HR Leader Podcast Network

According to this chief people officer, it is “such an exciting time” to be in HR, given the opportunities to collaborate and consult, and be authentic and approachable, when driving business reform that is fit for purpose in the current climate. In this episode of The HR Leader Podcast, host Jerome Doraisamy speaks with Hoyts Group chief people officer Jodi Paton about her background in sports psychology, having witnessed the highs and lows over the last decade for staff, whether it’s even been more difficult to oversee the HR function, the need for new approaches to driving business reform, and reframing her own perceptions about successful implementation of reform. Paton also delves into the need for proactivity in driving reform, having a bottom-up approach whereby collaboration and communication are embedded, assuming responsibility for managing a younger workforce, how she measures success in implementing reform, her guidance to other HR leaders about successful reform projects, and what excites her about HR work moving forward.

In the current climate, catering to the idiosyncratic needs and perceptions of all staff across generations – and ensuring they feel safe and included – is an ever-present challenge for HR. In this episode of The HR Leader Podcast, host Jerome Doraisamy speaks with Konica Minolta Australia head of people and culture Gabrielle Stevens about her personal and professional investment in helping people, whether it’s getting easier or harder for businesses to help workers feel safe and included, what constitutes a safe and inclusive workplace, and creating a foundation of trust in the post-pandemic world. Stevens also discusses her team’s journey, what they have implemented, the importance of getting onboarding right, catering to individual needs and across generational differences, what has worked and not worked within her workplace, the investment of time required from HR, and how this journey has shaped her ongoing view of the importance of the role of HR.

In an age where employees are increasingly demanding a sense of purpose and belonging in the workplace, it is incumbent upon businesses and their HR teams to ensure that all staff feel seen and heard. In this episode of The HR Leader Podcast, host Jerome Doraisamy speaks with Insight people and culture director in APAC, Elyse Philippi, about how she always wanted to be in a job where she could help people, whether it’s getting easier or harder for HR to make meaningful workplace change, why personalising the employee journey is so essential, why employees currently want more from the workplace, and catering to a workforce with more generations than ever before. Philippi also discusses the questions that HR needs to ask in getting started on personalising the employee journey at scale, challenges to be overcome, what she and her team have successfully implemented at Insight, and the role of AI and other emerging technologies, how such a journey has reinforced her perception of the role of HR, highlighting the human element of such work, and what lessons she’s learnt in personalisation at scale of the employee experience.

Amid myriad professional, technological, economic, and sociocultural changes, it is essential that HR professionals face such shifting sands with an open mind, which will allow, one chief people and culture officer says, for greater creativity, collaboration, and innovation. In this episode of The HR Leader Podcast, host Jerome Doraisamy speaks with Sydney Children’s Hospitals Foundation chief people and culture officer Mariam Hares about her journey in the profession, what her day-to-day in the not-for-profit looks like, the challenges and opportunities she’s seeing on the horizon for HR professionals and teams, and how well HR is doing, as a business unit, in adapting to change. Hares also delves into bringing all business units along for the ride in adapting to change, the questions that HR needs to answer in the talent space, leaning into automation, getting incentives right, creating a strategy to address the many workforce challenges, and her best practice guidance to other HR professionals in the face of voluminous market change.

Moral injury is a term that came about in the 1990s, but in years to come, such workplace hazards could well be among the more prominent concerns for employers to address. Here, a leading researcher explains why. In this episode of The HR Leader Podcast, host Jerome Doraismy speaks with Associate Professor Wendy Bonython, the associate dean of learning and teaching in the faculty of law at Bond University, to discuss her research work, what is meant by the term “moral injury”, and how and why it’s becoming a more prominent concern in workplaces across the country. Associate Professor Bonython also delves into whether moral injuries will be among the most prominent workplace concerns in years to come, recent research she has conducted in this space and the headline findings, how moral injuries provide answers to questions we couldn’t previously categorise, the impact of moral injuries on productivity, and the steps that employers need to take to prevent such injuries from impacting workers.

