The WorkOps Podcast

by Kinfolk

5.0 (2)
Business

The WorkOps Podcast is your weekly conversation with HR leaders and People Ops practitioners doing the real work. In every episode we dig into one story. A process that went sideways, a system that just didn't work, and what someone actually did about it. Packed with practical lessons you'll want to bring back to your team. Whether you're supporting 500 employees or 5,000, this is how the best People leaders are building for what comes next.

4d ago

ZipRecruiter on why AI is a way of working, not a skill

SummaryIs AI a skill to list on a job description, or simply the way work gets done now? In this episode of The WorkOps Podcast, host Jeet Mukerji sits down with Amy Garefis, Chief People Officer at ZipRecruiter, who spent most of her career as a CPA before moving into HR four years ago. Amy explains why the hardest part of that move was accepting that people decisions rarely have a right answer, and why ZipRecruiter keeps investing in interns and early career talent while other companies pull back. She walks through how her people team is adopting AI, from baseline courses to self-identified evangelists building workflows, and why freed-up time disappears unless you plan for it. She also shares the story of ZipRecruiter's quarterly collaboration weeks in Phoenix, where the original goal of productivity gave way to something the company values more: connection. A practical conversation for people leaders working out how to bring their teams along on AI without losing the human side of the work. Chapters00:00 Cold open00:43 Welcome Amy Garefis of ZipRecruiter01:06 From CPA to chief people officer04:11 Why HR decisions rarely have a right answer05:47 Should new grads start in HR?08:04 Why ZipRecruiter still hires early career talent11:11 Is AI turning everyone into a manager?15:11 Tokens, time and how the people team uses AI20:38 Building AI fluency across the company25:08 ZipRecruiter's quarterly collaboration weeks34:38 Advice for leaders driving AI adoption Takeaways- AI is a way of working, not a skill. Amy expects it to appear in job descriptions for now, then fade into a baseline expectation the way "internet" once did.- HR rarely has a right answer. Moving from accounting meant getting comfortable with decisions everyone can relate to and has an opinion on.- Automation does not create free time by itself. Decide in advance which strategic work the saved hours will go to, or other tasks will absorb them.- Make AI adoption accessible. Offer a finite set of tools, share small real examples, and let self-identified evangelists lead inside each department.- In-person time pays off in connection more than output. ZipRecruiter's collaboration weeks started as a productivity play and became a team building one. Connect with the GuestAmy Garefis LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amy-garefis/Company Website: https://www.ziprecruiter.com/ SponsorThis episode is brought to you by Kinfolk, the AI service desk built for HR. See more at kinfolkhq.com
6d ago

Perficient runs HR at two speeds on purpose

Heather Oxley, CHRO at Perficient, joins Jeet Mukherjee on The WorkOps Podcast to explain how a 7,000 person IT services company is rebuilding its People function around AI without pretending everything can move at the same pace. She opens with the work study she ran on arrival, which found that 60% of HR's workload was inquiry, and shows how that single number set her first priority. From there the conversation moves through Perficient's two speed operating model, the AI academy whose capstone requires a real client or internal outcome, and the decision to break 40 semi autonomous units into global practices so hiring draws from the largest pool instead of the smallest. Heather is direct about what does not work, including concentrating AI accountability in one person and treating course completion as proof of skill. HR leaders, People Ops practitioners and anyone building an AI operating plan for the function will find a practical sequence here: measure, separate fast from slow, prove the skill, fix the structure, then buy for speed. Chapters00:00 Cold open00:54 Welcome Heather Oxley of Perficient01:12 From IT consulting to the CHRO seat at Perficient03:18 Why the CHRO job keeps expanding05:11 Where HR ends and IT begins07:06 Spreading AI accountability across the HR leadership team09:41 The academy, the capstone, and applied AI skill12:16 Go fast on the obvious, slow on the complex13:02 60% of HR workload was inquiry15:26 Build versus buy on hiring and skills19:29 Global practices and matching supply to demand23:01 HR in three years, agent supported and proactive26:20 Pilots, passengers, and leaning into the hard Takeaways- A work study at Perficient found that 60% of HR's workload was inquiry, questions already answered somewhere in the policy library, which made an inquiry agent the obvious first place to move fast.- Perficient runs at two speeds by design: fast where the ROI is clear and the blocker is data hygiene, slower where cross silo handoffs offer a real chance to redesign the employee experience.- Course completion does not count as capability at Perficient, because the AI academy only certifies people once they finish a capstone applied to a real client or internal situation and assessed on the outcome.- Rather than appointing an AI transformation lead, Heather gives every function head accountability for AI in their area, on the logic that concentrating ownership in one person slows the whole organization down.- Consolidating roughly 40 autonomous units into global practices widened the hiring funnel from the smallest pod to the largest, and a bought skills platform, kept current by feeds from learning and daily work, powers the supply to demand match. Connect with the GuestHeather Oxley LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/heatheroxley/Company Website: https://www.perficient.com SponsorThis episode is brought to you by Kinfolk, the AI service desk built for HR. See more at kinfolkhq.com
Aug 11

