HRchat Podcast

Latest Episodes:

Ireland’s HR and Leadership Priorities in 2026 with Alison Hodgson Jan 30, 2026

Show notes

Want a clear view of where HR in Ireland is heading and how to prepare your team for what’s next? Bill Banham sits down with Alison Hodgson, Market Director at CIPD Ireland, to map the practical priorities that will define people leadership in 2026: target operating models tuned to strategy, a smarter approach to productivity in hybrid work, cultures that enable creativity, and talent systems built on lifelong learning.
Alison shares why operating models belong at the top of every HR agenda, walking through how structure, role design, skills, and workflows must link to the “book of work.” We dive into the messy middle of performance and productivity, where outcomes matter more than presenteeism and thoughtful in-person moments can supercharge collaboration. We also dig into Ireland’s unique context—an agile, open economy balancing flexible work with rising commute costs—and how that shapes retention, skills development, and the everyday realities of leading teams.
A major focus is capability building beyond HR. With a vast population of non-HR people managers in SMEs, CIPD’s group affiliate access and AI-powered resource hub equip managers with templates, playbooks, and just-in-time guidance for performance reviews, tough conversations, and change. We spotlight the Feb 13th CIPD HR Awards in Ireland, where standout entries demonstrate data-driven baselines, measurable impact, and sustained outcomes—and note the streamlined pathway to the global People Management Awards. Plus, we preview the April conference on people, purpose, and performance, featuring case studies, international voices, and practical tools you can put to work.
If you care about building resilient teams, narrowing skills gaps, and turning culture into a real performance advantage, you’ll find tactics and examples you can use today. Subscribe, share with your HR peers, and leave a review with your biggest takeaway—what’s your top HR priority for 2026?

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Menopause, Work, and What We Can Change with Dr Woganee Filate Jan 29, 2026

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The hidden cost of untreated menopause in the workplace isn’t just personal discomfort—it’s lost productivity, stalled careers, and organisations quietly losing experienced talent.

In this episode of the HRchat Podcast, host Pauline James sits down with Dr Woganee Filate, respirologist, sleep medicine physician, and co-founder of Loom Women’s Health, to unpack how menopause directly affects performance, retention, and workplace culture.

As many as 1 in 10 women leave the workforce due to unmanaged menopausal symptoms, including brain fog, hot flashes, heavy bleeding, mood changes, and chronic sleep disruption—often at the peak of their careers. Dr Filate explains why menopause is a workplace issue, not a private health matter, and why silence costs employers far more than support ever will.

This conversation bridges medicine and management, covering:

The real workplace impact and economic cost of untreated menopause
The most disruptive menopausal symptoms at work—and why they matter
Evidence-based treatments, including hormone and non-hormonal options
Sleep, mental health, and lifestyle strategies that restore focus and performance
Low-cost workplace accommodations employers can implement quickly
How education, formal menopause policies, and internal champions reduce stigma
Safer disclosure paths and better support for midlife women at work
Why menopause care is a long-term performance and retention strategy

Dr Filate also shares her own mid-career pivot into entrepreneurship, challenging outdated ideas about career peaks and reminding leaders that purpose, flexibility, and support are powerful retention tools.

If you lead people, manage benefits, or care about inclusion, wellbeing, and keeping experienced talent thriving through every stage of life, this episode provides practical insights and clear first steps.

