In this episode we speak with Jess Von Bank and Jason Averbook about responsible AI, organizational readiness, governance, incentives, failed expectations, and why rethinking work itself matters more than any new tool.

Key Takeaways

• AI won’t fix anything until organizations fix their fundamentals
• Governance, literacy, and incentives decide whether AI succeeds
• Automating old processes is not innovation
• Most AI failures come from bad expectations, not tech
• Leaders need to rethink how problems are defined
• The industry must stop “AI sprinkling” on outdated systems
• Real transformation requires behavior change and reimagining work

Chapters

01:56 Why the TA and HR tech ROI hasn’t matched investment

02:45 The opportunity and danger inside the AI buzz

03:26 Human centricity, fairness, and literacy

04:11 The hype cycle and the rush to adopt

05:10 Asking “AI for what?” before chasing ROI

06:14 Why this is a reset, not another tech wave

07:33 Digital lipstick on an analog pig

08:11 Transformation vs ongoing evolution

09:52 What will happen to most vendors

10:39 Why AI projects fail

11:41 Redefining how companies solve problems

12:21 Defining success the right way

13:03 HR’s responsibility in making AI work

14:00 Leaders need AI literacy too

14:47 Productivity vs collective intelligence

15:55 Redeploying work, not displacing workers

16:24 The limits of current AI use cases

17:00 Why displacing jobs is the wrong metric

18:15 Vendors must solve real problems

18:59 Consolidation, infrastructure, and the ecosystem

20:04 Responsible innovation needs offense and defense

20:32 Why infrastructure consolidation matters

21:21 Why responsible AI starts with asking “why?”

22:01 Rethinking whether core HR practices still make sense

22:44 The crisis moment HR is facing

23:08 Closing thoughts and gratitude

Guest Info

Jess Von Bank, Global Leader, Digital HR Transformation

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessvonbank/

Jason Averbook, Sr. Partner Mercer

LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasonaverbook/

Host

Bob Pulver, Elevate Your AIQ Podcast

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bobpulver/

Connect with WRKdefined

Site: ⁠http://www.wrkdefined.com⁠

TikTok: ⁠https://www.tiktok.com/@wrkdefined⁠

LinkedIn: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/company/wrkdefined⁠

Facebook: ⁠https://www.facebook.com/WRKdefined⁠

Twitter: ⁠https://twitter.com/WRKdefined⁠

Substack: ⁠https://wrkdefined.substack.com/⁠

In this episode we talk about HR tech, PEOs, SMBs, AI in hiring, and why owning your own product roadmap matters. We walk through how CoAdvantage and PrimePay serve small businesses that often have no HR leader, how they think about employee experience and mobile access, what they are seeing on the Pitchfest stage, and why HR should be using AI as an additive tool instead of a replacement for real people strategy.

Key Takeaways

• HR tech for SMBs is shifting from “forgotten buyer” to primary target, with more vendors openly building for small and midsize businesses.
• The PEO model plus a modern HCM platform lets SMBs pool benefits, workers’ comp, payroll, and 401(k) under one roof instead of stitching together point solutions.
• CoAdvantage’s CoAdQuantum platform and mobile app give employees browser-level access on their phones, including pay history and total compensation views.
• AI in hiring is getting congested and same-y, but the most interesting tools are removing identifiers and focusing on skills, language, and behavior to reduce bias.
• Performance management AI that “advocates” for employees by surfacing year-long contributions can fix the nine-month memory gap of annual reviews.
• Pitchfest revealed a divide between “sizzle” AI pitches and deeper semantic and behavioral models that are harder to explain in three minutes but more differentiated.
• HR is finally being talked about as a business impact driver, with clearer correlations between bad hires, brand damage, culture, and hard financial cost.
• There is a growing risk that free AI tools tempt leaders to skip a real people strategy, which turns HR tech into a liability instead of a safeguard.
• CoAdvantage built and owns its own technology so it would not be a small fish on someone else’s roadmap, and migrated clients to CoAdQuantum to control its destiny.
• The product “personality” the team aims for is flexible, honest, self-aware, reliable, and deeply listening to SMB clients, not pretending to be all-knowing.

Chapters

00:00 AI, bias, and sanitizing candidate data

01:44 Katee and Robin intro Inclusive AF live at HR Tech with CoAdvantage | PrimePay

02:29 Who CoAdvantage and PrimePay serve and how the PEO model works for SMBs

04:55 Employee experience, mobile app, and total compensation visibility

07:27 Why CoAdvantage sponsored Pitchfest and what they are seeing in the HR tech startup field

10:33 AI tools that strip identifiers, de-bias hiring, and support performance management

12:12 The forgotten SMB HR tech buyer and why distribution strategy matters

16:03 Making HR credible to business leaders and tying HR decisions to ROI and risk

17:11 AI hype, liability risk, and why HR has to stay the protector of the business

18:28 If your product had a personality – how CoAdvantage describes its tech and service

20:54 Owning the tech stack, CoAdQuantum migrations, and controlling product destiny

22:01 Real-time client feedback, roadmap iteration, and bridging data and humans

23:05 Wrap up with Katee and Robin from the HR Executive studio

Guest Information

Caitlin Carragee – Head of Strategy, CoAdvantage | PrimePay

Website: https://coadvantage.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/caitlincarragee

Mark Zimmerman – Chief Information Officer, CoAdvantage

Website: https://coadvantage.com/leadership/mark-zimmerman

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markzimmerman

Hosts

Katee Van Horn – Co-host, Inclusive AF Podcast – https://www.linkedin.com/in/katee-van-horn/

Robin Schooling – Co-host, Inclusive AF Podcast – LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robinschooling

Hiring has never been louder, faster, or more chaotic. Daniel Chait breaks down why great hiring still comes down to disciplined systems, data, and the courage to say no to feature-chasing. This is a real look at how Greenhouse thinks about customers, product, and what “great at hiring” actually means in 2025.

In this episode we speak with Daniel Chait, CEO of Greenhouse about founder lessons, product vision, hiring discipline, fraud in the talent market, and why recruiting teams need better data to earn real credibility with the business.

Key Takeaway

• Great strategy dies fast if you cannot hire the talent to execute it
• Listening to customers without a clear product vision creates a bloated, incoherent platform
• New Greenhouse Analytics puts real hiring metrics in the hands of recruiters and leaders
• Most TA teams still cannot answer basic questions on attrition, time to fill, or funnel health
• Fraud, AI generated resumes, and deepfakes are reshaping how employers vet candidates
• Real Talent focuses on signal, identity, and reducing noise in overwhelming pipelines
• High volume and professional hiring are converging on similar experiences and expectations
• Being right is not enough in legal or business fights if the time and cost kill the company

Chapters

00:00 Why great hiring beats any strategy on paper

02:00 Daniel’s path from programmer to founder

03:40 Discovering hiring as an engineering problem

05:27 Ambitious, collaborative customers as the ideal partners

06:55 Balancing customer asks with a clear product vision

09:40 How Greenhouse stays out of the “feature soup” trap

11:42 New Greenhouse Analytics and what it unlocks

13:31 Why most companies still lack basic recruiting data

15:19 Data as the language that earns TA a real seat at the table

17:39 Launching “Real Talent” to combat fraud and misrepresentation

19:16 AI resumes, spam pipelines, and candidate frustration

21:01 Helping real candidates stand out in noisy markets

21:46 My Greenhouse, job alerts, and the “dream job” signal

23:18 Convergence of frontline and salaried hiring experiences

24:34 One system to support all types of hiring

26:33 Where automation stops and human touch still matters

28:41 A painful early lawsuit and the cost of being “right”

