HR Most Influential Podcast

6.1 Preventing workplace polarisation, with Binna Kandola

Are workplaces more divided than ever? And what can HR professionals do to meaningfully address polarisation of opinion at work? Season six begins with expert advice from Binna Kandola, co-founder and senior partner of business psychology consultancy Pearn Kandola, who topped HR magazine's Most Influential Thinker list in July 2026. In this episode, Kandola discusses division in the workplace, why employers should care about this right now, and exactly how to tackle bias, difficult conversations at work, and more.

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HR Focus (8): How to nurture neurodivergent talent

If you’re in need of neuroinclusive success strategies and advice, look no further. This episode of HR Focus features insights from the founder and CEO of an award-winning business in which nearly half (47%) of the workforce identifies as neurodiverse. In conversation with HR magazine's editor, Emma Philpott MBE, who founded the cybersecurity firm IASME Consortium, offers practical advice for attracting, supporting and retaining neurodivergent talent. She also explains exactly how nurturing neurodivergent talent has supercharged IASME’s workplace culture – IASME currently ranks among the top 100 medium-sized organisations on the UK’s Best Workplaces™ List 2026. The episode addresses: The importance of accommodating individual needs, rather than making and acting on generalisations; Why labels relating to neurodiversity aren’t always helpful; Philpott’s personal motivation to build a neuroinclusive and diverse organisation; and more. Listen to the full podcast episode below, or wherever you source your podcasts. Many thanks to our sponsor Great Place To Work UK for this episode.

5.5 Why wellbeing needs a reframe, with Oliver Henry

Oliver Henry, head of inclusion and wellbeing at the airline easyJet, joins the podcast to discuss why leaders should change the way they talk and think about workplace wellbeing – and how to make that change. Should the word 'wellbeing' be replaced? Henry states his case, urging HR leaders to focus on healthier conversations. Henry ranked third on the HR Most Influential Practitioners list 2025, is a sought-after TEDx speaker, and is an engaging, trusted voice on culture and people experience.

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5.4: Focus on future-ready leaders, with Danny Harmer

What defines great leadership? And how can HR support the leaders of the future? Business leaders are facing rising pressure to take on a growing list of responsibilities, and employees’ expectations of people in leadership roles are rapidly evolving. To help navigate these changes, and outline how organisations can best equip the leaders of tomorrow, we spoke to Danny Harmer, chief people officer for the insurer Aviva. Harmer joined the HR Most Influential Hall of Fame list in 2025, after being recognised seven times as one of HR magazine’s most influential practitioners.

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5.3: Why autonomous working is the future, with Alex Hirst and Lizzie Penny

Does flexible working actually work? Or are today’s ways of working stuck in the past? Alex Hirst and Lizzie Penny, who jointly ranked at #4 in our HR Most Influential thinkers list 2025, call for a radical rethink of our approach to work, to better meet employee and business needs in the digital age. Hirst and Penny – business partners, authors and changemakers – co-founded the consultancy Hoxby, and created the concept of ‘workstyle’, ensuring that people have the autonomy to choose when, where and how they work. Listen to Hirst and Penny challenge the current status quo, arguing why and how personalisation can boost workplace performance.

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5.2: How to better care for carers, with Natalie Quilter

Are employers doing enough to support the nearly three million people in the UK who juggle unpaid care and work? Natalie Quilter, HR magazine’s #4 HR Most Influential Practitioner 2025, addresses this question and more, drawing from both her personal and professional experience. Quilter – currently head of reward, wellbeing and benefits for housing provider The Hyde Group – is a passionate advocate for unpaid carers. In this episode, she shares her expertise to help HR leaders better understand what being a working carer means, and the practical ways in which HR can support them.

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5.1: Adapt to win, with Tim Pointer

Tim Pointer, HR magazine's #1 Most Influential HR practitioner for 2025, focuses on the transformational power of agility in business, offering tips on how to adapt to succeed. Pointer, who is portfolio chief people officer and operating partner for the asset management business Three Hills, argues that, to stay ahead of the curve, HR must supercharge transformation and become even better at navigating change. Drawing on his extensive experiences of boardrooms around the world, Pointer offers tips for HR leaders on how to become more agile, and how to adapt to succeed in business.

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HR Focus (7): Innovation success secrets from Experian

Chief people officer Jacky Simmonds shares how Experian has fostered a thriving culture of innovation throughout the business, offering tips that other businesses can learn from. Since Simmonds joined the global data and technology company Experian, in 2020, Experian has celebrated a fourth consecutive year on the UK’s Best Workplaces™ list and was recognised as a World’s Best Workplace™ for the first time in 2024. Experian's continuous improvement programme, which boosts innovation, has delivered annual savings of $140m. In a thought-provoking discussion, Simmonds addresses: · How to maintain cultural alignment; · Why hackathons aren’t just for tech experts; · The value of HR professionals tailoring their approach when engaging different stakeholders, and more. Many thanks to our sponsor Great Place To Work UK for this episode.

