The Modern Employer #wildcards

What actually makes people happier at work, and how often are employers investing in the wrong things?

In this episode of The Modern Employer, I speak with Matt about some of the most interesting findings in workplace happiness data, and what they mean for how we design employee experience.

We explore why operational hygiene may matter less than inspiration, belonging and feeling valued; why engagement can fall sharply among longer-tenured employees; what the data says about location autonomy and office mandates.

We also challenge some of the conclusions behind the data. Does lower engagement among experienced employees always mean disengagement? Is hybrid work itself the advantage, or is autonomy the real driver? 

The conversation is ultimately about where HR chooses to focus. Not every employee experience problem needs another programme, process or initiative. Sometimes the more useful question is whether we are paying attention to the things that actually shape how work feels.

In this episode of The Modern Employer Podcast, Olya Yakzhina speaks with the founder of Quokka Hub, a fractional CHRO who has built and repaired People functions in organisations ranging from five to 500 employees.

Together, they explore why engagement surveys often capture what employees feel safe saying rather than what they truly think. In small teams, demographic filters, writing styles and references to specific projects can make supposedly anonymous responses surprisingly identifiable. Even exit interviews do not guarantee honesty, because citing better pay often feels safer than discussing poor management or a difficult working environment.

The conversation also examines how communication-style differences are frequently mistaken for attitude or competence problems. Some people communicate through tasks, detail and decisions, while others need context, reasoning and space to develop an idea. Understanding these differences can help managers adapt their communication before misinterpretation becomes conflict.

Finally, the episode looks at the disconnect between engagement data and everyday management. Survey findings are often presented once, filed away and revisited only when the next survey arrives. Olya and her guest discuss how leaders can bring this data into team conversations and one-to-ones, turning employee feedback into an ongoing source of organisational learning.

Listeners will take away practical ways to respond to survey findings quickly, discuss difficult themes without trying to identify individual respondents, adapt communication to different behavioural styles, and use engagement data to ask better questions in one-to-ones.

What happens when an organisation writes words like “growth”, “flexibility”, and “purpose” into an EVP before fully understanding what those ideas actually require in practice?

In this episode, we unpack the reality behind building an Employer Value Proposition from scratch. Not the polished version that lives on careers pages, but the operational, cultural, and leadership work that has to exist underneath it for people to genuinely experience it at work.

This conversation will be especially relevant for People teams, founders, and leaders trying to create an EVP that reflects the real experience of the business rather than an aspirational marketing statement.

We explore:

• Where EVP work actually starts

This is a practical conversation about alignment, trust, and the difference between writing culture and operationalising it.

This episode looks at a pattern many organisations feel but rarely name.

High-performing women are often trusted with increasing complexity, asked to hold together systems and solve problems, while the authority to shape outcomes doesn’t grow at the same pace. Over time, performance stops being enough, and influence becomes the real constraint.

We explore what sits underneath this. Why common responses like confidence or development programmes often miss the point. And where organisations need to look more closely at how authority, decision-making, and trust actually operate in practice.

A conversation about systems, not just individuals, and what it takes to retain your most capable people.

The New Rules of AI for People Leaders!

In this episode, we are unpacking our long-boiling thoughts about the use of AI by People teams. When there are so many options out there, which one to use? How do we know what is best for us? How do we talk about it openly with others without judgment?

Olya Yakzhina's thought partner in this episode is Hernan Chiosso, CSPO, SPHR 💡, Founder of Productise HR and creator of HR Innovation newsletter: https://productizehr.substack.com.

If you're a People-person, or part of a company that's navigating the wild, slightly overwhelming world of AI in HR, this episode is for you. Especially if you're thinking: how do we actually use this stuff in a way that’s smart, strategic, and not just a flashy experiment that fizzles out?

#AI #PeopleTeam #PeopleStrategy #AIinHR

This podcast episode is for People professionals and organisations experiencing growth or preparing to scale. It explores how to build a strong culture framework, become a standout People function, and scale without losing the energy of a young startup. Key insights will cover the role of People Metrics, including different types, how to choose the right ones for your business, and how to use them to drive sustainable growth.

In this episode of The Modern Employer podcast we are unpacking the taboo subject of menstruation at work and how it impacts and enables performance of people who menstruate.

We touch on the ways the employer can build an environment where they thrive as well as their allies. This episode bring in a Woman's Health Mentor Carmen Amador Barreiro, who uses a unique perspective to shift the stigma and enable you to be a better organisation when it comes to accommodating and empowering your employees. 

In this episode, we will explore what it feels like to be a female people leader and how hard it can sometimes be to navigate our career development and growth in a male-dominated senior leadership world.

We are here on this journey, we have the space to be here - we already made it so! and we have the right to be ourselves and bring the value we have inside of us to the world!

Today, you will be hosted by me, I am Olya Yakzhina and the Head of People at Switchee, and to unpack this wonderful sentiment with me is Ruth Penfold-Brown the coach and mentor and founder of Bloom! And Natasha Norman, from m3ter (said meter)

With Adam Horne from Open Org and with Thomas Forstner from Juro, Olya Yakzhina is discussing the ins and outs of transparent culture as a concept and as a potential project for a progressive People leader to embark on.

Tune into this episode to learn more about:

- The Business Case for Transparency and how to built one

- Using Open Org as your independent accreditor and all they ask you to comply with - how on earth to get this done?

- What outcome do you get internally and externally for having been accredited

Enjoy!

Culture as a Product

In this episode, we are chatting with the Founder of Sapien, Luke O'Mahoney. 

Who is this for: People-people who wish to approach employee experience as a product and learn product engineering ways so they can adopt it. How do you even talk about agile ways of working without sounding like you are out of your depths?