What If?

Recent scrutiny of the Post Office Horizon scandal, in particular, has thrown questions around ethical business and good governance into stark relief. So what would happen if the threshold for being convicted for corporate wrongdoing was somehow lowered? What could this look like in practice – and what could be the potential unintended consequences? Academics Alison Taylor and Andrew Kakabadse debate. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With Barclays Bank, Boots, JD Sports and Dell Technologies among some of the big names to have asked staff to spend a certain percentage of their time at their desks, 2024 has very much been the year of the return-to-office mandate. But what’s the evidence in favour or against? And, with tribunals in this area mounting, what happens if employees just don’t play ball? Academic Gemma Dale and HR leader Tim Mitchell discuss.   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Most would agree that people shouldn’t be promoted into line management roles just because they've been at the company a while or are competent technical performers. Which means there is no reason why a talented young employee, with good EQ, shouldn’t be an older person’s boss. But how does this work in practice? Author Mark Beal and Gen Z manager Lea Karam advise. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Should you ever send a bot to a meeting in your place? Will the advent of ChatGPT et al eventually mean people lose the skill to write from scratch? Should all employers be racing to hire prompt engineers? Economist Carl Benedikt Frey and HR leader Natalie Sheils give their expert steers on where generative AI is being most usefully applied in the workplace at present – and where it could go next. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The UK’s National Health Service is in such a parlous state that the new government should declare it a national emergency, a commission of experts recently declared. So what would happen if it were no more? Where would this leave employers? And is it, in fact, time we considered a different healthcare model in the UK anyway? Professor Cary Cooper and policy adviser Charlotte Wickens give their prognoses. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Once upon a time, if the likes of Google or Netflix were up to something, it wouldn’t be long before other employers followed suit (think stack ranking, radical honesty, ping-pong tables…) But, given the headlines over recent years around issues such as overwork and lack of diversity – to name just two – is it time we looked elsewhere for inspiration? Authors Bruce Daisley and Marissa Orr think it is. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Academics Zeynep Ton and Julian Jessop discuss the disparity in pay for essential workers, including nurses, questioning the justification behind underpaying professions with significant real-world impact. They explore the balance between fair wages and non-monetary rewards in vital professions while discussing the implications of pay increases and strategies for creating value through job enhancements. The transformative effects of paying low-wage employees more are also highlighted, emphasizing the benefits of increased pay for both workers and society.

Academics Keon West and Pragya Agarwal discuss unconscious bias, racism, and systemic discrimination. They explore the limitations of unconscious bias training, societal power dynamics in discrimination, and the challenges of addressing racism nuances. The podcast also delves into diversity backlash and fatigue in workplaces, and the hope for creating equality for future generations.

To become a farrier (fitting horseshoes) in the UK, there is a legal requirement to have certain qualifications or experience and to register with a regulatory body before practising. No such requirement exists for HR – but should it? The CIPD’s David D’Souza and ‘father of HR’ Dave Ulrich explore what the advantages – and disadvantages – of more direct, explicit professional oversight might be. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Rules drawn up by ITV following the Phillip Schofield scandal mean staff must now declare all workplace relationships – including friendships – to the broadcaster or risk losing their jobs. But is such a system workable in practice? And might it have a chilling effect on positive working relations? Organisational psychologist Susan Hetrick and friendship app founder Claudia Gård explore how HR should approach this perennially knotty topic.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.