The direct deposit lesson: why HR survives every automation wave

SummaryWhat happens when a CHRO treats AI like a brainstorming wall instead of a threat? In this episode of The WorkOps Podcast, host Jeet Mukherjee sits down with Jason Desentz, Chief Human Resource Officer at Toshiba America, to unpack why AI is an enhancement story, not a replacement story. Jason shares the history lesson behind his optimism, from direct deposit to factory robots to Ford's reversed AI layoffs, then goes inside Toshiba's HR Shark Tank, where cross functional teams built working Copilot agents like Payroll Princess and Time Tamer in 60 days. He also lays out his two goalpost framework for every AI decision and warns about the integration trap that could fragment HR tech stacks all over again. A practical conversation for HR and operations leaders who want to experiment with AI without disrupting the business. Chapters00:00 Introduction01:45 From police academy to CHRO05:50 Why AI will deepen HR expertise instead of replacing it08:50 The direct deposit lesson13:55 Starting small with proof of concept16:35 Inside Toshiba's HR Shark Tank20:00 Build, borrow, or bot21:30 The two goalposts and the integration trap28:55 FOBO and getting people AI ready32:55 From curious to cautious Takeaways- AI will change how HR work looks, not whether it exists. Like computers, direct deposit, and factory robots before it, it enhances the function and creates new work.- Start small instead of trying to do everything at once. Pick one proof of concept and give it a full cycle, a year to 18 months, before judging whether it worked.- Cross functional experimentation multiplies value. Toshiba's HR Shark Tank mixed payroll, field HR, business partners, and L&D to build real -Copilot agents on top of their day jobs.- Every AI decision has to pass two goalposts: little to zero disruption to the business and a genuine improvement to the employee experience.- Watch the integration trap. HR spent 15 years consolidating eight systems down to three, and bolting on AI point solutions risks recreating the same fragmentation. Connect with the GuestJason Desentz LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jason-desentz/Company Website: https://www.toshiba.com/ SponsorThis episode is brought to you by Kinfolk, the AI service desk built for HR. See more at kinfolkhq.com
Aug 4

Why SurveyMonkey moved payroll into HR

SummaryPayroll problems were blowing up Slack channels at SurveyMonkey, and employees weren't taking them to finance. In this episode of The WorkOps Podcast, host Jeet Mukerji talks with Becky Cantieri, Chief People Officer at SurveyMonkey, about the decision to hit the blow-up button and move payroll out of finance and into HR, how a willing CFO and one simple question (who is willing to talk to the employee?) made the handoff a slam dunk, and why the defining skill for HR leaders right now is metabolizing change: finding signal in noise fast enough to prioritize, pivot, and keep up in the AI era. A practical listen for people leaders, HR operations teams, and anyone rethinking who should own the employee experience. Chapters00:00 Cold open01:16 From the Nordstrom sales floor to CPO06:37 Fifteen years of reinvention09:26 Metabolizing change14:22 The payroll problem18:31 Winning over the CFO21:44 Rebuilding the team28:03 The AI champion at SurveyMonkey32:51 Refusing to wait in the AI queue35:21 Permission, capability, agency Takeaways- Employees don't think in org charts. When something breaks, they go to whoever usually answers, so design ownership around the employee experience, not department history.- The team willing to talk to employees should own the employee-facing function. SurveyMonkey moved payroll into HR when it became clear finance didn't want those conversations.- Make handoffs safe with data: SurveyMonkey's HR team committed to SLAs and email volume reporting while banking controls stayed with finance.- The defining HR skill right now is metabolizing change: finding signal in noise fast enough to prioritize, pivot, and keep up with AI.- Metabolizing is teachable. It starts with curiosity, a growth mindset, and the willingness to throw out a process you built and are proud of. Connect with the GuestBecky Cantieri LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rebecca-cantieri-85654a/Company Website: https://www.surveymonkey.com Sponsor
Jul 28