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AI, Middle Managers, and the New HR Mandate with Brian Kropp Jan 27, 2026

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What if the biggest AI disruption isn’t at the entry level, but right in the middle of your org chart? Bill Banham sits down with Brian Kropp, VP of Global Insights at Heidrick and Struggles, to explore why the winners are treating AI as a people and change problem, not a tech project—and how that shift rewrites HR’s mandate.
We start with speed. Startups jump from idea to pilot in 30 days; large enterprises often take 270. Training alone won’t fix that gap. Brian lays out a concrete path: give teams specific tasks and roles to experiment with, shrink approvals, and track learning as a real return. He makes a sharp case for “R before ROI,” arguing that early value shows up as capability, not neat cost savings, and that CHROs should design experiments that surface where returns exist before scaling investment.
Then we tackle the middle manager shakeup. Scheduling, approvals, status updates, and first-line coaching are ripe for automation or AI agents. That could remove 30 to 50 percent of a manager’s workload, forcing a choice: fewer managers or a redesigned role focused on judgment, sensemaking, escalation, and culture. Brian Kropp warns that without a plan, finance will default to cuts that hurt long-term capacity. He also maps where job evolution is most visible—from call centers and finance ops to diagnostic work—and why liberal arts and market insight skills may surge as tech meets cultural change to create breakthrough opportunities.
The conversation closes with two pivotal moves: setting an explicit formula to split AI savings between margin and reinvestment in people, and standing up a new role—VP of AI Workforce Transformation. This team would own task design for automation vs augmentation, agent selection and “performance management,” and the operating system for fast, safe experimentation at scale. If you’re a CHRO, HR leader, or curious operator, this is a pragmatic playbook for turning demos into durable advantage.

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How Automation is Changing the Talent Game with Stuart Potter, ARU Jan 21, 2026

Show notes

In a tight labour market, employers can’t afford slow, unclear hiring - yet moving fast without fairness creates risk, bias, and damage to your employer brand.

In this episode of the HRchat Podcast, Bill Banham welcomes Stuart Potter, Senior Lecturer at Anglia Ruskin University and contributor to digital skills initiatives supporting SMEs, to explore the real-world use of AI, automation, and employer branding in modern hiring.

Ahead of the Peterborough AI Summit at ARU, Stuart shares where AI can genuinely add value in HR and recruiting - such as screening support, scheduling, assessments, and candidate communication - and where human judgement must remain in charge. Stuart also shares simple, practical guardrails for ethical AI: disclose AI use, keep people as final decision-makers, and audit outcomes for bias.

We also discuss how automation is reshaping early career pathways, what graduates need to prove now that entry-level “busywork” is disappearing, and how employers can attract emerging talent by showcasing mentorship, growth, and meaningful work.

If you want a smarter, fairer hiring strategy that strengthens trust and improves conversion, this episode delivers a step-by-step blueprint—including a 90-day employer branding action plan you can start immediately.

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Redefining the Next Chapter at Work with Gillian Johnston Jan 15, 2026

Show notes

Is mid or late career really a slow fade — or could it be a powerful new beginning?

In the first HRchat episode of 2026, host Pauline James is joined by career development pioneer Gillian Johnston to challenge outdated ideas about career progression, age, and value at work.

Drawing on nearly five decades shaping career standards and programmes in Canada and internationally, Gillian reframes work beyond the traditional career ladder. Together, Pauline and Gillian explore how agency, curiosity, and calculated risk can help professionals navigate uncertainty, reinvention, and leadership in multigenerational workplaces.

The conversation tackles ageism head-on, including Gillian’s personal experience of bias and how returning to the classroom rebuilt her confidence and sense of efficacy. For leaders, this episode offers practical guidance on designing better career conversations — asking open questions, avoiding assumptions about older workers, and co-creating growth paths aligned to both individual strengths and business needs.

You’ll also hear actionable ideas on:

Moving from linear careers to flexible pathways
Valuing later-career talent beyond mentoring roles
Building belonging, visibility, and stretch opportunities
Rewirement vs. retirement and identity beyond job titles
Practical steps for stalled careers, experimentation, and signaling interest

If you’re feeling stuck, undervalued, or unsure what comes next — or if you lead teams across generations — this episode offers a hopeful, practical roadmap for renewed purpose and performance at work.

