and view all the other Oven-Ready HR podcast episodes or find out more about Oven-Ready HR and Chris Taylor your show host visit https://ovenreadyhr.com

Workforce wellbeing has become a business priority.  You don’t have to be a scientist or an academic to recognise that a happy and healthy workforce will help deliver a better bottom line performance!

Employee wellbeing is clearly exercising the minds of CEOs.  A recent article by the World Economic Forum titled “Is there a doctor in the boardroom?” profiles the work that Chief Medical officers from firms such as Anglo American and BP are doing to help combat employee burnout, deal with rising levels of stress and anxiety and to increase productivity.  

However, don’t think for a second this focus by firms on wellbeing is new.  Think back to the Quaker Cadbury Family in the 19th Century who pioneered the health and fitness of their employees by building a village with at the the time modern housing, parks and swimming pools and medical facilities for their chocolaate factory workers.

Joining me to discuss a return to these Quaker values is Robert Tansey.  Robert led Sky’s ground-breaking partnership with British Cycling and was Chairman of Team Sky from 2010-2015. Latterly, Robert co-founded buddyboost, an initiative to help the nation's employees become healthier and happier and in 2021 successfully launched buddyboost into the corporate wellbeing market.

Resources:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/robert-tansey-02b2218/
https://buddyboost.co.uk
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2021/09/is-there-a-doctor-in-the-boardroom-here-s-how-6-organizations-are-prioritizing-employee-wellbeing/
https://ovenreadyhr.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/podcasthost/
Twitter: @OvenHr
https://blog.feedspot.com/hr_podcasts/

Tell me me what YOU think

Tell me what you think of this interview.  Email me at [email protected]

Oven-Ready Survey

The show is almost a year old and I'd love some feedback.  Here is a link to a very short and anonymous survey: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/MXYMC29

Rate, Review & Share

If you enjoyed this show, please share with your friends and please remember to rate and review!

To listen to the full episode, download a transcript and view all the other Oven-Ready HR podcast episodes or find out more about Oven-Ready HR and Chris Taylor your show host visit https://ovenreadyhr.com

Creating a workplace environment that encourages and enables women to take on senior leadership roles continues to be a thorny issue.  Only this week it was revealed that the government is expected to launch a campaign that will set targets for every FTSE organisation to have a least 40% of board seats taken by women.  The campaign is also likely to encourage organisations to increase the 'pipeline' of women candidates to take on senior leadership roles.  Setting targets is all well and good but do they address the fundamental issues that women face when climbing the ranks into senior roles?

The 3 Barriers To Gender Equality At Work

You would think with the introduction of The Equality Act (2010) and the gender pay gap report for firms with a headcount of 250 or more, that gender equality should be sorted right?  Well no, not really.  This week's Oven-Ready guest believes that there are 3 big barriers to overcome before the gender equality issue can truly solved.  The barriers are:

1. The provision of flexible working
2. Adequate child care
3. Re-framing of leadership traits and behaviours

Romanie Thomas is a former senior headhunter who witnessed first-hand just how difficult it is for women to take on senior roles despite being better qualified, better leaders and better suited.  Romanie is the CEO and founder of Juggle, a platform and eco-system for senior professionals who work flexibly.  She reveals that today, less than 10% of business leaders are women.  Her vision is to grow this percentage to 50% by 2027.  So what are the fundamental and societal issues in the way?

The provision of Flexible Working

Women need to feel confident that flexible working isn't going to kill their career.  Organisational culture and hiring policies  need to change to give women with caring responsibilities  the opportunity and confidence to take on senior roles. 

Adequate child care

The Tony Blair foundation recommends we treat child care provision as essential economic infrastructure much in the same way as the Biden administration does in the US.  Access to affordable child care is as important as building new roads and railways.  Without it, women are relying on a network of formal and informal provision that stops them getting on.

Re-framing leadership traits

Too many organisation's confuse male over-confidence with competence and in fact this misplaced confidence often masks mediocrity and distinctly average performance.  Organisations need to revisit their hiring touch points to ensure they embrace a range of leadership styles particularly the more collegiate and collaborative style often displayed by women.

Resources:

https://juggle.jobs/about/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/romaniethomas/?originalSubdomain=uk
https://institute.global/policy/back-future-how-remote-working-can-work-women
https://www.ft.com/content/ad209215-c0cf-4ffd-a9b8-5dbd26bd1280
https://www.ft.com/content/c7f234b8-2c8c-49cf-8ea9-05c223553f3f
https://ovenreadyhr.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/podcasthost/
Twitter: @OvenHr

Tell me me what YOU think

Tell me what you think of this interview.  Email me at [email protected]

Oven-Ready Survey

The show is almost a year old and I'd love some feedback.  Here is a link to a very short and anonymous survey: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/MXYMC29

Rate, Review & Share

If you enjoyed this show, please share with your friends and please remember to rate and review!