31:24 How that lesson now shapes partnership and customer decisions

33:35 Final thoughts and where to learn more about Greenhouse

Guest Info

Daniel Chait, Co-founder & CEO, Greenhouse

Website: https://www.greenhouse.com

Host

Christy Honeycutt, Host Inside the C-Suite Podcast

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/christyhoneycutt

Connect with WRKdefined

Site: http://www.wrkdefined.com

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@wrkdefined

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/wrkdefined

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WRKdefined

Twitter: https://twitter.com/WRKdefined

Substack: https://wrkdefined.substack.com/

AI gets loud, fast, and overpromised. This conversation cuts through the noise. When the entire talent lifecycle sits on fragmented systems, AI becomes guesswork. When the data is unified, you unlock precision, prediction, and real outcomes. Rebecca and Dan lay out why SmartRecruiters and SAP SuccessFactors fit together, what Winston can actually do in the flow of work, and how the TA ecosystem changes when recruiting, HR, learning, contingent labor, and analytics all live on one plane.

In this episode we speak with Rebecca Carr and Dan Beck about AI trust, cross-lifecycle data, workforce planning, agentic systems, shared incentives, and the future of TA inside the world’s largest enterprise HR suite.

Key Takeaways

• AI is only as good as the data foundation it sits on
• Recruiting data alone can’t deliver lifecycle intelligence
• Unifying HR, learning, finance, and contingent labor unlocks new predictions
• Winston works because it stays in the flow of work and builds trust slowly
• Shared incentives between TA and TM matter more than ownership
• Agentic AI needs clean inputs, not shortcuts
• Workforce planning becomes work planning when analytics are unified

Chapters

00:15 Why SAP chose SmartRecruiters

00:32 Autonomy, agents, and better data

01:04 Live from HR Tech 2025

01:22 Rebecca’s background

01:54 Dan’s background

02:36 Innovation and why the partnership made sense

03:03 What brought the companies together

03:57 Why SmartRecruiters was the pick

04:21 AI’s power with end-to-end data

04:49 What the acquisition unlocks

05:11 Product and cultural alignment

05:55 Customer-obsessed DNA

06:05 Why lifecycle visibility changes everything

06:46 Shared incentives across TA and TM

07:16 Early integration conversations

07:31 Workforce planning meets recruiting

08:13 Data loops inside SAP’s platform

08:26 Building an AI-first data plane

08:58 How better data drives autonomous agents

09:15 Finance, HR, and contingent labor convergence

10:30 The extended workforce lens

11:07 Non-employee analytics and certification

12:07 Winston’s role inside SuccessFactors

12:46 Why Winston boosts engagement and data quality

13:59 How SAP plans to anchor TA around this roadmap

14:35 AI literacy and readiness across teams

15:01 Why “just automate it” doesn’t build trust

16:06 Winston’s one-job-at-a-time model

17:02 How trust becomes experimentation

17:27 Designing rollout journeys with customers

18:17 Real-world enterprise AI adoption

18:53 Why Winston accelerates AI maturity

Guest Info

Rebecca Carr, CEO SmartRecruiters

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rebeccajcarr/

Dan Beck, General Manager and Chief Produc Officer, SmartRecruiters

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dan-beck/

Host

Bob Holver, Elevate Your AiQ Podcast

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/bobpulver

Connect with WRKdefined

Site: http://www.wrkdefined.com

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@wrkdefined

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/wrkdefined

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WRKdefined

Twitter: https://twitter.com/WRKdefined

Substack: https://wrkdefined.substack.com/

We sit down with VONQ CEO Ritu Mohanka at HR Tech to unpack what really changed at the top of the funnel. Recruiters are drowning in volume and starving for relevance, so VONQ is leaning into programmatic job distribution, embedded marketplaces, and AI screening agents that send 20 signal-rich candidates instead of 200 random applies.

We walk through their global channel model, new fraud and AI-usage detection, and why building in public on LinkedIn is part of their transparency and trust story.

In this episode we talk about AI agents, recruitment advertising, fraud detection, candidate volume, and LinkedIn as the new front door for talent tech. Ritu traces the journey from Kenexa and Glint to leading VONQ, then breaks down how a platform that touches 5,000 channels can quietly sit inside your ATS and still change the shape of your funnel.

Key Takeaways

• Recruiters don’t want 200 applicants anymore. They want 20 high intent candidates who already passed knockout questions and early screening. VONQ evolved from an ad agency into a global recruitment platform that distributes jobs across thousands of channels with programmatic controls focused on outcomes like cost per hire, speed, and quality.
• In North America VONQ acts as infrastructure. Everything runs through ATS and HCM marketplaces so recruiters never leave the system where they create jobs. Embedded multiposting, LinkedIn CPA Plus, and AI screening agents deliver shortlists instead of noise, and all the agents are already built and deployed before launch.
• VONQ now surfaces “signals” of AI or fraud inside the candidate dossier so recruiters know when automation helped versus when it crossed a line. Building in public on LinkedIn is part of the trust play in a noisy AI market.
• The real bet is recruiter enablement. Less admin, cleaner workflows, faster paths to shortlists. The industry is shifting from volume to relevance, and VONQ’s platform and agent strategy is aligned to that pivot.

This series was recorded live at HR Tech 2025 inside the HR Executive studios on the expo floor in partnership with the WRKdefined Podcast Network. Make sure you’re subscribed to the full series and visit HRExecutive.com for the news, analysis, and insights shaping the future of work.

Chapters

0:00 Cold open – “The newest pain point is volume. We don’t want that much volume.”

1:00 Welcome back to WorkTech at HR Tech and live-audience setup

1:40 Ritu’s background – Connexa, Glint, LinkedIn, and finding “home” again in HR tech

3:04 What’s different on the floor – AI agents everywhere, screening at the top of the funnel, and the rise of fraud detection

4:04 Old-school assessments vs AI-driven screening and ranking

5:42 VONQ’s evolution – from recruitment ad agency to global recruitment advertising platform

6:39 Platform over point solutions – 5,000 channels and programmatic distribution

7:52 Global go-to-market – direct in Europe, channel and marketplace model in North America

8:51 Embedded in ATS and HCM – why recruiters should never have to leave where they create jobs

10:15 CPA Plus with LinkedIn – cost-per-application-plus, not just eyeballs and clicks

10:54 From 200 applies to 20 shortlists – high intent, knockout questions, and six-minute voice interviews

12:20 Detecting AI usage and fraud – “signals not flags” for cover letters, chats, and voice screenings

13:58 The ecosystem view – platforms selling AI while also protecting against AI abuse

14:47 Finding VONQ on LinkedIn and why building in public matters

Guest Info

Ritu Mohanka, CEO at VONQ

Website: https://www.vonq.com

Host

George LaRocque, WorkTech Podcast

In this episode we speak with Desiree Goldey, Co-Host, Talentless, and Ashley King, Co-Host, Talentless, about recruiter burnout, broken expectations, messy hiring pipelines, candidate fatigue, and the gap between HR tech promises and real recruiter workflows.

