HR Insights Elliott Scott HR

Welcome back to a brand new series of HR Insights: The Podcast! We are back with Series 6 and we will be bringing you more topical HR discussions and amazing guests. You can look forward to episodes around AI, HR Tech, Employee Engagement, DEI, the Gender Pay Gap, inspiring HR career stories and so much more.  
 
Today we are joined by a familiar face, Ben Williams, CEO and Co-Founder, Loopin. In this episode Stuart and Ben sit down to chat through his newest AI powered product Omni, the fear surrounding AI, losing the human touch and worries around AI reducing the number of jobs for humans. Powered by Loopin, Omni is an AI assistant, that aims to make learning and development easier by acting as an employees own personalised AI coach enriched with your data. Omni can engage with countless employees simultaneously and hold conversations that mirror insight from senior team members.  
 
Ben appeared in a previous episode of the podcast where he introduced us to his company, Loopin and discussed his difficult past and subsequent life changing career as a Royal Marines Commando. Ben went onto found Loopin, a tool that checks in with your employees and aims to make people feel ‘more human’ at work. He has appeared on various other podcasts, including ‘The Diary of a CEO’. He has also written a book ‘The Commando Mindset’ where he reveals his process for achieving goals of any size to help take your life to the next level. 

Key Timestamps  
03:03 – Introducing Ben Williams  04:13 – Learn about Loopin and Omni 14:29 – Why people fear AI  22:51 – Understanding Omni  32:07 – AI automating roles  39:23 – Risk of losing that personal touch 46:27 - Making AI part of your life You can listen to and download HR Insights from Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify and most popular podcast apps, subscribe so the latest episodes are directly available! You can also join our HR Community and follow us on LinkedIn and Instagram.

Thank you so much for listening and please rate and review!

In this episode, our host Stuart Elliott is joined by Ali Khan, Founder and CEO at SHAPE. This episode covers the current big issues facing HR teams today, how surveys can guarantee a positive employee experience and how to ensure your team is being productive and flourishing. They also discuss Ali’s career and journey to found SHAPE, an employee experience measurement company, that helps organisations navigate unprecedented change and challenges in their team. SHAPE uses employee experience data to help employees and the organisation succeed on a global scale.  


Ali works and travels globally to deliver techniques that help employees to flourish across multiple industries. He is an inventor, entrepreneur, and investor, specialising in health, data, and change. Ali’s mission is to help people and businesses do measurably better in work, life, health, culture, and happiness. 



Key Timestamps  
01:03 – Introduction to Ali and SHAPE  09:29 – The big issues facing HR teams today  17:07 – What is meant by employee experience  21:32 – Measuring employee experience  31:12 – How often should companies run employee engagement surveys? 33:27 – How quick should the response action to the survey results be? 35:52 – What is meant by the term flourishing? 42:17 – Employee experience on a global scale    


You can listen to and download HR Insights from Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify and most popular podcast apps, subscribe so the latest episodes are directly available! You can also join our HR Community and follow us on LinkedIn and Instagram.

Thank you so much for listening and please rate and review!

Adapting to life with a disability is a challenge many of us won't face.  This week our Host and CEO, Stuart Elliott had the pleasure of speaking to Dr Amit Patel, talking about his journey with an unexpected disability; we hope to enlighten our listeners with his incredible story and how he learned to navigate the world in a completely new way. 

Dr Amit is an Accessibility Consultant, Motivational Speaker, Writer, and Disability Activist. Amit lost his vision overnight in November 2013, amid the prime of his career as a Trauma Doctor. Since accepting his sight loss, he has been a powerful advocate for disability rights. In 2020 he wrote his first book Kika & Me, which explores his experiences of being visually impaired and how much having a guide dog changed his perception. 

In this episode, Stuart and Amit look into what happened to Dr Amit’s vision, how his feelings adapted over time to his sight loss, changing career unexpectedly, coming to terms with his disability and how organisations can break down the barriers to become more inclusive. 

For any of our UK listeners with children, you can watch Kika and Amit in Dog Squad on BBC iPlayer here.

Key Timestamps:
01:04 – Introducing Dr Amit Patel  04:23 – Early career journey 07:09 – What happened to Dr Amit’s sight? 16:07 – Feelings around his sight loss 20:49 – Coming to terms with his sight loss 24:03 – How Dr Amit became a Disability Activist 31:42 – Applying for new roles 39:58 – Navigating barriers  41:39 – What are people doing well in the disability space  52:07 – Breaking down barriers and being more inclusive You can listen to and download HR Insights from Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify and most popular podcast apps, subscribe so the latest episodes are directly available! You can also join our HR Community and follow us on LinkedIn and Instagram.

Thank you so much for listening and please rate and review!

