Heroes of HR
Heroes of HR is a podcast for HR, payroll, and talent leaders navigating the real challenges of today’s workforce. Each episode features candid conversations with leaders from growing, people-intensive organizations who are managing hiring, retention, compliance, payroll and change in real time. We talk about what’s top of mind, what’s working, what’s not and how they’re leading through workforce complexity without losing sight of the people behind it. If you’re building teams, supporting managers and solving operational challenges every day, you’ll hear something familiar and useful in every episode. Brought to you by isolved. Learn more about isolved Visit the isolved website to learn more Learn more about isolved People Heroes Community here
Episodes
October 14, 2026 • 20 mins
AI agents are joining the workforce. Someone needs to manage their performance.
HR leaders already know how to evaluate work, identify performance problems, and make sure people have the resources they need. Cliff Stevenson argues that those same skills apply to AI agents. As organizations bring more AI into everyday operations, HR has a role in understanding what these systems do, how they perform, and who’s accountable.
I...
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September 30, 2026 • 11 mins
The fastest way for HR to become more strategic may be to stop trying to do everything itself.
HR leaders are buried in administration while organizations demand more strategic partnership, technology adoption, change management, and employee leadership. Tony Buffum argues that the answer isn’t building bigger HR kingdoms. It’s building an ecosystem of external partners who can take work off the team’s plate.
In...
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September 29, 2026 • 11 mins
If your org chart is built from yesterday’s data, your workforce plan may already be wrong.
Most companies still treat the org chart, workforce planning, position management, and organizational data as static paperwork. Tom McCarty argues that approach breaks down almost immediately because organizations change every day. AI adds another layer: agents and agentic work now need to be considered alongside people when companies...
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September 25, 2026 • 16 mins
The real opportunity with AI isn’t doing more work. It’s giving HR the time to become more human again.
AI can automate the questions, paperwork, and repetitive tasks that keep HR buried. But human connection, leadership, empathy, listening, and difficult conversations are still the work that matters. Todd Bertsch argues that AI’s biggest HR benefit may not be productivity at all. It may be giving people their ti...
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September 24, 2026 • 11 mins
AI is forcing HR to confront the data, systems, and compliance problems that manual work used to hide.
HR technology has spent years patching problems together with disconnected systems, spreadsheets, and human intervention. Now AI, compliance, risk, data quality, and HR technology are forcing those problems into the open. Susan Richards says the pressure is no longer just about adopting new technology. It is about whether the und...
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September 24, 2026 • 17 mins
AI can accelerate HR work, but without strong fundamentals, the technology only makes bad thinking faster.
AI is changing how HR gets work done, but strategy, fundamentals, judgment, and human capital expertise still matter. Steve Safier argues that HR professionals need to understand the underlying discipline before reaching for AI, while also connecting recruiting, engagement, learning, performance, and culture into one coherent...
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September 21, 2026 • 9 mins
HR says it’s about people, but too often the system measures limitations instead of creating room for people to do more.
What if HR’s biggest mistake is measuring what people can’t do instead of expanding what they can? Steve Browne argues that too much HR still relies on rules, rigid roles, and hierarchies that box people in. His alternative is simple: strengthen people’s talents, connect the dots, and bui...
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September 21, 2026 • 8 mins
The hardest part of HR isn’t spotting the problem, it’s getting leaders to act before the problem reaches the frontline.
A change can be backed by data, obvious to the people closest to the work, and still go nowhere. For HR Business Partner Stephen Richardson, the real challenge is turning insight into action while helping employees absorb culture change, system change, engagement, and organizational change without ma...
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September 19, 2026 • 16 mins
HR buyers don’t need more features, they need vendors to actually listen, simplify, and build what people will use.
There are 580+ vendors on the floor, yet buyers are still struggling to find software that makes sense. Sarah White argues the problem isn’t a lack of innovation. It’s a failure to listen. Product strategy, customer feedback, UX, design partners, and market clarity all break down when vendors build ...
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September 19, 2026 • 10 mins
In a world moving faster by the minute, decision-making has become a leadership skill you can’t afford to leave to instinct.
