#142 - John Barry - HR Tech Voices Series Episode with HRBench

John Barry, Co-CEO of HRBench, joins the Directionally Correct podcast for our latest HR Tech Voices Episode of 2025. If you like what you hear in this episode, check out HRBench here: https://www.hrbench.com.

In this wide-ranging discussion, hosts Cole and Scott talk with John about the journey from classic-car tinkerer to a leading voice in HR technology. Along the way, you’ll hear how HRBench is helping mid-market companies and private-equity portfolios leapfrog years of technical debt and finally make people analytics practical, affordable, and strategic.

John shares how he and long-time colleague Jeff Laliberte created a co-CEO model that pairs product vision with sales expertise, allowing HRBench to deliver instant insight by integrating data from more than 80 HR systems. Their mission is to replace error-prone Excel sheets with seamless data integration, offering best-in-class dashboards and reports “right out of the box,” so HR leaders can focus on strategy instead of spreadsheet wrangling.

One highlight of the conversation is the Good Job Score, a research-backed engagement survey that ties employee experience directly to financial outcomes. John explains how HRBench partnered with Future of Work investors to scale this tool, giving companies a clear, comparable measure of employee engagement across departments and over time.

The hosts also explore how private-equity investors are embracing HRBench. Roughly 60 percent of customers are PE-backed firms that need rapid visibility into turnover, hiring, and workforce costs across portfolios. By automating those metrics, HRBench saves teams dozens of reporting hours each quarter and helps investors pinpoint risks before they become expensive problems—proof that private equity is becoming a surprising driver of innovation in HR.

Looking ahead, John describes the platform’s next chapter: layering artificial intelligence on top of its unified data to enable predictive modeling and scenario planning. Imagine forecasting headcount needs or simulating market-wage pressures the moment a competitor raises its minimum wage. HRBench is also rolling out advanced org-chart visualization tools that combine structure with live analytics, helping leaders see retention or performance trends manager by manager.

Beyond the tech, John reflects on career lessons—embracing the minimum viable product mindset instead of perfectionism, “faking it till you make it,” and seeking complexity early in your career to accelerate growth. He shares how his own compensation-analytics tools once helped an employee secure a pay adjustment that changed a family’s life, underscoring HRBench’s bigger mission: to use technology to improve humanity.

The conversation isn’t all spreadsheets and strategy. John talks about life on Cape Cod, surviving a brush with Hurricane Aaron, and his beloved 1967 Pontiac GTO. The hosts even wander into lucid dreaming, Ouija boards, and the future of mid-market HR, proving that great insights can mix with plenty of laughs.

If you like this episode, you’d also love exploring prior episodes—visit colenapper.com for the full archive and show links.

From mid-market HR challenges to cutting-edge people analytics, this conversation captures the excitement of a field where data, strategy, and human impact intersect—and shows how HRBench is redefining the future of work.