Navigating a career from recruitment to corporate HR was a huge cultural shift for this week’s guest, Vanessa Harris. Vanessa is Director of Partnership and Performance at global law firm Baker McKenzie and joins our host, Stuart Elliott to discuss her journey into HR and the skills she has had to obtain in order to adapt to a global role.  
Vanessa has extensive experience in the professional services sector, in particular within legal services and has worked for Baker McKenzie for over sixteen years in a variety of different roles. Starting her career in Sydney as a recruiter, Vanessa has since moved to Singapore and has learnt the importance of having international experience to broaden her career. 

In this episode, Vanessa speaks about the challenges she has faced moving across the world into a global role and her proudest moments working in HR. She also offers her advice on fostering a trusted network of people, seizing opportunities and learning 'organisational savvy' in order to build a flourishing career in HR. 

Key Timestamps:
2:00 – Introducing Vanessa Harris 9:32 – The shift from a career in recruitment to Learning and Development 20:30 – The cultural change from Australia to Singapore 22:22 – The challenges of working within a legal firm27:10 – What it’s like working in a global role being based in Singapore 33:15 – Vanessa’s proudest moments from working in HR 40:29 – Vanessa’s experience in a male dominated sector 44:30 – Advice for those beginning a career in HR  You can listen to and download HR Insights from Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify and most popular podcast apps, subscribe so the latest episodes are directly available! You can also join our HR Community and follow us on LinkedIn and Instagram.

Thank you so much for listening and please rate and review!

Welcome to the first edition of ‘The Latest HR News’, an additional monthly special episode, brand new for season 6 of HR Insights: The Podcast. Our host, Stuart Elliott will be joined by professionals and experts in the HR field to discuss recent topical news articles in business and HR, examining the trends and the impact they are having on organisations. 
In our premiere, Stuart is joined by Kate Mansfield, Programme Director and Career Coach at Career Counselling Services and Dan Silverman, US Head of Corporate Functions Recruitment at Bloomberg. Together, they dive into some hard-hitting pieces around the rise and fall of DEI and how to support employees amidst the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to more light-hearted topics about the so-called ‘manopause’. Stuart, Kate and Dan hold an insightful and engaging conversation creating invaluable awareness of the current topics that are shaping businesses and their HR functions today.
 
Kate takes responsibility for designing and delivering career development programmes for CCS clients across both private and public sector organisations in the UK and internationally. She is also is also a Lead Tutor on their open Accredited Career Coach Training course and continues to coach clients individually. Dan, who moved in-house following a career in agency recruitment, currently leads and manages a team of experienced recruitment and sourcing partners, responsible for hiring experienced talent into a range of Bloomberg's departments. Leading with data, market intelligence and recruitment best practices he ensures they hire, retain and develop world class talent.


Key Timestamps of the articles discussed:
04:43 – Full-time office workers overtake hybrid staff 09:30 - Badge checking –employees office time is being monitored15:20 – The rise and fall of DEI21:58 – Should DEI sit under HR?25:28 - Layoffs at LinkedIn – what’s the best conduct?  34:36 - Boomerang staff – re-joining a former company  41:39 – How to get the lying out of hiring 49:50 - Providing support to employees amid the current Israeli-Palestinian conflict 55:17 – The ‘manopause’ 58:53 – Should all relationships at work, including friendships, be declared? For links to the articles, please see our blog
You can listen to and download HR Insights from Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify and most popular podcast apps, subscribe so the latest episodes are directly available! You can also join our HR Community and follow us on LinkedIn and Instagram.

Thank you so much for listening and please rate and review!

M&A refers to the phrase mergers and acquisitions, a term used when one company merges with or buys another and covers the whole process from beginning to end. Today our host, Stuart Elliott, is joined by HR M&A Lead, Graham Poole to speak about why the role of HR is so critical to this process.

During their conversation, Stuart and Graham discuss the role of HR in the M&A process, the aligning of workforce and culture of the two merging entities, the best practice for a smooth transition and some key considerations for companies during the due diligence phase of the merge. They also touch on the challenges HR teams can face during the integration process and tips for HR professionals embarking on an M&A journey. 

Graham is an experienced international HR Director with a global track record in successful HR M&A and change projects. He provides HR support to organisations undergoing the M&A process and offers executive coaching for leaders going through change. His expertise includes full-scope HR M&A programmes, organisation design and global transformation initiatives. Previously, Graham has lived and worked in multiple regions including APAC, LATAM, Northern Europe & Russia and Africa. 
 
Key Timestamps:
1:24 – An introduction to Graham Poole 6:06 – Graham’s early career7:55 – Why the role of HR is so critical in the M&A process 12:27 – HR’s role in aligning the workforce and culture of the two merging entities18:10 – Cost elevation and organisation design process20:25 – The due diligence phase27:04 – Challenges and successes when going through the M&A process35:30 – Why Graham likes working within the M&A space38:29 – Tips for HR professionals embarking on an M&A journeyYou can listen to and download HR Insights from Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify and most popular podcast apps, subscribe so the latest episodes are directly available! You can also join our HR Community and follow us on LinkedIn and Instagram.

Thank you so much for listening and please rate and review!