To listen to the full episode, download a transcript and view all the other Oven-Ready HR podcast episodes or find out more about Oven-Ready HR and Chris Taylor your show host visit https://ovenreadyhr.com

What does Diversity, Equity and Inclusion or it’s acronym DE&I mean to you?  Everyone is talking about it and writing about it but why does it matter and how do you launch a DE&I survey?  Often when we hear about successful DE&I programmes, we learn from large multi-national private companies or professional services firms with an already strong culture, a highly internationalised and mobile workforce and employees who are overwhelmingly classed as white-collar.

Well in this Oven-Ready HR episode, I wanted to explore a successful DE&I 'Climate Survey' programme in a completely different sort of organisation; publicly owned, an overwhelmingly blue-collar and unionised workforce classed as 'essential workers'; two thirds of whom already come from an ethnic-minority background and who often work all day in complete isolation.   Adding to the complexity, this DE&I programme was run during the George Floyd protests and a global pandemic.

The SouthEastern Pennslyvannia Transportation Authority or SEPTA for short is one of the largest and most complex US rapid transit systems providing public transportation services for some 4 million people in and around Philadelphia.  SEPTA employees some 9,000 employees.

Joining me to discuss how  and why this DE&I research project was created and delivered during such a difficult time are the projects two leads; Jacqueline Hopkins who was then SEPTA’s Executive responsible for Diversity, Inclusion and Employee Relations and Dr Fiona Jamison,  the CEO of Spring International a Philadelphia based  women-owned research analytics and consulting firm.  Spring International  helps organisations throughout the US and internationally build better workplaces and enhance the employee experience ultimately of course to drive business performance.

What you'll discover in this Oven-Ready HR Podcast episode:

• How the project team managed the communications surrounding the survey to a workforce who overwhelmingly were frontline workers without access to email
• How the project highlighted the communications gulf between the  corporate and frontline workers and how easy it is to communicate to a head-office team compared to those working on the frontline;
• Why SEPTA felt impelled to run this project despite the serious protests surrounding the murder of George Floyd and the Covid pandemic;
• Why SEPTA created an advisory council to help with diversity, equity and belonging;
• The importance of using anonymity to overcome fear, cynicism and mistrust with leadership;
• Why it's important to involve other stakeholders such as unions to help promote and deliver DE&I surveys;
• The importance of following up the survey results

So are you listening to your workforce?

Resources:

http://www.septa.org
https://www.linkedin.com/in/fionajamison/
https://www.springitl.com/about-us-history-team/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacquelinehopkins1/
https://ovenreadyhr.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/podcasthost/
Twitter: @OvenHr

Tell me me what YOU think

Tell me what you think of this interview.  Email me at [email protected]

Oven-Ready Survey

The show is almost a year old and I'd love some feedback.  Here is a link to a very short and anonymous survey: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/MXYMC29
Please tell me what you think.

Rate, Review & Share

If you enjoyed this show, please share with your friends and please remember to rate and review!

Find out more?

To listen to the full episode, download a transcript and view all the other Oven-Ready HR podcast episodes or find out more about Oven-Ready HR and Chris Taylor your show host visit https://ovenreadyhr.com

This week Oven-Ready HR Podcast guest believes that Generation Z workers and the demographic cohorts that follow, are woefully underprepared for the workplace.  Elan Divon a Harvard-trained author, speaker and founder of Divon Academy; an organization that prepares students and professionals for success in an age of disruption believes Gen Z workers lack critical soft skills and have become so over reliant on technology that they could be the last generation to be considered as fully-fledged human beings.

As an HR or recruitment professional, do you think Generation Z workers are ready for the workplace?

Finishing Schools were popular in the 19th Century when young women were taught social graces as preparation for the entry into society.  Fast forward 150 years and is a similar approach needed for workers entering the workplace?

Elan Divon believes the next 10 years will see the fastest acceleration of technology the planet has ever seen and the effect on the workplace will be profound. Many Generation Z workers he claims lack basic soft skills such as creativity, emotional intelligence, problem solving and collaboration.  Divon maintains these skills will become even more important in the years ahead given that automation and technology will render many roles obsolete and only those positions requiring a human intervention will survive. 

He says his work is underpinned by numerous studies detailing HR's frustration with the ability of Generation Z workers to maintain strong interpersonal relationships, demonstrate resilience, collaborate with others and cope with stress.  He cites the example of basic communication; when a Generation Z worker says they'll call you, this really translates to I’ll send you a text or an instant message.

