The EXperience Lounge

Welcome to episode thirteen of The EXperience Lounge! A weekly podcast dedicated to EX design, the future of work and digital HR. In this episode, Laura and Sasha spoke with Gemma Saunders and Bev Simpson about how to edit, unearth and ignite your unique talent proposition. This thought-provoking discussion explores the concept of a 'people promise' organisations make and Gem and Bev share tips on how organisations can leverage their EVP to create incredible and meaningful employee experiences. 

Gemma Saunders (GAICD) is a parent, a queer woman and loves short walks with her lazy rescue Greyhound… preferably around a local farmers market. Gemma has almost two decades of experience in human resources spanning talent acquisition, diversity & inclusion, employee experience, employer branding, organisational development, contingent workforce management, leadership development and organisational change. Gemma was previously a Senior Executive at Medibank, is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and is a board member of Minus 18. Listed in HRD's hotlist and nominated in the diversity champion and inspirational rolemodel categories at the Australian LGBTI awards, Gemma is known as a bold, curious, authentic and progressive leader. Gemma is on a mission to redesign workplace experiences so they genuinely work for more people and more organisations. Gemma has led game-changing overhauls to parental leave policies, flexible working and talent acquisition models resulting in sustainable change and multiple awards. This goal is what inspired Gemma to start Workplace Edit which focuses on changing the workplace practices, systems and behaviors so workers get the best from their workplaces and workplaces get the best from their workers. Gemma has worked with global technology companies, ASX listed businesses, start-ups, B-Corps, fin-techs and Government Business Enterprises.

Ignite Culture Consulting was founded in 2020 by Beverley Simpson, out of her home in beautiful Newcastle, NSW. Beverley is a mum of two active boys, who loves the ocean, the outdoors and any chance to get away camping! When she isn't helping ignite workplace cultures you'll usually find her running around in the park, walking by the ocean or cooking up a storm in the kitchen! Beverley (or Bev for short), has over a decade of experience in generalist Human Resources and Organisational Development, working for some of Australia's most iconic brands, from Channel 10 to Taronga Zoo. Most recently, she led the Employee Experience work at nib Health Funds. Beverley has worked across all elements of the employee lifecycle from talent acquisition, employee and industrial relations, leadership development, change management, learning and organisational development and remuneration and benefits. Amongst her proudest achievements are leading flagship leadership development programs, evolving employee experience measurement work, delivering 360 feedback to leaders and championing the adoption of flexible workplace practices. Beverley is curious, creative and chatty, she loves asking questions and commits to actively listening to the answers. She has a Bachelor of Arts (Hons), is a certified HBDI 􏰀practitioner and is studying a post-graduate certificate in Psychology of Business and Management.

Learn more about the work Gemma and Bev are doing together by reaching out to them both on LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/gemmalallen/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/beverley-simpson-she-her-7040172b/

Don't forget to share this episode with your network and check out our profiles at www.theexperienceloungepod.com #employeeexperience #ex #exdesign #futureofwork

Welcome to episode twelve of The EXperience Lounge! A weekly podcast dedicated to EX design, the future of work and digital HR. In this (better late than never) episode, Laura and Sasha discuss EX design principles and why they matter. They share examples of enterprise-wide design principles and chat about how organisations can leverage EX design principles to drive better cross-functional experiences at work. They share tips and insights on getting started with your EX design principle journey and explore why EX research and collaboration are essential to embedding meaningful design principles. 

Here are the links they discussed during this episode: 

https://principles.design/examples/airbnb-design-principles

https://principles.design/examples/nhs-design-principles

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/hibob-continues-on-growth-trajectory-with-acquisition-of-workplace-relationships-analytics-startup-cassiopeia-301305028.html

Don't forget to share this episode with your network and check out our profiles at www.theexperienceloungepod.com #employeeexperience #ex #exdesign #futureofwork

Welcome to episode eleven of The EXperience Lounge! A weekly podcast dedicated to EX design, the future of work and digital HR.

In this episode, Laura and Sasha spoke with the incredible Oen Michael Hammonds about Enterprise Design Thinking at IBM. Oen shared his thoughts on the journey of embedding design thinking across an organisation as well as what it means to truly embrace design thinking as part of an organisation's culture. Oen shared his tips for experience design practitioners looking to drive a culture of listening within their organisations as well as other incredible insights and inspirational stories. 