The unlawful termination of journalist Antoinette Lattouf by the national broadcaster, which resulted in high-profile proceedings in the Federal Court, has shone a spotlight on workplace policies for social media use by employees, and the need for such frameworks to be fit for purpose. In this episode of The HR Leader Podcast, host Jerome Doraisamy speaks with McCabes principal Melini Pillay about her journey from being a prosecutor to representing defendants in employment and safety matters, how her background in criminal law offers perspective for her current work, the difficulties of managing five generations in the workforce for businesses, and what happened in the Lattouf v ABC proceedings. Pillay also discusses: What the court found and the employment law implications moving forward from these proceedings. The difficulties inherent with striking the right balance with a social media policy. What might constitute bringing one’s employer into disrepute and the questions that employers should be asking as a starting point. Why policies need to appreciate the prevalence of and place for social media in the modern landscape. Practical steps to take in ensuring the right balance is struck when revamping workplace policies.

While workplace jealousy has always existed in various forms, the trend of “downward envy” – that is, leaders feeling envious of their employees, for myriad reasons – is a relatively new phenomenon, and one that can have deleterious impacts upon staff. In this episode of The HR Leader Podcast, host Jerome Doraisamy speaks with Monash Business School PhD candidate Sabreen Kaur about her research into the phenomenon of downward envy, what it is and how it has come about, how the introduction of more generations into the workforce has exacerbated this trend, and how such envy can manifest. Kaur also delves into the reasons why leaders may be envious of their staff members, the potential for short-sightedness from managers, why businesses and organisations suffer as a result of managers feeling envious, what employers need to do about it, and how optimistic she is that Australian workplaces can overcome this growing trend.

Late last year, the chief people officer for Gilchrist Connell was announced as the national law firm’s new chief executive – a role she assumed in July. Here, she reflects on her vocational experience and details how coming from an HR background and wearing “many, many hats” lends well to leading a large legal practice. In this episode of The HR Leader Podcast, host Jerome Doraisamy speaks with Gilchrist Connell chief executive Belinda Cohen about her career prior to joining the law firm five years ago, the work she did as CPO, balancing the proactive and reactive as an HR professional, and how she came to be the firm’s CEO. Cohen also discusses the firm’s vision as set out by her predecessor, Richard Wood, and how her HR background will assist in furthering that vision, how and why HR professionals are well placed to step into such senior leadership roles, how HR professionals can create such vocational pipelines for themselves, and what excites her moving forward.

A recent Fair Work decision noted that a primary carer doesn’t have to be the sole carer in order to receive primary carer parental leave. Here, a senior lawyer unpacks the decision and what it means for employers and lawyers moving forward. In this episode of The HR Leader Podcast, host Jerome Doraisamy speaks with Meredith Kennedy, a special counsel at national law firm Maddocks, about her work in the firm’s employment, safety, and people practice, the case of Metro Tasmania Pty Ltd v Australian Rail, Tram and Bus Industry Union (including what happened at first instance and then in front of the full bench of the Fair Work Commission), how “primary carer” was defined in the proceedings and relevant enterprise agreement, and how and why the FWC full bench reached its conclusions. Kennedy also delves into why this matter is so significant, the takeaways for employers nationwide, the need to ensure that workplace policies and frameworks account for all circumstances, overcoming collective biases, riding the wave of sociocultural shifts, best practice for lawyers in this space, and what else such lawyers need to be looking out for.

Here, we explore the need for business leaders and workplaces to “earn the commute” of their staff members returning to the office, including by way of imbibing a common purpose of the broader approach. Host Jerome Doraisamy speaks with Canon Oceania director of people and finance David Field about his remit at Canon, how he has found the transition from technical legal specialist to having a bigger picture focus on business, whether businesses are getting it right in bringing staff back to the office, and navigating the disconnect that may exist between generations in the workforce. Field also discusses the questions that businesses need to be asking of themselves when wanting to bring staff back into the office, how he and Canon have looked to answer those questions, the place for trial and error, fostering team collegiality, strengthening common purpose through team building and community involvement, working for the greater good, and the steps that must be taken.