Key Takeaways

• Recruiters are carrying emotional labor no one talks about
• Hiring velocity hides broken processes
• Candidates are overwhelmed by noisy pipelines
• Most teams are under-skilled in real candidate communication
• Tech doesn’t fix chaos if leaders don’t change behavior
• Burnout is coming from expectations, not workload
• Honest feedback loops are missing across TA

Chapters

00:00 Why recruiting feels heavier

01:10 The emotional load of TA

02:04 Candidate chaos in 2025

03:22 Broken communication loops

04:40 When tech makes it worse

06:15 Burnout signals recruiters ignore

07:30 What leaders still don’t get

08:55 Where the function needs to go

Host

Desiree Goldey, Co-Host, Talentless Podcast

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/desireegoldey/

Ashley King, Co-Host, Talentless Podcast

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashleykingdei/

Connect with WRKdefined

Site: http://www.wrkdefined.com

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@wrkdefined

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/wrkdefined

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WRKdefined

Twitter: https://twitter.com/WRKdefined

Substack: https://wrkdefined.substack.com/

In this episode we speak with Jeremy Roberts, Founding Customer Success Lead at Tenzo AI, about evaluating AI interview platforms, rebuilding workflows around skills and signals instead of résumés, how to get past the “cool demo” to real compliance and transparency, and why he chose Tenzo after vetting the entire AI interview landscape.

Key Takeaways

• Most large companies are stalled by legal risk and legacy systems while AI is already capable of automating much of early-stage recruiting
• AI interviewing shifts evaluation from incomplete résumés to structured skills evidence and every spoken word in context
• The real disruption isn’t the tech, it’s the requirement to tear down and rebuild talent workflows from scratch
• Vendors that win will be the ones who can explain every decision to legal, compliance, and AI governance councils
• High-volume use cases are just the starting point; AI interviewing is already good enough for knowledge workers and senior roles
• Tenzo’s focus on debiasing, transparency, and explainability was the differentiator in Jeremy’s market-wide evaluation
• Founding customer success roles sit at the center of product, sales, and customers, shaping the roadmap in real time

Chapters

00:00 AI, legacy systems, and what could be automated

01:02 Live at HR Tech and intro to Jeremy

02:05 Jeremy’s path from recruiter to AI startup

05:14 Vetting the AI interview market

07:26 How AI interviewing changes workflows

10:45 Why Tenzo stood out

13:37 Compliance, explainability, and safer evaluation

16:12 Where Tenzo sits in the TA stack

18:21 Data, CRM potential, and personalization

21:02 Jeremy’s role as founding customer success lead

23:24 Culture, humility, and building the right way

24:23 Wrap up and HR Tech Pitchfest shout

Guest Info

Jeremy Roberts, Founding Customer Success Lead, Tenzo AI

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeremyroberts/

Host

George LaRocque, Founder and Principal Analyst, WorkTech and host of The Work Tech Podcast

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/georgelarocque/

Connect with WRKdefined

Site: http://www.wrkdefined.com

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@wrkdefined

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/wrkdefined

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WRKdefined

Twitter: https://twitter.com/WRKdefined

Substack: https://wrkdefined.substack.com/

In this episode we talk about people analytics, AI, workforce transformation, storytelling with data, fraud in talent acquisition, geopolitics, and why the industry is about to rename itself. Cole breaks down what’s happening, what’s coming next, and why the “weather report” days of HR data are officially over. 

What We Cover

• The rise and dip of people analytics roles

• Why AI, agents, and automation are shifting the playing field

• Storytelling vs AI-generated insights

• Fraud across TA, payroll, and analytics

• The future of workforce planning

• How data companies like Lightcast power the HR ecosystem

• Why “AI” as a label is about to get boring

• What HR leaders actually want: predictions, not dashboards

Key Takeaways

• People analytics hit a high watermark in 2022, then declined 

• AI transformation and workforce transformation are the real next wave 

• People analytics talent already has the four skills the future requires: data, tech, AI, and change management 

• Storytelling still separates good analysts from bad ones

• Fraud has spiked in talent acquisition and bleeds into analytics now 

• AI terms will fade as the tech becomes baseline

• Workforce planning is hotter now than at any point since 2008 

• Leaders don’t want data weather reports. They want “do I need an umbrella?” answers 

• Lightcast’s data powers nearly 100 HR tech vendors 

Chapters

0:00 The High Watermark and Decline of People Analytics 

2:00 Who is Cole? IO Psych, Data, and Directionally Correct

4:50 The Real Skills HR Needs: Data, Tech, AI, Change

6:00 Storytelling vs AI-Generated Insights

7:30 Fraud in TA, Analytics, and Payroll

9:20 Workforce Trends and Seeing Around Corners

10:30 Why “AI” Will Become Boring

11:30 The Weather Report Problem in HR Data

12:20 Lightcast’s Ecosystem and Workforce Planning Surge

13:30 What We’ll Be Talking About Next Year

Guest

Cole Naper. VP Research, Innovation, & Talent Insights at Lightcast

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/colenapper

Host of the Directionally Correct Podcast

Host:

William Tincup, Co-founder, WRKdefined

LinkedIn: https:// linkedin.com/in/tincup

In this episode we speak with Ike Bennion, VP of Product at Visier about data integrity, people analytics, predictive modeling, agentic AI, TA workflow fragmentation, and how organizations can build smarter, cleaner systems.

Key Takeaways

• Data is the fuel for AI and most TA teams are feeding engines garbage
• Fragmented stacks and weak data collection crush predictive analytics
• People analytics teams hold the keys to real hiring insight
• More data reduces false positives and sharpens talent signals
• Agentic AI raises expectations but exposes messy foundations
• Most teams regret not collecting critical fields six months earlier
• Contextualization matters more than prompts for high impact AI work
• LLMs accelerate research but can’t fix broken processes
• AI washing is everywhere and buyers need sharper questions
• You can’t skip the hard part of making data work together

Chapters

00:00 Why companies still don’t understand the data problem

01:00 What Ike is building at Visier

01:20 Helping managers make better decisions

01:49 How TA and people analytics should partner

02:30 Unlocking predictive hiring with cleaner data

03:03 What company-level data can reveal about candidates

03:38 Why more data scrapes out false positives

04:09 The chaos of 10+ tools in TA stacks

04:46 What data teams wish TA understood

05:14 Why data construction determines future insight

06:06 How AI accelerates recruiters but can’t erase history

06:25 The power of contextualizing AI for better decisions

06:42 Where agentic AI fits in recruiting

07:07 Do you say please and thank you to your AI

07:26 The environmental side of AI usage

07:37 Why fragmented stacks make AI risky

07:47 The rise of AI washing

08:07 Why bad data breaks every AI promise

08:57 The hype cycle and why we’re not in enlightenment

09:21 Why expectations have snapped back

09:43 Agents vs basic LLMs

10:37 Why organizations will feel the bubble pop

11:02 The promise and limits of predictive people analytics

12:12 Why analytic reasoning is now the top skill

12:34 What buyers should ask to avoid AI washing

13:03 The two biggest forms of AI washing

14:08 What future of work questions buyers should ask

14:30 Why we need to rethink work itself

15:02 How AI should transform processes

15:08 How to stay connected with Ike

Guest Info

Ike Benion, VP of Product, Visier

Website: https://www.visier.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ikebennion/

Host

Brandon Jeffs, Host of the Rebel TA Podcast

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brandohires/

Connect with WRKdefined

Site: http://www.wrkdefined.com

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@wrkdefined

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/wrkdefined

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WRKdefined

Twitter: https://twitter.com/WRKdefined

Substack: https://wrkdefined.substack.com/

HR leaders are staring at louder demands, faster change, and more legal landmines than ever. Jocelyn King breaks down how compliance is shifting from reactive to proactive and why most HR teams still feel behind. Real talk on tech, complexity, and what HR needs next.