Oen Michael Hammonds is a designer, mentor, and Design Principal at IBM. Oen has designed across the gamut—services, advertising, graphic, interactive and environmental. Oen's current work with diverse clients in the consumer, business, and technology industries demonstrates his ability to jump in and solve tough and complex challenges. At IBM, Oen works with the Employee Experience Design team to drive the design and implementation of impactful IBM HR experiences by increasing alignment and integration between HR programs, groups, and tools while focusing on the needs of employees, first-line, and upline managers. In this role, Oen works with his team to facilitate strategic projects and initiatives that transform IBM HR to build iconic products and services with human-centered experiences.

You can connect with Oen on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/oenhammonds/ 

Don't forget to share this episode with your network and check out our profiles at www.theexperienceloungepod.com #employeeexperience #ex #exdesign #futureofwork

Welcome to episode ten of The EXperience Lounge! A weekly podcast dedicated to EX design, the future of work and digital HR.

In this episode, Laura and Sasha talk about all things digital HR service experience! They discuss the essential elements required to create a perfect HR service experience, the role of design thinking and how organisations can start to reimagine digital HR service in a post-COVID world.

They also mentioned a handful of news stories that you can access here:

https://techcrunch.com/2021/05/13/worksome-pulls-13m-into-its-high-skill-freelancer-talent-platform/

https://techcrunch.com/2021/05/10/blind-raises-37m-to-double-down-on-workplace-gossip-and-career-advice/

https://www.businessinsider.com/wework-ceo-least-engaged-workers-comfortable-wfh-2021-5

Don't forget to share this episode with your network and check out our profiles at www.theexperienceloungepod.com #employeeexperience #ex #exdesign #futureofwork

Welcome to episode nine of The EXperience Lounge! A weekly podcast dedicated to EX design, the future of work and digital HR.

In this episode, Laura and Sasha met with Volker Jacobs, CEO and Founder of TI People. Volker is a globally recognized leader in the human-centered future of work. Building on his skills as an entrepreneur, consultant, analyst, speaker, and author, Volker provides data-driven insights about business performance driven by a superior human experience of work. Granular decomposition of the human experience of work allows him to come up with strategies that organizations should implement to provide a superior experience to their people. His company, TI People, provides the experience intelligence solutions to uncover gaps between people's expectations and their experiences of work and to enable meaningful impact for people and businesses.

We discussed how to drive meaningful impact whilst engaging with the right senior stakeholders and how you can accelerate EX outcomes by engaging your people managers first. Volker shared some incredible insights and data points that you won't want to miss!

To connect with Volker, check out his LinkedIn profile here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/volker-jacobs/

To check out the awesome work TI People are doing, head to their website here: https://www.ti-people.com/ 

Don't forget to share this episode with your network and check out our profiles at www.theexperienceloungepod.com #employeeexperience #ex #exdesign #futureofwork

Welcome to episode eight of The EXperience Lounge! A weekly podcast dedicated to EX design, the future of work and digital HR.

In this episode, Sasha and Laura discuss a Gallup research article published in late 2020 which explores the EX insights that emerged last year. They discuss movements, fundamental challenges, and future trends they're sure will emerge. Both hosts also discuss a number of key HR tech updates from April 2021, with a particular focus on exciting acquisitions and product launches!

Here are the links to all of the articles discussed in this episode:

https://www.peoplemattersglobal.com/blog/technology/you-are-loving-wfh-so-are-hackers-29048

https://www.peoplemattersglobal.com/news/hr-technology/atlassian-acquires-thinktilt-29090

https://rcpmag.com/articles/2021/04/23/microsoft-work-enhancement-features.aspx

https://www.gallup.com/workplace/327518/gallup-workplace-insights-learned-2020.aspx

Don't forget to share this episode with your network and check out our profiles at www.theexperienceloungepod.com #employeeexperience #ex #exdesign #futureofwork

Welcome to episode seven of The EXperience Lounge! A weekly podcast dedicated to EX design, the future of work and digital HR. 