HR Focus (6): Perfecting positive company culture

Episode six of the HR Focus podcast features insights from Anna Oliver, HR director (UK) for biopharmaceutical company AbbVie, who shares what she’s learned from the organisation’s cultural transformation journey. AbbVie has spent 11 of its 12-year existence on Great Place to Work UK's Best Workplaces™ List, so Oliver is well-placed to deliver top tips and best practice: from how to cultivate a robust workplace culture, to ensuring that your HR team keeps its fingers on the pulse. It all starts with culture, Oliver highlights, outlining how AbbVie supports and empowers its managers and staff. In this exclusive episode of HR Focus, Oliver explains: The importance of having key cultural pillars, How employee-led resource groups can bolster a positive culture, Why talent strategy is key, and more. Listen to the full podcast episode, wherever you source your podcasts. Many thanks to our sponsor Great Place To Work UK for this episode.

4.5 Transformational performance management, with David Liddle

As HR professionals face ever-increasing scrutiny for delivering high performance in the age of AI, it’s never been more important to talk about shaking up performance management. And who better to discuss this topic than David Liddle, CEO of the global consultancy TCM Group and founder of the People and Culture Association?! This episode was recorded before David nabbed the number one spot in HR magazine’s Most Influential Thinker list 2025. He also received the Consultant of the Year 2025 award on the same day. In this episode, David shares his award-winning insights with HR magazine editor Charissa King, delving into why transformative justice matters, how to manage dispute resolution, and why the way in which we manage conflict needs to change.

HR Focus (5): How to align wellbeing and ESG strategy

As the health of our natural environment declines, employers are under increasing pressure to look after the health and wellbeing of employees, and to take meaningful actions, rather than greenwashing – paying lip service to environmental commitments. To help HR professionals align these priorities, we gathered insights from two leaders of the healthcare and insurance provider Bupa: Rebecca Pearson, chief sustainability and people officer for Bupa Global, India and UK; and Anna Russell, corporate responsibility and sustainability director for Bupa Global and UK. The discussion addresses: · What successful health and sustainability strategy looks like, · The interconnectedness of personal health and the health of the planet, · How Bupa's Healthy Cities challenge – which encourages employees to improve their health and community impact – can help employers achieve wellbeing and ESG alignment, and more. Many thanks to Bupa, for sponsoring this episode.

HR Focus (4): Leadership success secrets from Admiral

In the latest episode of our HR Focus podcast, our editor speaks to Lorna Connelly, Admiral’s UK director of people, to find out the secrets to success of this 25-year incumbent on the UK’s Best Workplace list. The financial services company Admiral is a recognised champion of great leadership and exceptional workplace culture. For each of the last 25 years, the firm has achieved the UK’s Best Workplace employer recognition, from global authority on workplace culture, Great Place To Work. Underlying that success is Admiral’s strategy for supporting and developing its leaders. In a focussed conversation on leadership success secrets, Lorna Connelly, Admiral’s UK director of people, explains: How to ensure that managers aren’t overwhelmed Key steps to developing a clear and effective strategy for supporting managers How to build managerial confidence, and how flexible working patterns can help achieve this The value of the Trust Index employee survey, and more. Many thanks to Great Place to Work UK for sponsoring this episode of HR Focus.

4.4 Inclusion is the answer to everything, with Aggie Mutuma

Of all the components in the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging (DEIB) umbrella, inclusion is rapidly gaining a prominence of its own. But why favour one above the rest? And why are people so excited about inclusion's potential for business? To answer these questions, we invited Aggie Mutuma, CEO and lead consulting director of Mahogany Inclusion Partners onto the podcast. Ranking fifth on our HR Most Influential practitioners list 2024, Mutuma is a trusted advisor for the CIPD and passionate advocate for inclusion.