In this episode we talk about AI roadmaps, HRIS integrations, compliance automation, risk mitigation, and the tech skills HR can’t avoid anymore.

Key Takeaways

• HR leaders lack clarity on AI strategy and need real frameworks
• Integrations flip compliance from reactive to proactive
• Locality coverage is a massive differentiator in labor law
• Embedded compliance in HRIS workflows reduces risk instantly
• Automation frees HR for people strategy instead of research
• Partnership channels will drive most future growth
• Credible data models beat open source in compliance every time
• Change management is the missing skill in most HR teams

Chapters

00:00 Why HR struggles with AI roadmaps

00:20 The integrations that change compliance

00:37 HR’s invisible emotional labor

01:26 What Virgil HR actually does

02:45 Why compliance needs automation

03:34 The heart and team behind the company

04:34 How Virgil HR is scaling

04:47 Global expansion, AI roadmap, and integrations

05:41 How embedded compliance actually works

06:02 Direct vs indirect sales and partnerships

07:02 The new AI trained bot

08:07 Why locality law is a major differentiator

09:25 Automating critical pay and compliance tasks

10:11 HR’s real value and strategic shift

11:34 Jocelyn’s animal rescue work

13:12 Her deeper mission behind HR for HR

14:31 Why HR must be tech ready now

16:04 Building a real AI roadmap

17:08 How to pick the right tech on the HR Tech floor

18:44 Vetting, alignment, and involving CIO/CTO

20:10 Implementing tech with real change management

21:02 Jocelyn’s favorite thing to do in Vegas

Guest Info

Jocelyn King,CEO & Founder, VirgilHR

Website: https://www.virgilhr.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jocelynking/

Host

Christy Honeycutt, Host Inside the C-Suite Podcast

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christy-henika/

Connect with WRKdefined

Site:http://www.wrkdefined.com

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@wrkdefined

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/wrkdefined

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WRKdefined

Twitter: https://twitter.com/WRKdefined

Substack: https://wrkdefined.substack.com/

In this episode we talk about AI, HR Tech, recruitment, identity verification, data quality, automation, screening, candidate engagement, and the future of personalized recruiting. Don walks through Daxtra’s evolution, why explainability matters, and what’s about to break next in the hiring process.

What We Cover

• The rapid adoption of AI in HR

• Daxtra’s evolution from parsing to platform

• Data-driven decision making

• Explainability in AI matching

• Candidate engagement and screening

• Identity verification challenges

• Future-proofing recruitment with personalization

Key Takeaways

• Organizations are adopting AI fast

• Not testing AI is a disadvantage

• Daxtra shifted from parsing to full platform

• Data drives smarter decisions

• AI improves matching explainability

• Candidate engagement is mission critical

• Identity verification is now a core risk

• Bad hires cost real money

• AI can generate tailored resumes

• Future tech is agile and personalized

Chapters

0:00 The Rapid Adoption of AI in HR

3:00 Daxtra’s Evolution and Innovations

6:13 Data-Driven Recruitment and AI’s Role

9:12 Enhancing Candidate Engagement and Screening

11:59 Identity Verification and AI Challenges

14:46 Future of Recruitment Technology and Personalization

Guest

Don Tomlinson, CTO of Daxtra

LinkedIn: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/dontomlinson/⁠

Host:

William Tincup, Co-founder, WRKdefined

LinkedIn: https:// linkedin.com/in/tincup

In this episode we talk about HR systems, AI in recruitment, candidate experience, vendor partnerships, tribal employment, performance management, generative AI, and what it really takes to drive adoption inside an organization. The conversation hits on where HR leaders get stuck, how to pick the right partner, and why excitement about tech is still the best fuel for engagement.

What We Cover

• Navigating change in HR systems
• AI’s role in modern recruitment
• Vendor partnerships that actually work
• Improving candidate experience
• Tribal employment preferences
• Performance management and process clarity
• Tech adoption and the excitement factor

Key Takeaways

• We got way too accustomed to old systems
• Adaptation matters more than perfection
• Modern HR tech is configuration, not custom builds
• Ask vendors for real live demos
• Your implementation partner matters as much as the product
• Fix the candidate experience first
• Tribal preference is key in Native American orgs
• AI upgrades matching and recruiting speed
• Clear HR processes prevent chaos
• Energy and excitement drive adoption

Chapters

0:00 Navigating Change in HR Systems

2:54 The Role of AI in Recruitment

6:04 Building Effective Partnerships with Vendors

8:56 Enhancing Candidate Experience

12:11 Understanding Tribal Employment Preferences

15:05 Future Innovations in HR Technology

In this episode we talk about psychometric assessments, AI coaching, leadership development, organizational growth, and what it really means to democratize learning inside a company. Russ explains why traditional assessments fall short, how SureCoach.ai gives everyone a personalized coach, and why speed, purpose, and strong partnerships matter more than ever in HR tech.

What We Cover

• Democratizing psychometric assessments

• AI’s role in personal development

• Target industries and real-world impact

• Leadership development and relationship building

• Partnerships, purpose, and market strategy

• Learning from failure and iterating fast

Key Takeaways

• Traditional psychometrics have real gaps

• Learning tools should be accessible to everyone

• SureCoach.ai gives personalized coaching at scale

• AI feedback can target strengths and blind spots

• Healthcare and retail are prime markets

• Leadership development drives better relationships

• Partnerships only work if values match

• Speed is a legit competitive advantage

• Failures teach strategy fast

• Communication is evolving, and engagement needs to follow

Chapters

0:00 Democratizing Psychometric Assessments

2:58 The Role of AI in Personal Development

5:57 Target Industries and Impact

9:08 Leadership Development and Personal Growth

11:47 Navigating Partnerships and Market Strategy

14:59 Learning from Failures and Future Directions

Guest:

Russ Mikowski, SurePeople

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/russell-mikowski-a349903

Website: https://www.surepeople.com

Host:

Christy Honeycutt, Host Inside the C-Suite Podcast

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christyhoneycutt/

We get into how tech finally trims the busywork so research doesn’t take weeks. But we also call out the truth everyone ignores. Expertise still decides the outcome. Assessment is where the real risk lives. And the higher you climb, the louder the consequences get. A board out of sync. A leader who’s great on paper but not ready in reality. A hire that looks right for the moment but isn’t right for the future.