In this episode, Laura and Sasha met with Anthony Pacilio, VP and Global Head of Autism at Work for JPMorgan Chase. In this role, Anthony manages recruiting efforts, as well as developing candidate pipelines and ensuring best practices for ongoing support. Anthony has been with JPMC for 8 years, serving in a variety of technology roles in Consumer and Community Banking.

We discussed the Autism @ Work programme and how Anthony and his team ensure employees with ASD are included in the design of employee experiences. Our discussion explores how organisations can create inclusive working environments, how they can work collaboratively to build a culture of inclusion and how organisations can launch their own Autism @ Work programmes.

For more information on JPMorgan Chase and Autism at Work check out this link: https://www.jpmorganchase.com/news-stories/jmahoney-autism-at-work-program

To connect with Anthony, check out his LinkedIn profile here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anthony-pacilio-3453b65/

To read the research paper and definitions references click here: 

https://content.iospress.com/articles/work/wor2492

https://www.autism.org.uk/advice-and-guidance/topics/employment/employing-autistic-people/employers

Don't forget to share this episode with your network and check out our profiles at www.theexperienceloungepod.com #employeeexperience #ex #exdesign #futureofwork

Welcome to episode six of The EXperience Lounge! A weekly podcast dedicated to EX design, the future of work and digital HR. In this episode, Laura and Sasha discuss EX research - what it is and why it matters. They share their experiences with employee experience research and share tips and insights on how you can get started and why crafting your organisation's own EX design methodology is essential. EX research helps to ensure your people services, functions and investments are driving the right returns for your organization and solving your key EX challenges. Listen to this episode to find out why!

At the beginning of the episode we mentioned Josh Bersins HR Technology 2021 report which you'll find here: https://joshbersin.com/hr-technology-2021-a-definitive-guide/

Don't forget to share this episode with your network and check out our profiles at www.theexperienceloungepod.com #employeeexperience #ex #exdesign #futureofwork 

Welcome to the fifth episode of The EXperience Lounge! A weekly podcast dedicated to EX design, the future of work and digital HR. In this episode, Laura and Sasha discuss returning to work with the amazing Tash Cullen - CEO and Founder of Beloved Bumps. Here we discuss why returning is such an important experience, how organisations sometimes miss the mark and how you can use human-centered design thinking to put new parents at the heart of your redesign. 

Natasha Cullen, founder of Beloved Bumps, grew up in Singapore then went on to train and work in London as a U.K. registered Midwife. She's passionate about giving pregnant women unbiased information Her goal is to give every couple the full information to empower them before and during their amazing journey of parenthood. Learn more about Beloved Bumps here: https://belovedbumps.sg/about-us/ 

As promised, here are a few resources to inspire your RTW redesign: 

https://hbr.org/amp/2019/08/how-to-return-to-work-after-taking-parental-leave

https://sproutsocial.com/insights/new-parent-employees/?amp

https://www.forbes.com/sites/shelleyzalis/2017/04/06/returnship-the-make-it-or-break-it-moment-returning-from-maternity-leave/amp/

https://www.forbes.com/sites/ashleystahl/2020/02/18/4-easy-ways-employers-can-support-new-mothers-in-the-workplace/amp/

https://www.ft.com/content/d5d01f06-9f7c-4cdc-9fee-225e15b5750b

https://hbr.org/amp/2018/09/how-companies-can-ensure-maternity-leave-doesnt-hurt-womens-careers

https://www-washingtonpost-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2021/04/05/adia-barnes-arizona-basketball-coach-breastfeeding/?outputType=amp

Don't forget to share this episode with your network and check out our profiles at www.theexperienceloungepod.com #employeeexperience #ex

Welcome to the fourth episode of The EXperience Lounge! A weekly podcast dedicated to EX design, the future of work and digital HR. In this episode, Laura and Sasha discuss the onboarding experience, an experience that's critical in the hybrid world of work. They discuss why human-centered onboarding design matters, how to leverage technology and AI to make incremental improvements and why regular feedback is more important than ever. 

We made reference to a couple of other podcasts, reports and solutions which you can find here:

Don't forget to share this episode with your network and check out our profiles at www.theexperienceloungepod.com #employeeexperience #ex