4.3 Defending the profession, with David Blackburn

UK national newspapers have called HR a "parasite," "bloated" and a "shadow empire" – and the vitriol keeps coming. The criticism has been enough to drive the CIPD’s chief executive, Peter Cheese, to defend the profession's work in an open letter. But do the ‘HR haters’ have a point? Or is the profession simply getting caught in the culture war crossfire? We invited David Blackburn, who achieved the #2 HR Most Influential Practitioner ranking in 2024, on to the podcast to puzzle it out. A chartered companion of both the CIPD and the Chartered Management Institute, Blackburn won awards for his work as a chief people officer before moving into consulting. -- Useful links: “Bloated HR is more about woke than wealth” The Times, 4 Dec 24 https://www.thetimes.com/comment/columnists/article/bloated-hr-is-more-about-woke-than-wealth-f3x6r2th3 “How HR captured the nation” New Statesman, 27 Nov 24 https://www.newstatesman.com/business/2024/11/hr-britain-how-human-resources-captured-the-nation “A shadow HR empire runs Britain – and it's getting bigger” The Telegraph, 2 Dec 24 https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2024/12/02/shadow-hr-empire-runs-britain-its-getting-bigger/ Peter Cheese responds to criticism of the profession, CIPD LinkedIn, 6 Dec 24 https://www.linkedin.com/posts/cipd_cipd-hr-peopleprofessionals-activity-7270732444188688384-Omml/

4.2 Personal branding gets you noticed, with Georgina Kelly

As an internal-facing function, HR professionals are often shy to shout about their own successes in public. Georgina Kelly, our 2024 2nd HR Most Influential Thinker, has seen first hand how this can limit senior HR professionals' careers. As founder of GK HR Networks and the Women In HR Network, Georgina knows this applies particularly to women, who are less prone to self-publicise. In the podcast, she sits down with HR magazine editor Charissa King to discuss What personal branding actually is How to get noticed by recruiters Why impostor syndrome is so dangerous Why networks and mentoring are so important Podcast notes: The interactive HR Most Influential Supplement, including the article on mentoring that features Georgina, is available here: https://www.hrmagazine.co.uk/content/insights/hr-most-influential-supplement-2024/

4.1 The future of HR (is giving transactional work the boot), with James Devine

Did HR miss its chance to win real recognition after the pandemic? Possibly. Can HR win that acclaim anyway? Absolutely. As automated HR technology becomes ever-more sophisticated, HR practitioners are being given a golden chance to do away with time-consuming transactional work and get stuck into real strategic people issues. But what's stopping them? All too often, it's HR themselves. In the premiere of the HR Most Influential Podcast series 4, our 2024 HR Most Influential #1 practitioner, James Devine, director and head of healthcare workforce practice at KPMG UK, joins HR magazine editor Charissa King to discuss what the profession needs to do over the next two years to fulfil its potential as a high-impact strategic function.

3.6 Taking the pulse, with Tiger de Souza

Once, HR professionals could walk around the office or factory floor and see employees' mood for themselves. Now, the workforce is more separated than ever. So how can HR rebuild connections within its organisation, whether for hybrid office workers, or far-off franchisees? The task that now faces HR is to rebuild its ability to 'take the pulse' of its organisation. It is a task that Samaritans executive director of people and culture, and two-time HR Most Influential practitioner, Tiger de Souza, is busy tackling. In episode 6 of series 3, Tiger sat down with HR magazine editor Charissa King at Samaritans' HQ, to discuss how HR leaders can intentionally rebuild their connections with employees and C-suite staff alike.

3.5 How to work with your CEO, with Kerry Smith

No matter where you are in your career, it's important to get on with your boss. But for an HR leader, it's vital – and not just for selfish reasons. In episode 5 of series 3, we dive into why CPOs and HRDs are uniquely positioned to support their chief executive, and how a healthy partnership between the two delivers long-term success for both parties' objectives. To explore how these two strategic leaders can work together to transform their organisations' fortunes, Kerry Smith, chief people officer of the British Heart Foundation – and five time HR Most Influential practitioner – joined HR magazine editor Charissa King in the studio.

3.4 Don't let DEI die, with Woosh Raza

You've seen the headines: "DEI must die," "Progressive diktat," "A lightning rod for controversy." It is no secret that diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives are taking flak in the court of public opinion. But beyond the media spats, like Elon Musk's "DEI must die" quip, HR leaders across the western world are seeing real cuts to their DEI budgets. In Episode 4 of series 3, Woosh Raza, director of people, culture and inclusion for the National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) joins former HR magazine editor Jo Gallacher to explore why DEI is encountering scepticism, and what HR leaders can do to safeguard their own efforts.

3.3 Siding against stress, with Rachel Lewis

The UK is in the grip of a mental health crisis. Some 20-30% of UK working adults showing signs of emotional exhaustion, and burnout has been stuck firmly on HR's agenda for the past four years. And while HR is well adapted to support employees' mental wellbeing – does the responsibility really lie fully on HR? In the latest episode of the HR Most Influential Podcast, Rachel Lewis, multi-award winning occupational psychologist and programme director at Birckbeck, University of London, sits down with former HR magazine editor Jo Gallacher to explore the suffocating world of stress.