What We Cover

• Why executive search is evolving

• How tech accelerates the research layer

• Where human judgment still matters

• Why timing is everything at the leadership level

• The reality of board alignment and mismatch

• Assessment as the true hard work

• Why a single exec can derail an entire org

• How to scale expertise without losing quality

Key Takeaways

• We’re not trying to replace expertise

• The goal is applying expertise at scale

• Executive search should take minutes, not weeks

• Right person, wrong time happens often

• Board level misalignment kills deals

• One bad exec can ruin a company

• The stakes are higher for leadership hires

• Assessment is the real hard work

• Research and assessment drive better decisions

• Recruiting challenges get amplified at the board level

Guest:

Matthew Mooeny, Co-founder Marovi

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewamooney/

Jin Ro, Co-founder Marovi

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jinro/

Vicky Wilkens, Co-founder Marovi

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vickywilkens/

Host:

William Tincup, Co-founder, WRKdefined

LinkedIn: https:// linkedin.com/in/tincup

What We Cover

• The broken job application loop

• Why passive talent avoids the noise

• How AI can fix resume fatigue

• What HR gets wrong about culture and bias

• Why companies complain about talent but still gatekeep

• Where the Passive app fits into the hiring landscape

• How job seekers can win in a messy market

Key Takeaways

• Every company complains about finding good people

• Candidates are tired of looking for companies worth their time

• Applications feel random and discouraging

• Passive talent needs better targeting

• AI can help rewrite resumes for fit

• Culture needs to be real, diverse, and inclusive

• Passive aims to simplify the entire search process

• Job hunting struggles hit every industry

• HR needs to rethink how they attract talent

• The hiring system is outdated and ready for a rebuild

Timestamps

00:00 The Job Market Dilemma

06:32 Innovative Solutions in Recruitment

12:50 The Launch of Passive App

18:57 Rethinking Hiring Practices

22:01 Closing Thoughts and Future Aspirations

Guest:

Michael Wenning, Co-founder, Passive 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-wenning/

Website: https://www.thepassive.app/

Host

Hosts: Katie Van Horn and Jackye Clayton, Co-hosts Inclusive AF Podcast

Robin Schooling, Co-host DriveThru HR

What We Cover

• Why AI bias is shifting from theory to litigation

• How the Workday case signals a new legal era

• Why SiriusXM is facing its own AI bias lawsuit

• What these cases reveal about hiring discrimination

• Why reputation risk outranks technical risk

• What companies must understand about AI liability

Key Takeaways

• AI bias lawsuits are beginning to hit real companies

• The Workday case is moving faster than expected

• SiriusXM is facing an AI discrimination claim

• Theoretical risks are turning into legal exposure

• AI-driven discrimination suits are inevitable

• Reputation damage can cost more than fines

• Companies must understand the real substance of AI risk

Guests

Jeffrey Pole, CEO and Co-founder of Warden AI

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffrey-pole-91887a44/

Website: https://www.warden-ai.com/

Host

Bob Pulver, Host, Elevate Your AIQ Podcast

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bobpulver/

Hosted by the team behind the HR Huddle Podcast on the WRKdefined Podcast Network.

What We Cover

• Why curse words are a signal of authentic reactions

• How humor shapes honest feedback

• Why misspellings can reveal the truest sentiment

• How quick searches surface patterns fast

• Why language helps measure emotional engagement

• How sentiment ties directly to content quality

Key Takeaways

• Curse words often reflect genuine sentiment

• Negative feedback can be unintentionally funny

• Fast searches reveal reaction patterns

• Misspellings show authenticity

• Humor helps decode real audience mood

• Language exposes emotional engagement

• Sentiment analysis improves content decisions

Hosts

Susan Richards, Founder Sapient Insights

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/susansapientinsights/

Cliff Stevenson, Director of Research & Principal Analyst, Sapient Insights

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cliffordstevenson/

Teri Zipper, CEO, Sapient Insights

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/terizipper/

AI is moving faster than most hiring systems can handle. Governance used to mean a once-a-year audit, but models shift daily, and risks don’t wait for paperwork. Candidate fraud is spiking, verification is getting harder, and HR teams are trying to maintain trust without wrecking the candidate experience. This conversation digs into the tension between responsible AI, real-time monitoring, and the next wave of hiring technology built to solve challenges the old tools never touched.

What We Cover

• Why AI governance needs to be continuous, not quarterly
• How real-time oversight changes hiring accountability
• Why candidate fraud is accelerating across industries
• How to balance fraud detection with candidate experience
• What IBM Watson X Governance brings to HR tech
• Why hiring technology is overdue for reinvention
• How leaders should think about responsible AI going forward

Key Takeaways

• AI governance must be monitored continuously
• Annual audits fail in real-time environments
• Candidate fraud is becoming a major hiring threat
• HR tech must evolve with new fraud tactics
• Candidate experience and fraud detection must coexist
• Responsible AI is a leadership mandate
• Future hiring systems will require adaptive, learning-based tech

Timestamps

00:00 Navigating AI Governance and Candidate Fraud

02:40 The Evolution of Hiring Technology

05:39 The Impact of AI on HR Practices

08:47 Balancing Candidate Experience and Fraud Detection

11:51 Generational Shifts in Job Applications

14:42 Future of Hiring Technology

17:40 Reflections on Parenting and Professional Growth

Guest:

Dara Brenner, CEO at Employ Inc.

LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/darabrenner/

Website:https://www.employinc.com/

Hosts:

William Tincup, Co-founder, WRKdefined

LinkedIn: https:// linkedin.com/in/tincup

Ryan Leary, Co-founder, WRKdefined

LinkedIn:htps://linkedin.com/in/ryanleary

Most companies talk a big game about employee experience, but the moment someone takes leave, everything breaks. Leave is where compliance gets messy, expectations get fuzzy, and culture shows its real face. Employees remember how you show up when life hits. Ignore that moment and you lose trust. Handle it well and you keep people for the long haul. The conversation digs into why leave is overlooked, why compliance matters, and how technology and AI are reshaping the entire experience.

What We Cover

• Why leave experience sits at the center of employee experience
• How compliance sets the floor for every leave interaction
• What generational differences reveal about leave behavior
• How AI and HR tech streamline leave management
• Why relationships during leave shape long-term culture
• What rebranding leave does for employer branding and retention

Key Takeaways

• Leave experience is one of the biggest gaps in HR
• Compliance needs to be automatic, not aspirational
• AI will clean up delay, confusion, and manual follow-up
• Employees expect different things based on generation
• Managers need visibility into who’s out and why
• Leave is a retention lever and a culture signal
• Rebranding leave shifts how the business values time away

Timestamps

00:00 The Overlooked Leave Experience
02:33 The Importance of Compliance in Leave Management
05:41 Generational Perspectives on Leave
08:42 The Role of AI in Leave Management
11:32 Connecting with Brokers and Tech Vendors
14:41 The Future of Leave Management
17:41 Rebranding Leave for Employee Experience

Guests:

Brandon Salisbury, VP of Marketing Tilt
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/brandon-p-salisbury
Website: https://hellotilt.com/

Host:

William Tincup, Co-founder, WRKdefined
LinkedIn: https:// linkedin.com/in/tincup

Most companies still obsess over sourcing, funnels, and time-to-fill, then go quiet the moment someone starts Day 1. That’s the blind spot. Quality of hire is the metric that actually tells you if the business is getting stronger or weaker, and most companies don’t measure it with any real discipline. They talk about it. They don’t track it.

