Chief People Office Kevin Green discusses how listening and acting on feedback improved Employee Engagement and saved First Bus £10,000,000 per year.

Kevin answers the following questions;

Tell us about your career in HR?

Kevin in his own words

I am an experienced business and HR leader .

I am currently the Chief People Officer of First Bus the second largest Bus company in the UK with 14,000 employees. First Bus is part FTSE 250 company First Group PLC.

I continue to be the Chairman of Timewise and a Non Executive Director of Brookson and FRS in Ireland. A TEDx speaker, commentator and blogger on Jobs, people lead business transformation, leadership and competing with your culture.

I am also the proud author of the best selling Competitive People Strategy which was Short listed for the 2020 business book of the year.

An HR professional by experience and Qualification. I am a regular contributor to broadcast and print media on the UK labour market.

Chief People Officer Chloe Cameron and Matt Phelan discuss the workforce and workplace of the future.

Matt asks Chloe the following questions

About Chloe

An unashamed book nerd who loves working in a digital world, Chloe came to her career in B2B technology via a history degree believing the Internet to be the Guttenberg Press of the 21st Century.
Starting out in channel marketing for first Micorosoft and then Vodafone, Chloe left behind the corporate behemoths for the lure of the start up journey, joining a small cloud hosting start up called Wirehive in 2013 as employee number seven.
Throughout her time at Wirehive Chloe rose to become Managing Partner overseeing three major business pivots creating the go to market and branding strategy behind the business transforming to become a multi-cloud reseller, then cloud consultancy and finally Microsoft cloud distributor. Alongside these strategic commercial initiatives Chloe took lead on the People function in 2018, building out the tools and programmes to scale and sustain a modern flat structure and values driven culture.
Chloe joined Pax8 when they acquired Wirehive in January 2021. As VP of Operations she is responsible for ensuring the new Pax8 UK entity has the structure and systems in place to give our rapidly growing team the clarity and confidence to use their unique talents to best serve our partners at scale with speed and in a meaningful collaboration with their colleagues. Her current goal is nothing short of enabling people to do the best work of their lives here.

Susan Ní Chríodáin the author of Leading Beyond the Numbers joins us to discuss her book and work focused on Integrating Business with Emotions.

Susan answers the following questions;

What makes you happy?

Why did you write Leading Beyond the Numbers?

What are the key lessons you want a reader to take away?

How can someone listening, go back to their organisation and start to help people see beyond the numbers?

In a time where many companies are struggling financially can this book help?

Have there been any unexpected consequences of writing the book?

Why I Do What I Do
I believe that when leaders approach challenges with Curiosity + Courage, they unlock Possibilities often hidden beneath the surface. My mission is to partner with leaders and teams to uncover these possibilities, foster genuine connections, and create workplaces where people and organisations thrive together. By creating space for individual strengths, we build sustainable success that has real impact.
What I Offer
In pivotal moments — navigating transitions, breaking down silos, or leading transformations — growth isn’t about quick fixes. My Evolve, Express, Expand model guides leaders beyond the status quo, revealing new perspectives and paths to sustained growth. With a blend of strategic insight, business acumen, and emotional intelligence, I work alongside you to respect individual perspectives while driving organisational success.
How We’ll Work Together
My approach is tailored to meet you where you are:
- Consulting for fresh perspectives and strategic insight
- Facilitation to strengthen team cohesion and alignment
- Coaching to navigate uncertainty and foster personal growth
- Leadership Development to build resilience and create a lasting impact
With over 25 years of experience across Europe, Africa, and Asia, I bring a deep understanding of diverse, high-stakes environments, from landmine clearance to complex negotiations. Numbers, processes and systems matter — but people are the true drivers of performance and profitability. By integrating brain, body and emotions, I help leaders make better decisions, strengthen team dynamics, and achieve business outcomes — a concept I explore deeply in my book, Leading Beyond the Numbers.
Why People Work with Me
Clients tell me that my energy and insights support them to communicate effectively, drive meaningful change and achieve sustained performance. I’m most effective with leaders who value people, seek to balance high performance with a sustainable, people-centred culture and are ready to put insights into action.

HR expert Mirela Oana joins the podcast to discuss the impact of AI on the future of work.

Mirela answers these questions

About Mirela

HR Director with progressive experience in fast-paced organisations across FMCG, Fintech and Media Technology. I have people management experience in international setting and a track record of building teams that add value by helping organisations to drive their digital transformation and HR strategy execution, facilitating change to unlock operational agility and service transformation.
I’m a great believer in the power of technology to reshape HR, driving operational excellence and a continuous improvement culture, one that is focus on the employee experience, with simplicity and the agility needed to add value to the business.
Through my roles in Centre of Expertise and People Service Operations, I developed a solid knowledge of in-country statutory requirements and practices across many geographies, blending strategical, tactical and operational delivery acumen to meet business needs.

Patrick Phelan interviews Matthew Phelan on what The Happiness Index has planned for their 2nd Employee Happiness Conference in London, UK.
Podcast discount
If you use the code MattP when signing up for this event it will give you a 30% discount
You can sign up here
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/employee-happiness-annual-conference-tickets-888246929477

Matt shared his observations that:

 - The AI consumed over 100 research studies but didn’t reference them all.

- This tech could be a really useful learning aid if audio is your preference. For example you could take any document, upload it and listen to it back as a podcast

- Apparently one of the most listened to podcasts in retail is now built and read by AI. It’s called something like Retail Economics. 

- I think we are entering a world where we need to tag content as including AI. A bit like we do with food ingredients.

- I find the AI having a point of view discombobulating. As a listener of podcasts it’s the POV I come for. I want to trust it due to the rich research I’ve fed it but I struggle to trust it. Is this a generational thing? Will future generations laugh at this observation?

- The AI image of me fails to capture my receding hairline and increasingly grey hair.

- If you want to use the tech go to Google notebook LM

As an experiment I just fed all the publicly available Employee Happiness research papers focused on Performance from the last 10 years into Google AI.

I then used that AI to turn the findings into a podcast.

The entire process took 2 mins max.

Have a listen and let me know what you think...

Scary?

Useful?

Am I out of a job?

Better than my normal episodes?

Matt sits down to chat about all things self-esteem and employee engagement with Senior Culture Leader, Business Consultant and Entrepreneur, Anais Nebel!

Matt sits down with Emma Woods, UK Group Head of HR at

How did you get into HR?

Any advice for anyone wanting to move sectors?

Can you go from being a bus driver to MD?

What are your tips for developing managers?

Can you be a nice HR person?

What is HR excellence?

How can HR and recruitment work better together?

How do you make a difference in HR?

What advice would you give to your younger self?