The three levels of work: Where AI belongs, and where it never will

SummaryWhat happens when a CEO hands unlimited AI access to every employee, and adoption still stalls? In this episode of The WorkOps Podcast, host Jeet Mukerji sits down with Kimberly Nerpouni, Global VP of People & International Operations at Pearl, the parent company of JustAnswer. Kimberly shares why AI transformation is a human enablement problem rather than a technology problem, how her People Ops team built Pearl's AI accelerator and a 1 to 10 adoption scale with no bad scores, and her three levels of work framework for deciding what AI should absorb first. She also explains the feedback facilitator agent her team is building, the hard line she draws (AI never gives feedback, it helps managers facilitate it), and why PIPs don't exist at Pearl. This conversation is for people leaders, HR teams, and anyone navigating AI adoption inside their organization. Chapters00:00 Introduction00:45 From IT manager to people operations04:25 JustAnswer, Pearl, and human plus AI06:15 Inside Pearl's AI accelerator10:55 Build, buy, or borrow13:15 The three levels of work17:05 AI that facilitates feedback instead of giving it19:50 The AI agent hub and transparency23:35 Why PIPs don't work and what replaces them35:05 Don't wait, just do Takeaways- AI adoption is a human enablement problem, not a technology problem, and people ops is uniquely positioned to lead it.- Move AI into level one work first, the tasks that don't require your expertise, so your team can focus on level two and level three work.- Build, buy, or borrow: piloting with AI startups can reveal exactly what's worth building bespoke in-house.- AI should facilitate feedback conversations by scanning context and prompting managers, but it should never give the feedback itself.- Front-load clarity with job descriptions, career ladders, and employee-owned development plans so PIPs are never needed. Connect with the GuestKimberly Nerpouni LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kimberlypignolet/Company Website: https://www.pearl.com SponsorThis episode is brought to you by Kinfolk, the AI service desk built for HR. See more at kinfolkhq.com
Jul 23

When Your HR AI Pilot Works Too Well to Stay a Pilot

SummaryWhat happens when your AI pilot works too well to stay a pilot? In this episode of The WorkOps Podcast, host Jeet Mukerji talks with Ivan Nosov, Head of HR Tech and Global Total Rewards Director at Campari Group, about taking AI in HR from proof of concept to production. Ivan shares why he started with Copilot Studio knowing it wouldn't last, where RAG breaks down at enterprise scale, and how his team built a digital twin router app on Claude that loads only the context each question needs. He also lays out the adoption playbook that made it stick: winning over regional directors and COE champions first, running hackathons for awareness, and addressing the work people hate instead of the work they love. A practical conversation for HR, people ops, and workplace technology leaders navigating AI transformation. Chapters00:00 Introduction01:30 From IT engineer to HR leader03:45 Should AI transformation sit in HR or IT05:55 How non technical HR can get started07:20 Copilot Studio as a proof of concept tool09:30 Harness, routing, and the limits of RAG15:00 Building the digital twin router app on Claude17:40 Context engineering and distilling tacit knowledge19:30 Winning adoption through champions29:55 The future of junior roles and build versus buy Takeaways- Start with the accessible tool to prove the concept, then move on. Copilot Studio validated Campari Group's AI ideas, but production required control over the harness that abstracted platforms can't offer.- Routing beats RAG at scale. Loading only the relevant context for each question makes AI more targeted, more efficient, and far less likely to hallucinate.- Campari Group's digital twin runs on Claude with deliberate model selection: Sonnet for efficiency, Haiku for helper queries, and Opus for final artifacts because of its design taste.- Adoption spreads through champions. Win over regional directors and COE heads first, stay with them until the outputs click, and they will share it further than any rollout plan.- Context engineering is the real work. Distill tacit knowledge into a compact, unambiguous knowledge base: 250,000 tokens in total, with no session loading more than 50,000. Connect with the GuestIvan Nosov LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ivan-nosov/Company Website: https://www.camparigroup.com/ SponsorThis episode is brought to you by Kinfolk, the AI service desk built for HR. See more at kinfolkhq.com
Jul 21