The top companies that hire well generated more than $800 billion in additional revenue compared to the ones who don’t. That’s not an HR metric. That’s a financial engine. When companies get serious about post-hire performance, retention, and growth, everything moves. When they don’t, they burn money and churn talent.

Quality of hire works when someone owns it. TA influences it, but leadership is accountable for it. If better hiring drives revenue, leaders need to treat every hire like a strategic decision, not an administrative transaction. Companies that tighten this up win. Companies that don’t keep wondering why growth feels stuck.

What We Cover

• Why quality of hire is the single most important hiring metric
• How most orgs track the wrong data and ignore the right signals
• What revenue impact looks like when hiring quality improves
• How leadership—not TA—should own the outcome
• What 4M data points across the Fortune 500 reveal
• Why post-hire data solves the retention problem before it starts

Key Takeaways

• Quality of hire is the real performance predictor, not pipeline metrics
• Companies that track retention, growth, and achievement outperform
• A move from average to above average hiring quality can create a 2 percent revenue bump
• Senior leadership must be accountable for hiring outcomes
• Post-hire insights should drive how companies hire going forward

Timestamps

0:00 Quality of hire as the real lever

3:40 Why most orgs talk about it but don’t measure it

7:10 The financial lift behind better hiring decisions

10:55 What the data says about retention and advancement

14:22 Who actually owns hiring quality

18:05 Why post-hire data changes everything

21:30 How to build a culture that measures and improves quality

Guests

Michael Fitzsimmons, CEO, Crosschq

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-fitzsimmons-a3698/

Dr. Steven Hunt, Workforce & Talent Expert

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/steventhunt/

Host:

Bob Pulver, Host Elevate Your AIQ

In this episode we talk about recruiting as a sales motion, AI, 3D data, time to slate, and why speed is the make or break variable in today’s market. David walks through how recruiters can use enriched data to create unfair advantages in tight talent markets, cut mis-hires in half, and finally speak the language of the business. If you care about becoming a true talent advisor instead of an order taker, this one is a playbook for how to operate in an AI driven, employer heavy market.

Key Takeaways

• Recruiting is fundamentally a sales and storytelling job, not an admin function or a ticket queue.
• Speed is the defining variable for recruiters right now – time to slate and time to first submit matter more than ever.
• AI should automate high effort, low value work so recruiters can focus on EQ, prep, and candidate experience.
• 3D data and labeled datasets give recruiters context on growth, volatility, and what candidates have actually endured.
• Good, better, best “buckets” beat hard stack ranking in an environment with ethical AI legislation.
• Most recruiters still lean on inbound, brand, and volume instead of sharp targeting and real closing skills.
• Employer driven markets expose lazy recruiters who never had to build pipeline or source.
• The best TA leaders use data to predict demand, not just report the past in QBRs.
• Mis-hires are incredibly expensive; cutting mis-hire rates in half is a real, board level story.
• Procurement of AI tools has to start with the recruiter day, recruiter experience, and company goals – not hype.
• TA earns a seat at the table when it can tie activities and tools directly to revenue, cost savings, and strategic goals.
• If you’re not operationalizing AI in your workflow in the next 2–3 years, your skill set will be outdated.

This series was recorded live at HR Tech 2025 inside the HR Executive studios on the expo floor in partnership with the WRKdefined Podcast Network. Make sure you’re subscribed to the full series and visit HRExecutive.com for the news, analysis, and insights shaping the future of work.

Chapters

00:00 – Why “what happens when a candidate says no?” is the real recruiter test

01:13 – Meet Brandon Jeffs and Findem’s David Malloy live from HR Tech

02:00 – Relationships, community, and how a sales background shapes recruiting

04:26 – AI, EQ, and using automation to free recruiters from admin work

06:20 – Translating veteran skills and what makes Findem different (3D data)

09:53 – Time to slate, mishire costs, and cutting bad hires in half

11:20 – Good, better, best buckets, DEI, and ethical AI constraints

14:22 – Using data to forecast demand, hit headcount, and save $500K in tools

18:26 – From order taker to advisor: metrics, KPIs, and speaking business language

24:23 – Procurement mindset, recruiter experience, and building a “retention” tech stack

31:18 – The evolution of sourcing, AI table stakes, and the future recruiter profile

39:47 – Earning the seat at the table, Monday advice, and why TA must own impact

Connect with the Guest

Guest: David Malloy, Vice President & GM, Talent Consulting & Transformation at Findem

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidmalloy/

Connect with the Host

Host: Brandon Jeffs, Host RevolTA Podcast

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brandonjeffs/

Key Takeaways

• Unlearning isn’t about tossing everything out and starting over. It’s about noticing where “the way we’ve always done it” is actually blocking better options, especially with AI. Most orgs default to abandonment – dump the person, the tech, the process – instead of asking what needs to be unlearned and rebuilt.
• ABA gives a useful blueprint for unlearning at work. You identify the behavior, ask whether it’s functional or malfunctioning, break down what isn’t serving you, and then rebuild a better pattern. That same logic applies to HR and TA habits, from how you source to how you run performance conversations.
• AI only works as augmentation if you can admit where you need help and say it out loud. You have to be specific, contextual, and a little vulnerable in your prompts, which is hard for people who are conditioned to “already know” their jobs. The irony is that the better you are at asking for help from the machine, the more value you unlock from it.
• There’s a big trust gap between workers and the people behind AI systems. It’s not that job seekers don’t trust the model, they don’t trust what humans will do with the data the model collects. When 81 percent of people are bringing their own (mostly free) AI to work, HR has to care about moats, privacy, and the basic rule that if it’s free, you’re the product.
• Unlearning in HR and leadership starts with psychological safety and process discipline. You have to make it normal to ask “why do we do it this way?” and be okay when the answer is basically Zig Ziglar’s ham story – “because the pan was too small three generations ago.” Performance improvement, AI adoption, and culture all get better when you stop blindly repeating inherited processes and start intentionally redesigning them.

This series was recorded live at HR Tech 2025 inside the HR Executive studios on the expo floor in partnership with the WRKdefined Podcast Network. Make sure you’re subscribed to the full series and visit HRExecutive.com for the news, analysis, and insights shaping the future of work.

Chapters

00:00 AI, unlearning, and why “just replace it” is the wrong instinct 01:08 Live from HR Tech – show intro, married co hosts, and setting up Unfuck It 03:18 What’s fucked – design bias, getting stuck in old solutions, and why unlearning matters 04:33 How humans actually learn – NLP, ABA, learning styles, and the controversy around changing behavior 07:29 Where AI fits – prompt engineering as applied behavior, being specific about help, and the weirdness of being vulnerable with a machine 11:01 Job seekers, trust, and free AI – who sees your data, BYO AI at work, and why “if it’s free, you’re the product” hits HR harder 16:42 How to unfuck unlearning – awareness of stuck patterns, using PIPs to break habits instead of just firing, and the Zig Ziglar ham story 21:23 Wrap up – psychological safety as the prerequisite for unlearning, plus where to find Jenny and where to see her next Guest Info:

Jenny Cotie Kangas (“JCK”), VP of Innovation, GBS Worldwide

Hosts:

Dwance Lay, Co-host of Un-F*ck It and Chief Innovation Officer, GBS World Wide

Crystal Lay, Co-host of Un-F*ck It and Chief People Officer and Executive, GBS World Wide

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Bad interview questions are still everywhere and most hiring managers don’t realize they’re the problem.
• Ninety five percent of interview memories are negative because those moments stick.
• If someone asks illegal or personal questions in the interview, imagine what conversations look like once you work there.
• The “tell me about yourself” opener is usually wasted time and often intimidating.
• Hiring managers need training and structure or they default to habit and ego.
• Candidates feel validated when they learn what’s normal, what’s illegal, and what’s a red flag.
• Sharing bad examples is the fastest way to raise the bar and reset expectations.

