CEO of the CIPD Peter Cheese joins us to talk about his new book The New World of Work, which explores the many factors shaping work, workplaces, workforces and our working lives. Peter explores the principles around which we can build a future that is good for people, for business and for societies.

Peter is the co-chair of the Flexible Working Taskforce, a partnership across government departments, business groups, trade unions and charities, whose aim is to increase the uptake of flexible working. Alongside this, he is the Chair of Engage for Success and the What Works Centre for Wellbeing.

Louise Haycock, partner and immigration solicitor at law firm Fragomen, joins us to discuss the challenges and opportunities of the post-Brexit immigration regime for employers, including the impact of the EU settlement scheme and right to work checks.

Louise also explores how HR can use an effective immigration strategy to help with recruitment and retention issues, and highlights the key immigration changes and trends that we are expecting to see in 2022.

We highlight key cases due to be decided this year and discuss their impact on HR. These include cases on: vicarious liability, holiday pay, agency workers, age discrimination, and coronavirus-related health and safety cases.

The 2022 cases that we discuss will decide the following questions:

• When is an employer vicariously liable for its employees' actions?
• How should employers calculate holiday pay for term-time workers?
• How far does the scope of the Agency Workers Regulations extend?
• When can an employer justify a compulsory retirement age?
• Can unpaid holiday that has been taken be carried over to the following leave year?
• Can it be fair for an employer to dismiss an employee who refuses to attend work for coronavirus-related health and safety concerns?

We will also be reflecting on the key decisions from last year as well as looking forward to the employment law cases likely to emerge this year.

Adrian Martin, head of the employment team at law firm Burges Salmon, shares his top tips on some tricky legal issues that can arise in the recruitment process relating to: managers making unauthorised promises to candidates; remote working arrangements; inducing a breach of restrictive covenants; and flexing the length of probationary periods.

How is HR responding to the opportunities and challenges presented by the move to hybrid working? Noelle Murphy, XpertHR's senior HR practice editor, discusses the findings of our recent survey and unpacks what these mean for HR practitioners.

We explore: issues around consistency of approach; cultivating a culture of collaboration; avoiding the risk of a two-tier workforce; creating meaningful engagement; and how organisations are handling reluctant returners.

How are employment tribunals approaching claims arising from the coronavirus pandemic? We explore the most important decisions handed down so far this year and discuss their practical implications for HR, including cases relating to: health and safety; the furlough scheme; varying terms and conditions; and flexible working requests.

Tricia Halpin, chief people officer at Masthaven Bank, explains how her team has implemented the Women in Leadership initiative, a programme to improve gender diversity across senior roles. She shares her tips on how HR can tackle the issue of poor gender diversity to make a meaningful difference.

We also hear from two participants on the programme who explain the impact that the initiative has had on their careers.

Most people want to say and do the right thing when it comes to diversity and inclusion but often hold back from asking questions out of a fear of being judged.

We put some of those often unasked, and sometimes provocative, questions to Joy Stephens, a US-based diversity, equality and inclusion consultant. Joy discusses, among other things, what being "woke" really means; what separates tokenism from meaningful action; whether white middle class men can really be effective proponents of the diversity agenda; and why the Black community can use the "N word" but other communities cannot.

Jo Broadbent, counsel knowledge lawyer at Hogan Lovells, guides you through the fundamentals of handling flexible working requests and discusses the future of flexible working in the post-pandemic workplace.

We discuss the law and best practice when responding to requests; practical steps to avoid indirect discrimination complaints; learning points from the recent case of Thompson v Scancrown Ltd (t/a as Manors); flexible working requests post-pandemic; and the Government's proposed reforms to the Flexible Working Regulations 2014.

Doron Davidson-Vidavski, executive trainer and facilitator at Strevas, takes us through the communication skills that line managers need to be effective as a people manager in a hybrid working model and how to develop and coach such skills.