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The Return of Disrupt Dublin with Ben Geoghegan Dec 19, 2025

Show notes

With the support of Personio, we’re bringing Disrupt back to Dublin with a format built for action: five-minute lightning talks, auto-advancing slides, and zero fluff.
After years of webinars and multitasking, Dublin gets a night where ideas hit hard, conversations move fast, and the network you build matters.
Ahead of the festive break, Bill Banham sat down with Disrupt Dublin co-organizer Ben Geoghegan to unpack why now is the right moment to relaunch, what makes the format so effective, and how a curated mix of voices can shift the future of work. We spotlight an early lineup featuring leaders from Google, Irish Rail, and Mazars; a chartered psychologist from the Royal College of Surgeons; and founders pushing new recruiting tech. Each speaker brings one tight message and one practical move you can test - no drawn-out slides, no corporate spin, just clear ideas with real outcomes.
We also dig into why the crowd is the secret sauce. Senior HR execs, consultants, operators, and technologists share the floor, cross-pollinating approaches to AI, learning design, leadership, culture, well-being, and hiring. That diversity turns quick talks into immediate experiments: pilots you can run with your team, metrics worth tracking, and conversation starters for your leadership table. Expect energy, focus, and dozens of new connections by the time the Personio-hosted event wraps at 8:30.
If you care about building better workplaces in 2026, this preview delivers the what, the why, and the how. Hit play to hear the format breakdown, the themes to watch, and the speakers to meet. Enjoy the show, then subscribe, share with a colleague, and leave a quick review so more HR pros and people leaders can find us.

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Why the Future of Work Depends on Valuing Experienced Talent with Lisa Taylor Dec 18, 2025

Show notes

What if the biggest disruption to work isn’t AI, automation, or hybrid models—but a 100-year-old idea about when careers are supposed to peak and decline?
In episode 868, Pauline James speaks with Lisa Taylor, CEO of Challenge Factory, about why traditional career models are fundamentally broken in a world where many people will live well into their 80s and beyond. Together, they unpack how outdated assumptions about age, productivity, and “career ladders” quietly undermine engagement, waste talent, and accelerate disengagement—especially in midlife.
Lisa explains how the concept of retirement at 65 was created for a very different era, why career conversations often disappear after age 49, and how manager bias—not performance—drives perceptions of declining productivity among experienced workers.
The conversation also explores the idea of the “talent escalator”—and what happens when senior leaders reach the top with nowhere meaningful left to go. Lisa shares what progressive organisations are doing differently: designing roles beyond the final rung, enabling intergenerational mentorship, and creating space for purpose, contribution, and renewal across longer working lives.
For individuals feeling stuck or ready to pivot, Lisa offers a practical alternative to the traditional CV-first approach—starting instead with purpose, strengths, values, and market relevance.
This is a must-listen for HR leaders, executives, and professionals rethinking careers, longevity, and the future of work.
Key Topics Covered

Why retirement at 65 no longer makes sense in a world of 82+ year life expectancy
Midlife as a distinct and valuable career stage—not a decline
The role of manager bias in perceived productivity drops
Why career development conversations often stop too early
The “talent escalator” and how it jams at the top
Intergenerational teams, mentorship, and cultural ambassadorship
Why engaging older workers can reduce youth unemployment
A scientific, hypothesis-driven approach to talent strategy
Rethinking career pivots, entrepreneurship, and longer working lives

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Upskill or Be Outpaced: Leading People Through AI, Skills Gaps, and Constant Change with Jennifer McClure Dec 16, 2025

Show notes

In this episode, Bill Banham sits down with Jennifer McClure, founder of DisruptHR, to explore how HR leaders can turn people strategy into measurable business results, build credible investment cases, and lead in an era where AI is reshaping work faster than plans can keep up.

We start by tackling one of HR’s toughest barriers: resistance. Why do leaders shy away from quantifying problems, modeling outcomes, and tying people initiatives directly to business strategy? Jennifer shares a practical, trust-building approach to business cases—define the pain or opportunity, run the numbers, make predictions, and commit to measurement.