This series was recorded live at HR Tech 2025 inside the HR Executive studios on the expo floor in partnership with the WRKdefined Podcast Network. Make sure you’re subscribed to the full series and visit HRExecutive.com for the news, analysis, and insights shaping the future of work.

CHAPTERS

0:00 Cold open – the questions candidates dread

0:54 The name of the show and why it matters

1:12 Why bad interviews go viral

1:49 The fear behind “tell me about yourself”

2:05 What really happens in the comments

2:30 Seven year case study on interviewing

3:13 How candidates interpret bad questions

3:49 Interview red flags and why they matter

4:05 Mixing education with real stories

4:22 The wild DMs candidates send

4:46 Candidate horror stories and reenactments

5:04 “Does that really happen?” Spoiler yes

5:17 Why good interviewers are still rare

6:00 Teaching hiring managers to see themselves

6:20 Positive experiences and why they’re powerful

6:31 Closing and the official show line

Hosts:

Lorna Erikson Co-founder Expert Interviewers

Victoria Gates Co-founder Expert Interviewers

Connect with WRKdefined on your favorite social network

Site: http://www.wrkdefined.com

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@wrkdefined

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/wrkdefined

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WRKdefined/

Twitter (X): https://twitter.com/WRKdefined

Substack: https://wrkdefined.substack.com/

He walks through his journey from PeopleSoft, Taleo, and Saba to Atana’s model of compliance, learning, and behavioral data that lets companies see risk early, act surgically, and actually improve culture instead of running the same tired courses on repeat.

In this episode we talk about compliance, behavioral science, learning data, risk, and culture. Jeff breaks down how Atana blends IO psychology, micro-assessments, and AI to surface “yellow flag” behavior before it turns into red-card lawsuits. We get into why the word compliance needs a rebrand, how to arm HR and L&D leaders with a real story for the C-suite, and why targeted, data-backed training beats blanket rollouts every time.

Key Takeaways

• Compliance has a branding problem - the word alone triggers defensiveness and makes people expect legal risk, not growth.
• Atana starts with required topics like harassment, respectful workplace, bias, and violence prevention, then layers in behavioral insights instead of stopping at content delivery.
• Embedded micro-assessments inside training give IO psych and data science teams the signals they need on attitudes, risk tolerance, and behavior patterns.
• The goal is to catch yellow flags early, not wait for red-card moments where the only options left are investigation, payout, and damage control.
• Precise data lets leaders pinpoint risk at a store, hospital, team, or even individual level so they can avoid unnecessary re-training and focus effort where it’s needed.
• Actionable insights matter more than dashboards - leaders need a narrative, recommendations, and “here’s what to do next” when they walk into the C-suite.
• Generative AI is becoming a learning assistant that can suggest storylines, actions, and nudges, not just summarize survey results.
• The current political climate hasn’t killed the legal requirements - respectful workplace and code-of-conduct expectations are still in force even where DEI is under attack.
• Reframing performance and compliance around business value, not forms and cycles, follows the same playbook that made early SuccessFactors so disruptive.

This series was recorded live at HR Tech 2025 inside the HR Executive studios on the expo floor in partnership with the WRKdefined Podcast Network. Make sure you’re subscribed to the full series and visit HRExecutive.com for the news, analysis, and insights shaping the future of work.

Chapters

0:00 Why “compliance” instantly puts people on defense

3:08 From payroll programmer to PeopleSoft, Taleo, and Saba

7:40 Learning through a downturn and the early cloud HR era

11:34 What Atana does at the intersection of compliance, learning, and behavioral insight

15:10 Micro-assessments, IO psych, and spotting yellow flags before they become lawsuits

18:21 Turning training data into stories and actions leaders can take to the C-suite

20:34 Building an AI learning assistant inspired by Olivia and Winston

21:58 Renaming compliance, rethinking performance, and why language matters

23:54 Targeted training by location, team, and individual instead of punishing everyone

26:32 Jeff’s marathon habit, discipline, and what’s next on his race calendar

Guest:

Jeff Carr, President, Atana

Connect with us

William Tincup LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tincup/

Ryan Leary LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanleary/

Connect with WRKdefined on your favorite social network

Site: http://www.wrkdefined.com

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@wrkdefined

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/wrkdefined

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WRKdefined/

Twitter (X): https://twitter.com/WRKdefined

Substack: https://wrkdefined.substack.com/

#WRKdefined #Compliance #LearningAndDevelopment #BehavioralScience #HRTech2025 #WorkplaceCulture #AIInHR #Atana

In this episode we talk about HR Tech 2025, payroll, earned wage access, AI ethics, and SAP Connect as the Super Bowl for HR, payroll, and time tech. Let's recognize payroll pros and tease a PayrollBADIe Award for SAP Connect.

Key Takeaways

• HR Tech 2025 is packed with payroll and EWA vendors, which proves how central pay has become to the broader HR tech story.
• Earned wage access is useful, but without financial wellness and education it can become a cash-flow crutch instead of a bridge.
• There’s a real consolidation wave coming in EWA and HR tech – not all of today’s vendors will be here in two years.
• Any decent developer can plug a Gemini or OpenAI key into an app in minutes, which is why ethics, data handling, and governance matter more than “we use AI” claims.
• Payroll and HR data are exactly where you do not want a random vendor casually piping data into a public model.
• SAP’s approach to AI is slower by design – committees, governance, and “don’t get customers in the news” is the whole point.
• Payroll sits at the intersection of HR and finance, which is why a finance track at SAP Connect changes who shows up and how buying decisions get made.
• The SmartRecruiters acquisition fits the “right product, right time” story – modern recruiting plus SuccessFactors, with strong AI already in the mix.
• There’s a bigger consolidation story ahead across recruiting, AI scheduling, EWA, and time – a lot of logos on this floor will be combined or gone by the next HR Tech.
• Time is becoming a bigger part of the Payroll Baddies world, with “there is no payroll without time” and a new time-focused angle baked into the brand.
• Payroll people are still the unsung heroes – leaders lose sleep over “are people paid on time” but rarely walk over and say thank you when it all works.
• The crew wants to turn that into action with gold chains, shoutouts, and a Payroll Baddy Award to actually recognize top payroll pros at SAP Connect.

This series was recorded live at HR Tech 2025 inside the HR Executive studios on the expo floor in partnership with the WRKdefined Podcast Network. Make sure you’re subscribed to the full series and visit HRExecutive.com for the news, analysis, and insights shaping the future of work.