Job Security, Not Role Security: How to Future-Proof a Workforce

SummaryWhat happens to careers when AI makes more than half of all roles look fundamentally different within two years? In this episode of The WorkOps Podcast, host Jeet Mukergi sits down with Lisa Sherwell, Chief People Officer at SUSE, to unpack her answer: strive for job security, not role security. Lisa shares how SUSE's Future Selves program transformed engagement for its over 50 workforce, why internal gigs are the new engine of career growth, and why performance management fails not because of broken processes but because leaders avoid honest conversations. A practical, candid conversation for HR leaders, people operations professionals, and executives navigating the AI era. Chapters00:00 Introduction01:15 From sales and call centers to chief people officer02:30 Building commercial curiosity in HR04:15 Future Selves: investing in the over 50 workforce07:00 Job security vs role security08:55 Hiring for AI potential, not expertise10:30 How SUSE rolled out AI across the business16:45 Running HR for 8% less while delivering more24:30 Performance is a clarity problem, not a process problem33:00 A new playbook for the AI era Takeaways- Strive for job security, not role security: broad competencies and internal mobility protect people as AI reshapes their roles.- More than half of all roles could look fundamentally different within two years, so career agility is now a core business responsibility.- SUSE's Future Selves program proved that investing in the over 50 workforce lifts engagement, internal mobility, and community, while preserving invaluable business context.- Performance is a clarity problem, not a process problem: honest meets, fails, exceeds conversations beat new ratings scales and OKR frameworks.- Ownership of performance belongs with the individual contributor, because nobody cares more about your career growth than you do. Connect with the GuestLisa Sherwell LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisasherwell/Company Website: https://www.suse.com SponsorThis episode is brought to you by Kinfolk, the AI service desk built for HR. See more at kinfolkhq.com
Jul 17

High agency, low ego, and the future of HR at Tubi

SummaryOn this episode of The WorkOps Podcast, host Jeet Mukergi sits down with Natasha Valani, Chief People Officer at Tubi, the number one free ad-supported streaming service in the US. Natasha shares how her people team built a live calibration tool in Replit in just two days, connecting it back to Workday and saving roughly two weeks during year end review season. The conversation goes well beyond one tool: Natasha unpacks how she hires for high agency and low ego, why subtraction is her favorite leadership discipline, and how she sees junior and people roles evolving as AI takes on more of the routine work. It's a practical, candid look at running a lean, builder-minded HR function, ideal for people leaders, HR practitioners, and anyone rethinking how their team operates in the AI age. Chapters00:45 Welcome and Natasha's story01:45 From 26 schools to belonging and the people space03:45 Building a culture where everyone builds06:45 Hiring for high agency and low ego09:45 The year end calibration problem10:45 The two day tool built in Replit15:45 Why build instead of buy19:45 Trade-offs and the power of subtraction21:45 The honest gap, headcount management26:45 The future of junior roles in the AI age Takeaways- You don't need a vendor RFP to solve an HR problem. Someone who knows the guts of the process built a live calibration tool in Replit in two days and connected it to Workday, saving roughly two weeks.- High agency is the differentiator in the AI age. Natasha screens for it with one question: tell me about a time you built a solution nobody asked you to.- Pair high agency with low ego. Stay curious and ask questions, but don't assume nothing good existed before you.- Subtraction is a strategy. Force-rank priorities, openly showcase what you removed, and protect your team's bandwidth by refusing to do everything.- Junior roles won't disappear, they'll shift. The people closest to the guts of a workflow become operational advisors and orchestrators, and AI still needs a human eye to catch the slop. Connect with the GuestNatasha Valani LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/natasha-valani-1758a418/Company Website: https://tubitv.com SponsorThis episode is brought to you by Kinfolk, the AI service desk built for HR. See more at kinfolkhq.com

5

out of 5

2 Ratings

The WorkOps Podcast is your weekly conversation with HR leaders and People Ops practitioners doing the real work. In every episode we dig into one story. A process that went sideways, a system that just didn't work, and what someone actually did about it. Packed with practical lessons you'll want to bring back to your team. Whether you're supporting 500 employees or 5,000, this is how the best People leaders are building for what comes next.

Creator

by Kinfolk
Years Active

2026
Episodes

23
Rating

Explicit
Copyright

© 2026 by Kinfolk