Leadership teams make decisions worth millions, yet most organizations have no real way to understand how those teams make decisions under pressure. Cognitive flexibility, risk appetite, ambiguity tolerance, and team chemistry matter more when the ground keeps moving.
In this episode… Lorne Eps...
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September 19, 2026 • 22 mins
AI is moving into HR fast, but the real question is whether it gives people more time to be human.
AI is changing HR’s job description. Frontline workers make up about 80% of the global workforce, yet they’re often left out of strategy. At the same time, HR teams are buried in tactical work while AI, automation, agents, security, compliance, and employee expectations keep accelerating.
In this episode… Noah Mit...
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September 19, 2026 • 12 mins
The technology is moving fast, but the bigger HR challenge is preparing people for what comes next.
HR has spent years talking about becoming more strategic. Now AI is accelerating that shift, but it also raises a harder question: what happens to the people whose work is changing? AI, workforce transformation, employee communication, compliance, and business partnership are becoming one conversation.
In this episode… Lois ...
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September 10, 2026 • 9 mins
Your best individual contributor can become your worst manager when nobody teaches them how to lead people.
The biggest management mistake may happen before someone even gets the job. Organizations promote high performers into leadership, then expect people skills to magically appear. The result is weak management, frustrated teams, and missed potential. Leadership training, people skills, internal mobility, and manager developmen...
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September 9, 2026 • 9 mins
Hiring internationally sounds simple until the laws, compliance, payroll, and local requirements start piling up.
Safeguard Global helps companies expand internationally, stay compliant, hire globally, and manage HR without having to build everything from scratch in every new market. With operations across 187 countries and a network of more than 400 local in-market experts, the goal is to make global expansion less risky and more...
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September 7, 2026 • 9 mins
Companies keep asking how to manage neurodivergent employees. The better question may be whether they know how to communicate with them.
Lee Judson’s work is about neurodiversity, communication, onboarding, management, and workplace productivity. Her research points to a striking business case: companies with neurodiverse teams can see 30% more productivity and higher ROI.
In this episode… Lee explains why different ...
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September 7, 2026 • 18 mins
You can’t keep pouring into everyone else when your own tank is empty. John Bernatovicz gets blunt about burnout, self-care, emotional safety, and what it really means to transform how people feel at work.
For HR professionals, “How are you doing?” should mean more than “I’m good, bro.” This conversation gets into authenticity, productive safety, listening without trying to fix everything, and c...
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September 7, 2026 • 11 mins
Financial stress doesn’t clock out when employees walk into the office. It follows them in, drains their focus, and can keep them from bringing their whole self to work.
Kashable is tackling that problem by combining low-cost credit, financial coaching, budgeting, and financial wellness into an employee benefit. The bigger idea is simple: give people both a safety net for emergencies and the education to build stronger finan...
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September 2, 2026 • 16 mins
HR has moved past asking, “What is AI?” Now the question is, “What problem can it actually solve?” Joey Price sees the conversation shifting from AI hype to real use cases, smarter questions, and technology that can produce meaningful work.
AI coworkers, AI agents, digital employees, HR tech, workforce transformation. The bigger shift is how we think about the technology itself. When AI can hold a conversat...
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August 31, 2026 • 15 mins
Companies keep asking employees to do more with less, then wonder why engagement drops. Jocelyn King says burnout isn't just about workload. It's what happens when people become overwhelmed, disengage, and eventually decide they're done.
Burnout, employee engagement, listening strategies, remote work, employee experience, workplace culture. The challenge is understanding what employees are actually experiencing without crossing pe...
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August 28, 2026 • 36 mins
HR doesn't have a finish line. Employees change, work changes, technology changes, and expectations keep moving. Jennifer McClure argues that HR isn't supposed to "solve" the workplace once and walk away. The job is to keep adapting, keep learning, and help people thrive.
Agility, AI, people strategy, employee experience, leadership, workforce transformation. Jennifer sees HR as one of the most important functions in the organizat...
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