Chapters 0:00 HR Tech floor energy – EWA, payroll, and the live Payroll Baddies kickoff
2:40 Why it should be HR and Payroll Tech – payroll vendors, EWA boom, and payroll still in the shadows

5:24 EWA reality – hype, vendor sameness, white-collar cash flow, and the missing financial wellness piece
9:33 AI everywhere – booth buzzwords, quick-and-dirty “just plug in a key” AI vs doing it right with payroll/HR data
11:23 SAP’s AI lane – governance, ethics, lawsuits avoided, and which vendors actually survive the next 2 years
13:45 SmartRecruiters + SAP – booth vibes, acquisition fit, and the broader consolidation wave across EWA, recruiting, and time
17:33 “It’s about time” – why there’s no payroll without time, and Payroll Baddies leaning harder into time and scheduling
19:01 SAP Connect preview – why it’s the Super Bowl for HR, payroll, and finance, plus roadmap, explain-my-pay, and talent AI
24:45 Show your payroll people love – send them to events, say thank you when nothing is broken, and the Payroll Baddy Award + gold chain recognition
28:05 Closing – shoutout to the Payroll Baddies community, like/subscribe, and see you at SAP Connect Hosts:

The PayrollBADIes Podcast Crew. Check them out here.

In this episode we talk about SMB HR tech, kindness as a product philosophy, skills based hiring, bias interruptions, burnout, recognition, and where the employee experience is really heading.

Key Takeaways

• isolved builds for SMBs that rely on a “village of advisors” including banks, CPAs, and local partners.
• The platform focuses on “people heroes” – HR, payroll, and benefits pros who do multiple jobs at once.
• AI features like candidate matching and payroll anomaly detection are framed as practical tools, not hype.
• Skills based hiring tools push managers away from pedigree, schools, and shortcuts that reinforce bias.
• Matching tech intentionally ignores résumés, school names, and addresses to prevent bias drift.
• HR tech is overhyped when vendors sell it as the answer instead of a tool that supports human decisions.
• Self service and accountability result in cleaner data, fewer errors, and stronger HR credibility.
• Benefits decision support and on demand pay directly impact employees’ financial stability and stress.
• Recognition and employee visibility are rising themes, especially with burnout affecting up to 80 percent of workers.
• SMB selling and support must differ from enterprise; owners are hands-on and advisor-driven.
• Customer feedback consistently highlights “kindness” as an isolved trademark, which the team sees as a real differentiator.
• Well-being talk only matters when it turns into better daily experiences, not buzzwords.

This series was recorded live at HR Tech 2025 inside the HR Executive studios on the expo floor in partnership with the WRKdefined Podcast Network. Make sure you’re subscribed to the full series and visit HRExecutive.com for the news, analysis, and insights shaping the future of work.

Chapters / Timestamps

0:00 Burnout and the state of employees

1:06 Welcome to Inclusive AF at HR Tech

1:30 Meet Yutaka and the “people heroes” idea

2:58 What isolved provides for SMB employers

3:47 Practical AI tools: matching and payroll protections

4:48 Growth, acquisitions, and SMB advisor networks

5:56 Working with banks and CPAs to reach SMBs

6:18 Skills based hiring and the Indeed Talent Scout integration

7:26 How bias creeps in and how tools interrupt it

8:03 How the matching tool ignores pedigree

8:51 The real overhyped HR tech narrative

10:35 Building HR credibility with better tools

12:20 Why self-service drives cleaner data

13:17 Benefits decision support and financial empowerment

14:50 The future of HR tech and isolved’s role in it

16:15 How SMB needs differ from enterprise

17:25 Understanding owner mindset and long-term goals

17:40 Why kindness defines the isolved brand

18:54 Buzzwords to retire

20:21 Expo trends: recognition and reward

22:45 Burnout, wellness, and what real change looks like

Guest Information

Yutaka Takagi, Principal Product Evangelist at isolved

tech, people experience, bias reduction, skills based hiring, payroll and benefits innovation.

Host:

Hosts: Katie Van Horn, Robin Schooling, and in our hearts Jackye Clayton, Incluive AF Podcast

#InclusiveAF #HRTech #isolved #SkillsBasedHiring #EmployeeExperience #Burnout #HRTech2025

In this conversation we talk about frontline workers, hourly hiring, AI interviewing, text-first recruiting, and how Fountain is helping HR teams move faster, hire better, and actually keep the experience human.

Key Takeaways

• Frontline workers are not office workers and treating them like they are is why so many companies “hire no one” for critical jobs.
• Most hourly candidates don’t have a resume or LinkedIn profile, so requiring one quietly kills your applicant flow.
• The smartphone is a double-edged sword: it makes it easy to apply, which means your candidate is applying to 8–15 jobs at once.
• Fountain’s “hugs and nudges” idea is simple: use automation to nudge people forward, then use humans to make them feel seen and wanted.
• There are 2.7 billion frontline workers globally, and they are the ones actually keeping casinos, restaurants, warehouses, and delivery networks alive.
• Around 40% of Fountain’s interviews happen outside normal business hours, because frontline workers are on shift when recruiters are typically online.
• Roughly 20% of interviews happen between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m., which means the platform is literally recruiting while hiring teams sleep.
• Fountain uses AI in a way that lets companies “turn the dial up” over time instead of forcing a scary all-or-nothing jump.
• HR leaders are not behind on AI; no one is truly caught up, and you can become the AI expert in your company in months, not years.
• Sean wants HR to become the function that runs toward AI and sets the bar for every other department in the company.
• Fountain looks for customers who see frontline hiring as mission critical and are ready for transformational change, not just a tool swap.
• Inside Fountain, failure is expected, and the real advantage is how fast you realize something isn’t working and move on.

This series was recorded live at HR Tech 2025 inside the HR Executive studios on the expo floor in partnership with the WRKdefined Podcast Network. Make sure you’re subscribed to the full series and visit HRExecutive.com for the news, analysis, and insights shaping the future of work. Chapters:

0:00 Why resumes don’t work for frontline workers

0:31 Meet Christy and Inside the C-Suite

1:02 What Fountain actually does

1:31 The frontline operating system explained

2:32 The smartphone problem and quick-apply chaos

3:25 “Hugs and nudges” for keeping tech human

4:32 Why office-style hiring fails hourly roles

6:09 Frontline workers without resumes

8:08 Killing the old-school “we need a resume” mindset

9:16 Market consolidation: Workday, Paradox, and pressure on vendors

10:05 COVID, essential workers, and why frontline matters

12:00 How HR should evaluate AI tools without getting duped

13:31 Why HR should lead the company’s AI strategy

15:05 What makes a great-fit Fountain customer

17:12 Applying Fountain to salary and HQ roles

19:21 Consumer apps shaping HR tech expectations

21:21 Why texting is the only channel that works for frontline

24:02 When frontline candidates actually want to interview

25:36 Recruiting while you sleep

27:02 Sean’s path from investor to CEO

28:25 Why helping someone get a job hits different

34:10 What failure taught Sean as a founder

35:31 “It’s not the big that eat the small. It’s the fast that eat the slow.”

32:40 Turning HR teams into 10x operators

Guest Info:

Guest: Sean Behr, Chief Executive Officer at Fountain

Host info:

Christy Honeycutt, host of the Inside the C-Suite Podcast

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