What you'll discover in this Oven-Ready HR Podcast episode:

• How a decision to buy an ice cream for his date started him on an incredible journey;
• Elan's passion for anthropology, ancient texts, philosophy and mythology and how these combine into 'rites of passage'
• His fears that Generation Z have become too reliant on technology
• His sadness that there are so few rites of passages now for many young people leaving them unprepared for work;
• The major skills he sees Generation Z lacking such as creativity and emotional intelligence;
• An overview of the services and approach of the  Divon Academy

 So do we need a Finishing School for Generation Z workers?

Resources:

https://divonacademy.com
https://ovenreadyhr.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/podcasthost/
Twitter: @OvenHr

Tell me me what YOU think

Tell me what you think of this interview.  Email me at [email protected]

Oven-Ready Survey

The show is almost a year old and I'd love some feedback.  Here is a link to a very short and anonymous survey: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/MXYMC29
Please do tell me what you think.

Rate, Review & Share

If you enjoyed this episode, please do share with your friends and please remember to rate and review!

Find out more?

To listen to the full episode, download a transcript and view all the other Oven-Ready HR podcast episodes or find out more about Oven-Ready HR and Chris Taylor your show host visit: https://ovenreadyhr.com

In the tightest of labour markets we've seen for many years, organisations more than ever are relying on recruitment agencies to help them find and secure talent.   But are recruiters up to the challenge? Is the recruitment agency broken and do we suffer from an epidemic of mediocrity?  Is the term recruitment professional mutually exclusive?

All of us have recruitment war stories and battle scars so it seems natural to turn to a military veteran with 20 years service including combat experience who successfully transitioned from the battlefield to a hugely successful career in talent and recruitment with a particular focus on military veteran programmes.  Chad Sowash is also the co-host of what has been described as HR’s most dangerous HR Podcast – the Chad & Cheese Podcast.

Chad Sowash is unapologetically controversial.  He describes his podcast as the explicit conversations you have at the bar after attending an HR conference - unfiltered, unadulterated and always challenging.  In this episode we cover:

• Why he hopes the remote or hybrid working whilst the reality for many today remains the reality for the future
• His plea for organisations need to trust their employees to get their work done wherever they are
• His disdain for rich, white and privileged bosses don't understand what it means to be working class
• How his military experience provided him with some of the best leadership and business lessons
• His recruitment journey beginning with the Monster.com
• What needs to be done to make recruitment agencies and recruiters better!  Recruitment needs to be strategic and interested in long-term relationships not just short term tactical needs
• If you don't like people, you shouldn't be anywhere near recruitment or HR!
• Will tech and AI replace recruiters?
• The importance of candidate experience

Links:

https://www.chadcheese.com/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/chadsowash/
https://ovenreadyhr.com

Find out more?

To listen to the full episode, download a transcript and view all the other episodes or find out more about Oven-Ready HR and Chris Taylor your show host visit: https://ovenreadyhr.com

Individuals from working class backgrounds who join the UK's top professions earn on average 16% less than their colleagues doing the same job but who hail from a more privileged background. 

This shocking fact revealed by this week's Oven-Ready HR guest Dr Sam Friedman highlights the long-shadow still cast on our life outcomes in 21st century Britain.  Why in a supposedly meritocratic society, should where you went to school and how you speak determine your earning potential?  

Dr Sam Friedman is a commissioner at the Social Mobility Commission and Professor of Sociology at the London School of Economics.  He has published widely on class, culture and social mobility and recently co-authored “The Class Ceiling; why it pays to be privileged."

The question of class is a hot topic in HR.  Just this month, accountancy giant KPMG announced plans to increase the number of partners and directors with a working class background from 23% to 29%.

In this interview, we cover:

• Why is there a class pay gap?
• Why is there a lack of working-class people in senior roles?
• Why class is a conscious as opposed to an unconscious bias; a mis-recognition of talent and how this impacts upon the recruitment and development of talent
• What are the dominant behavioural codes and cultural touchpoints displayed by those from a privileged background? 
• Why being knowledgeable about cricket isn't a guarantee of competence
• Why working class individuals continue to feel like imposters in the workplace.

This is a fascinating interview into Britain's class system and how it plays out at work.   Surely in a modern  society, where you went to school shouldn't impact your pay packet should it?

Links:

https://policy.bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/the-class-ceiling
https://www.lse.ac.uk/sociology/people/sam-friedman
https://www.linkedin.com/in/podcasthost/

Find out more?

To listen to the full episode, download a transcript and view all the other episodes or find out more about Oven-Ready HR and Chris Taylor your show host visit: https://ovenreadyhr.com