From there, we look at HR’s historical roots in welfare and regulation to understand why some processes still lag today—and how to disrupt what no longer serves the organization. Think fewer blanket policies, more targeted solutions, and an uncompromising focus on value.

The conversation widens to DisruptHR’s global impact—170+ licensed cities and more than 10,000 lightning talks—and why its simple format continues to surface powerful ideas across cultures. We also dig into AI’s accelerating influence on work, the shift from a scarcity of people to a scarcity of skills, and why upskilling and reskilling must be tied directly to evolving roles.

Jennifer also reframes personal branding for HR leaders as career management: share what you’re learning, cite credible sources, invite debate, and build trust through consistent, useful contributions.

We close with some straight talk on manager training: attendance is not impact. Start with outcomes, measure behavior change, and require application in the flow of work.

If you’re ready to move HR from compliance to catalyst—and help your organization thrive amid uncertainty—this episode offers clear, practical steps you can use today.

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Why Calling AI a “Digital Workforce” Misleads Leaders with Phil Wainwright Dec 11, 2025

Show notes

Forget the headlines predicting a “workerless workforce.” In this episode, host Bill Banham sits down with longtime cloud and SaaS analyst Phil Wainwright to cut through the hype and examine what AI agents really mean for HR, business leaders, and the people doing the work.

Phil argues that automation can be transformative—but calling software a “workforce” conceals the real challenges organisations face: governance, transparency, accountability, and change management. Together, we explore where AI agents will take hold first—help desks, admin-heavy workflows, repetitive processes—and why this shift places HR in a more strategic, cross-functional role.

Listeners will get practical guidance on:

How to encode policy, ethics, and organisational values into systems so AI operates safely
Specific risks in AI-driven recruiting and performance processes, from hidden bias to opaque decision paths
The documentation, access rules, and audit trails needed to build trust
How skills-based talent frameworks are reshaping hiring, development, and mobility
Why adaptability, empathy, creativity, and problem solving are emerging as the defining skills of modern work

We also dig into early-career disruption, the evolution of knowledge work, and the rise of modular teams blending AI, contractors, and full-time staff—without dumping everyone into the gig economy.

If you’re leading HR or building teams, this episode offers a grounded roadmap for responsible AI adoption and resilient workforce design.

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From Learning To Measurable Enablement in the Age of AI with Rob Rosenthal, Udemy Business Dec 04, 2025

Show notes

The Future of Learning: Turning Training into Performance with Rob Rosenthal, President of Udemy Business
The ground is shifting under every team — and the biggest winners are the ones treating learning not as a checkbox, but as a performance system that fuels growth, agility, and innovation.
In this in-depth episode of the HRchat Podcast, host Bill Banham sits down with Rob Rosenthal, President of Udemy Business, to explore how learning and development is being redefined in an era shaped by AI, hybrid work, and rapid skills transformation.
Together, Bill and Rob unpack how AI, executive sponsorship, and measurable enablement can dramatically shorten ramp times, sharpen skills, and deliver business outcomes that leaders can trust. Rob shares what he’s seeing across industries and regions: a growing expectation for L&D to partner directly with technical teams to lead AI readiness while also proving ROI to the C-suite.
Listeners will discover a practical framework for building what Rob calls a “skills operating system” — one that starts with clear assessments and gap discovery, moves through curated learning paths, and lands on deliberate practice powered by AI. Rob explains how AI-based role play and virtual coaching can help new skills take hold faster, and how Udemy implemented this internally to reduce new-hire ramp time by 30% for account executives through structured enablement, not just new tools.
The conversation also explores what skills truly outlast the hype. Rob highlights the continued importance of communication, change management, resilience, and leadership, especially as automation accelerates and teams face constant reinvention.
Finally, Rob describes how private LLM integrations can deliver targeted, role-specific content at the exact moment of need — whether an engineer is debugging code or a manager is preparing for a tough conversation — turning learning from an occasional event into an everyday habit.

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